Joshua 4

Israel has crossed the Jordan on dry ground, and God now makes sure the miracle is never forgotten. Twelve stones are taken from the riverbed and set up at Gilgal, and twelve more are placed in the river itself. The stones are made to prompt children’s questions, so that each new generation hears what the LORD has done.

Joshua 4:1-3

Once the whole nation is safely across, God gives Joshua a further task. Twelve men, one per tribe, must lift stones from the riverbed where the priests stood. They carry them to the night’s camp. The whole nation will be represented in the remembering.

BSA: carry them with you (“as a reminder, as a witness”): The stones are meant to bear witness to what God did, long after the event.

Joshua 4:4-5

Joshua calls the twelve men and sends them back into the riverbed, walking in front of the ark. Each lifts one stone to his shoulder. The ark, the sign of God’s presence, still leads them, and the stones’ number matches the tribes of Israel.

BSA: shoulder (“back, burden”): The memorial is something each tribe has to carry, a weight of remembering on the shoulder.

Joshua 4:6-7

The stones are meant to start conversations. When children ask what they mean, parents are to explain that the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant. The stones do not tell the story by themselves. They need a believing parent to speak.

BSA: memorial (“reminder, commemoration”): The stones keep God’s act in view for later generations. cut off (“separated, divided”): The waters were split apart by God’s command, not by any human effort.

Hebrew: זִכָּרוֹן (zikkaron, H2146) — “memorial, reminder.” In Hebrew, remembering means more than recalling a fact. It is a calling to mind that moves people to trust and obey.

See also: Exodus 12:26-27; Deuteronomy 6:20-21.

Joshua 4:8

The men obey exactly as Joshua said, and Joshua had said it just as the LORD told him. Each tribe has one stone, and the stones are carried to the camp and set down. The verse is a plain picture of obedience that passes along God’s word faithfully.

BSA: commanded (“given orders to, instructed”): The obedience is traced back through Joshua to God’s own instruction.

Joshua 4:9

Joshua also sets up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, where the priests stood. One set of stones is visible on land, and the other marks the spot where the ark stood. The writer says they are there to this day, meaning they were still known when he wrote.

BSA: stood (“were stationed, remained”): The place marks where the priests held their ground while the nation crossed.

Joshua 4:10-11

The priests stand in the riverbed with the ark until everything God commanded is done. They are the last to cross, after the people have gone over. The people hurry, and the priests trust the ark to hold back the water. God’s presence stays between them and the danger until all are safe.

BSA: remained standing (“firmly established, unwavering”): The priests held their ground in the riverbed, steady in faith while the waters stayed back.

Joshua 4:12-13

The fighting men of Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh cross armed, keeping the promise they made to Moses to help their brothers conquer the land. Some forty thousand go before the LORD toward Jericho. They have already received their land east of the Jordan, yet they still fight for the others.

BSA: armed (“strong and able-bodied soldiers, well-equipped”): These tribes came ready for real fighting and kept their word to help their brothers.

See also: Numbers 32:20-22; Joshua 1:12-15.

Joshua 4:14

God honors Joshua publicly. The people see that the LORD is with him as he was with Moses, and they respect him all his life. It matches God’s promise at the start of the book. His authority rests on God’s own approval, not on his own claims.

BSA: exalted (“magnified, made great”): God, not Joshua himself, made him great in the eyes of the people.

See also: Joshua 3:7.

Joshua 4:15-17

The priests have stood in the middle of the Jordan all this time. Now God tells Joshua to command them to come up. They do so at his word. The ark is called the ark of the Testimony, since it held the tablets of the law, God’s own witness to His people.

BSA: Testimony (“a witness, God’s laws”): The ark held the tablets of the law, which stood as God’s witness to His covenant.

Joshua 4:18

As soon as the priests’ feet touch dry ground, the river returns to its flow and floods its banks as before. The water held back for the whole crossing now rushes on. The miracle plainly came from God’s presence with the ark, and it lasted exactly as long as God willed.

BSA: overflowed (“to flow over, abound”): The river spilled over its banks again, showing how great the barrier had been.

Joshua 4:19

On the tenth day of the first month, Israel camps at Gilgal, just east of Jericho. That was the day the Passover lamb was set aside, and Passover came four days later. Gilgal becomes Israel’s first base in Canaan, close to their first battle.

BSA: Gilgal (“a wheel, rolling”): The name sounds like the Hebrew word for rolling, and it fits the place where God would roll away Israel’s reproach.

See also: Exodus 12:3; Joshua 5:9.

Joshua 4:20-22

At Gilgal, Joshua sets up the twelve stones. Again the children will ask, and the fathers are to explain that Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground. The question is repeated, because remembering God’s works is meant to become part of family life.

BSA: dry ground (“dry land, a miracle”): The riverbed was dry land, which marks the crossing as God’s act and not a lucky chance.

See also: Psalm 78:4-7.

Joshua 4:23

The Jordan crossing is tied to the Red Sea. God dried up both waters until His people were across. The older generation had seen the Red Sea as children or young people, and the new generation sees the Jordan. The same God who began their story is still leading it.

BSA: dried up (“to wither, as a plant without water”): The picture is of water drying away completely, as a plant withers when its source is gone.

See also: Exodus 14:21-22.

Joshua 4:24

The stones have two purposes. They show all the nations that the LORD’s hand is mighty, and they teach Israel to fear Him always. To fear Him here means to revere Him with awe and trust. God’s mighty acts are meant to be known beyond Israel and to shape Israel’s own hearts.

BSA: hand (“power, strength”): The hand stands for God’s active power at work in history. fear (“revere, stand in awe of”): The fear meant is reverent awe before God, not terror.

See also: Exodus 15:14-16; Psalm 111:9-10.