BIBLE STUDY LESSON 04
A MEMORIAL
TWELVE STONES
From Joshua 4
“After all of the people of Israel had crossed the Jordan River, the Lord spoke to Joshua. ‘Give these orders to the twelve men who were chosen, one from each tribe. Tell them to take twelve stones, one stone for each tribe, from the place where the priests are standing in the middle of the riverbed. Bring those stones with you and lay them in the place where you set up camp tonight.’ Joshua commanded the twelve men as the Lord had said. ‘Go to the middle of the Jordan River, where the priests stand with the Ark of the Lord. Each of you will pick up a stone, so there will be twelve stones to represent the twelve tribes of Israel. These stones will be a reminder to your children. When they ask what these stones mean, then you will tell them how God stopped the waters of the Jordan River when the Ark of the Covenant crossed it. These stones will become a memorial for the people of Israel forever.’ The twelve men did exactly as Joshua told them.
From the middle of the Jordan River, they gathered twelve stones, as the Lord had commanded Joshua, one stone for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. The men took the stones with them to their evening campsite and set up a monument there. In the middle of the Jordan River, where the priests stood with the Ark of the Lord, Joshua built another monument of twelve stones. It stands there today, at the time this book is written. The priests who carried the Ark waited in the middle of the river until Joshua had done all that the Lord had commanded through Moses. When these things were done and all of the people were across, the people of Israel gathered to watch the priests carry the Ark from the river. About forty thousand armed men, from the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, led the people of Israel to battle across the plains of Jericho, as Moses had commanded. On that day, the Lord gave Joshua such great honour in the eyes of the people that, as long as he lived, they showed reverence to him as they had to Moses. The people had seen Joshua give orders to the priests who carried the Ark, commanding them to bring the Ark from the river.
‘Order the priests to come up from the Jordan,’ God had told Joshua. ‘Come up from the Jordan!’ Joshua relayed God’s command to the priests with the Ark. When the priests with the Ark came from the middle of the Jordan and their feet touched dry ground, the waters of the river began to flow again and flooded over the banks. Thus the river was as it had been when they had approached it. It was the 25th of March when the people of Israel crossed the Jordan and set up camp at Gilgal, at the eastern edge of Jericho. There the twelve stones were laid up as a monument. Once more, Joshua told the people of Israel about the monument of twelve stones. ‘When your children ask what these stones mean, you must tell them how Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground. Tell them how the Lord dried up the waters of the Jordan until you had crossed the river, just as He had done when He dried up the Red Sea until we had crossed it. Let all people on earth know that the hand of the Lord is mighty and that you will show reverence to Him forever.’”
COMMENTARY
OTHER CONQUESTS FROM EGYPT: SETI I
Stories of God’s miracles are exciting for every generation. For the children in Israel however, a visit to the Jordan River meant far more than just a story. There God had commanded that the people make a memorial of twelve stones taken from the middle of the Jordan when Israel crossed over into the Promised Land. These stones would make history and God would seem very near. Fifty years had passed since an Egyptian army had set foot in Canaan. Because of its internal problems, Egypt almost ignored all foreign conquests, including Canaan. In fact, when the Hittites from Turkey moved in and settled much of the country, the pharaohs did not send military help, even though the Canaanite princes asked for it. When Seti I became pharaoh, everything changed. Though the rulers in Canaan had stopped sending tribute to Egypt many years before, Seti used that as an excuse to invade. He claimed that the quarrelsome princes were planning to rebel against him. Seti brought with him many cruel practices common to earlier pharaohs. He captured thousands of prisoners and marched them back to Egypt as sign of his victory. Their hands were bound together and all the prisoners were yoked to each other at the neck. After being displayed, most went into slavery. But some were killed as sacrifices to the sun god Amon. Such actions were similar to those of Thutmose III, the strongest warrior-king in Egyptian history. In fact, Seti proudly referred to his reign as the “renaissance,” meant to recall Thutmose’s great expansion of the empire. Before he was through, Seti I had managed to re-conquer and win back one third of Egypt’s original territory.
TEST YOURSELF
1.) Where were the 12 Israelites to get the stones from?
A.) From Jericho
B.) The middle of the Jordan River
C) The river bank
2.) What was the purpose of the twelve stones?
A.) To make an altar
B.) As a reminder to their children of how God stopped the Jordan River.
3.) What did Joshua do in the middle of the Jordan River?
A.) He prayed to God
B.) He made a speech to the Israelites
C.) He made a monument of 12 stones
4.) How did the people feel about Joshua after the miracle of the Jordan River?
A.) Forgot the miracle and elected a new leader
B.) Honoured him as they had Moses
5.) What miracle did this remind the Israelites of?
A.) Turning the Nile River into blood
B.) The parting of the Red Sea
C.) God bringing water from the rock
6.) After God parted the Jordan River, what happened?
A.) The Jordan River immediately filled up and flooded
B.) The Jordan River gradually refilled over a few days
C.) The Jordan River did not refill but remained dry for seven years |
