JOSHUA CHAPTER 4, “Setting Up
Memorials To The Lord”
By
Jim Bomkamp
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. We are continuing in our
study of the book of Joshua
1.1.1. In chapter one, we saw that
the promised land of Canaan symbolizes for us as Christians not the rest that
we will have in heaven, since the book of Joshua is full of battle after battle
as the children of Israel are going about and conquering the land of Canaan,
but rather walking in the blessing and victory which is our inheritance in
Christ
1.1.1.1.
We saw that there are many promises which we have been given in Christ,
however we as Christians must step out and claim and appropriate these promises
for us in order to receive their blessing in our lives
1.1.1.2.
The book of Joshua is filled with symbolisms for us of stepping out in
faith in the Lord and conquering the land that God has given to us as
Christians
1.1.1.3.
We saw that we as Christians do not battle up to the position of
victory as Christians, but because of Christ’s victorious work upon the cross
over sin, hell, death, the grave, the Devil, and even our own flesh, that we
stand in the position of victory already in Christ, guaranteed victory when we
step out and stand upon God’s promises for us
1.1.2. In chapter two, we looked at
this woman Rahab the Harlot, a citizen of the city of Jericho, and we saw that
in her act of risking her life to shelter the spies from Israel as well as
pleading for her salvation, that she demonstrated for us how true saving faith
in the Lord is demonstrated in one’s life
1.1.3. Then, in chapter three we
saw that the crossing of the
1.1.3.1.
We saw that the Lord had “taken the children of
1.1.3.2.
This symbolizes that for the Christian that the Lord has saved us
through our faith in Christ, but He has brought this about so that we can then
begin to walk with the Lord and claim and appropriate all of the promises that
He has given to us. That first step of faith
in coming to Christ was meant to be one of many.
1.1.3.3.
We saw also that most commentators believe that the event of the
crossing of the Jordan River symbolizes for the Christian the salvation that we
have in Christ, however the book of Exodus describes for us the deliverance
from the world, the Devil, and sin that the Lord provides for us when we come
to salvation through Christ, and at that time the children of Israel also
miraculously made a crossing of water, the Red Sea. The people were to immediately cross the
1.1.3.4.
We concentrated then upon what we as Christians need to do in our own
crossing of the Jordan River as we prepare to go into the land of God’s
promises when we begin to claim and appropriate God’s promises and conquer the
territory and the inhabitants and rulers of that territory for Christ
1.1.3.4.1.
We answered the questions, “What does it mean for me as a Christian to
cross over the
1.2. In our study today, we are
going to look at the children of
1.2.1. We will see that the Lord
leads the children of Israel to take 12 stones, one for each tribe, from the
center of the Jordan River where they have just crossed over, and set up a
memorial to the Lord on Canaan’s side of the Jordan
1.2.2. We will see that the Lord
tells the children of
1.2.3. We will see also that Joshua
decides to setup a second rock memorial to the Lord and place this one right in
the center of the Jordan River where the priests had been standing holding the
‘ark’ as the children of
1.2.4. We will discuss the
importance of making and setting up memorials to the Lord of the things He has
taught us and done in our lives as Christians, for as the Psalmist wrote in
Psalm 155:4, “He
hath made his wonderful works to be remembered…” The
Lord’s works are just too great, too precious, and too important to be
forgotten!
2. VS 4:1-8 - “1 Now it came about when all the
nation had finished crossing the Jordan, that the Lord spoke to Joshua,
saying,2 “Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from each
tribe,3 and command them, saying, ‘Take up for yourselves twelve stones from
here out of the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet
are standing firm, and carry them over with you, and lay them down in the
lodging place where you will lodge tonight.’”4 So Joshua called the twelve men
whom he had appointed from the sons of Israel, one man from each tribe;5 and
Joshua said to them, “Cross again to the ark of the Lord your God into the
middle of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder,
according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel.6 “Let this be a
sign among you, so that when your children ask later, saying, ‘What do these
stones mean to you?’7 then you shall say to them, ‘Because the waters of the
2.1. Before leaving this story of
the crossing of the Jordan River, we should take time to comment for a
moment about the heroism of the priests who have first of all stepped
into the flood stage rushing waters of the Jordan at the command of the
Lord which signaled the Lord’s backing up of the water so that the people could
cross over on dry ground, and then they have carried this ‘ark’ to the
center of the Jordan, and then they have stood steadfast there as
every member of this 2 ½ million group of Israelites has passed through. These actions of the priests are symbolic
for us today in the church of the importance of those who are pastors and
leaders in the church to be examples to the flock in being willing to
courageously step out in faith in the Lord and His promises, and in
remaining courageous and steadfast in their serving the Lord and His people,
regardless of the great and perilous dangers and warfare which they encounter
in doing so. If God’s people in the
church do not have such for leaders then the body of Christ does not have a
proper example to follow and they will not be challenged in their walk, and,
they will tend to wander and go astray from God’s will for their lives.
2.2. The Lord has just performed an incredible
miracle for the children of Israel, perhaps even greater than that of the
crossing of the Red Sea, in backing up the flood stage Jordan River so that
the Israelites could cross over to the other side, and now the Lord tells
Joshua that this miracle is such an incredible testimony to the faithfulness of
God and of His might that the people need to treasure what this miracle has
meant to them. The Lord then tells them
to take out twelve stones from the river bed where the priests have been
standing to set them up on
2.3. It is such an important
thing for the people of God from time to time to remember the great things that
the Lord has done in their lives, for these great works of the past give us
courage to yet again trust the Lord and His power and provision and not
waver in unbelief nor stray from the things that the Lord has called us to do.
2.4. In the Old Testament the
children of
2.4.1. Deut. 11:13-25, “13 “And it shall come about, if
you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to
love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your
soul,14 that He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early and
late rain, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil.15
“And He will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you shall eat and
be satisfied.16 “Beware, lest your hearts be deceived and you turn away and
serve other gods and worship them.17 “Or the anger of the Lord will be kindled
against you, and He will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and
the ground will not yield its fruit; and you will perish quickly from the good
land which the Lord is giving you. 18
“You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your
soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as
frontals on your forehead.19 “And you shall teach them to your sons, talking of
them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you
lie down and when you rise up.20 “And you shall write them on the doorposts of
your house and on your gates,21 so that your days and the days of your sons
may be multiplied on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give
them, as long as the heavens remain above the earth.22 “For if you are careful
to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you, to do it, to love the
Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him;23 then the Lord
will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess
nations greater and mightier than you.24 “Every place on which the sole of your
foot shall tread shall be yours; your border shall be from the wilderness to
Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the western sea.25
“There shall no man be able to stand before you; the Lord your God shall lay
the dread of you and the fear of you on all the land on which you set foot, as
He has spoken to you.”
2.4.1.1.
Note here that the Lord told them to impress the words of His law on
their heart and soul, bind them as a sign on their hands, place them as
frontals on their foreheads, and be diligent to constantly teach them to their
children.
2.5. There are several Old
Testament scriptures which tell us about the fact that though the
children of Israel were supposed to remember the great things that the Lord had
done for them in the past, and teach these things to their children, that they
forgot to do this and forgot what He had done and forgot to pass these
things on to their children. See for
instance:
2.5.1. Psalm 106:13-15, 21-22, “13 They
quickly forgot His works; They did not
wait for His counsel, 14 But craved intensely in the wilderness, And tempted
God in the desert. 15 So He gave them
their request, But sent a wasting disease among them…21 They forgot God their
Savior, Who had done great things in Egypt, 22 Wonders in the land of Ham, And
awesome things by the Red Sea.”
2.5.2. Psalm 78:5-21, “5 For He
established a testimony in Jacob, And appointed a law in Israel, Which He
commanded our fathers, That they should teach them to their children, 6 That
the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, That they
may arise and tell them to their children, 7 That they should put their
confidence in God, And not forget the works of God, But keep His commandments,
8 And not be like their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, A
generation that did not prepare its heart, And whose spirit was not faithful to
God. 9 The sons of Ephraim were archers
equipped with bows, Yet they turned back in the day of battle. 10 They did not keep the covenant of God, And
refused to walk in His law; 11 And they
forgot His deeds, And His miracles that He had shown them. 12 He wrought wonders before their fathers,
In the
2.5.2.1.
What a sad thing it is for a man or a woman of God to serve the Lord
his/her entire life only to have his/her children grow up not to know the ways
of the Lord because we forgot to take the time with them to tell them about the
great things that the Lord has done.
This has happened to many of the people of God throughout history, even
some who themselves were used greatly by God, so we need to be careful
to not allow it to happen to us.
2.5.2.2.
I believe that we all need to be chided for our forgetfulness of the
things that the Lord has done in our lives:
The miracles He has performed, the healings, the deliverances, the
provisions, protections, blessings, gifts, etc.
2.5.2.3.
Let’s face it, we are a people who tend to be forgetful!
2.6. So it was also that whenever
the children of Israel fell away from the Lord, and the Old Testament shows
us their history was one of constantly falling away from the Lord and then
repenting and coming back into relationship with their Lord, that the reason
that they had fallen away from the Lord was always that they had forgotten to
remember the Lord and the great things that He had done for them.
2.7. Likewise, whenever the
children of Israel were led back to the Lord after having gone astray, the first sin
that they confessed in coming back to the Lord was having forgotten the Lord
and the great things that He had done for them.
2.7.1. We see this happening for
instance in Nehemiah chapter 9 when the people were going back to the word of God
and recommitting themselves to the Lord after returning from their Babylonian
captivity, and they began to confess their sins and the sins of the
fathers. They immediately began to
remember the great deeds of the Lord on their behalf in the deliverance from
Egpyt, etc.
2.8. There are many places in the
scriptures where God’s people are led to set up memorials to help them to
remember the great things that the Lord has done:
2.8.1. Many in the scriptures built
altars to the Lord, including Noah, Abraham at least four times, Jacob, Moses
at least three times, Aaron, Joshua and others.
Sometimes
they even gave their altars a special name.
2.8.2. The word of God itself is a
remembrance of
the great things that God has done and thus in Exod. 17:14-15 we see the
Lord telling Moses to write down in a book the things that the Lord had done in
helping them to conquer the Amelekites, and then he built an altar to the Lord,
“14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this in a book as a memorial, and
recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from
under heaven.”15 And Moses built an altar, and named it The Lord is My Banner.”
2.8.3. The Passover was designed to
be a memorial to what the Lord had done in delivering the people from
2.8.4. In 1 Cor. 11:24-26, we
read that the Lord Jesus the night before He was betrayed and went to the cross
that He instructed His disciples to regularly remember Him through the
symbols of the bread and the wine at the Passover Feast, which we in the
church here celebrate monthly and call “The Lord’s Supper” or “Communion,” “24 and when He had given thanks, He broke
it, and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of
Me.”25 In the same way He took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is
the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance
of Me.”26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim
the Lord’s death until He comes.”
2.8.5. In Matt. 26:13, there is the
interesting words of Jesus about the woman who had spent about a year’s income
to buy a costly ointment to anoint His head as an act of worship, ““Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel
shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman
hath done, be told for a memorial of her.”
2.8.5.1.
You see, the sacrifice that this woman had made to worship Jesus was
also too great, too precious, and too important to be forgotten by the church.
2.8.6. In Isaiah 49:16, the Lord
reveals that He has made a memorial of us, for He has inscribed us upon His
hands, “Behold, I have
graven thee upon the palms of my hands.”
2.8.7. I believe that the many
instances in the scripture of the Lord giving people a new name was done as one
of the best ways to commemorate a work that He had accomplished in their lives,
and thus we
read about how: Abram becomes
Abraham, Sarai becomes Sarah, Jacob becomes Israel, Hoshea becomes Joshua, Simon becomes Peter, and Saul becomes Paul.
2.8.8. Likewise, much of the work
that a pastor does in teaching and counseling God’s people is to remind them of
things that they already know:
2.8.8.1.
2 Tim. 1:6, “6 And for this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of
God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”
2.8.8.2.
2 Tim. 2:14, “14 Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them
in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless, and leads to
the ruin of the hearers.”
2.8.8.3.
2 Peter 1:12, “12 Therefore, I shall always be ready to remind you of these things, even though
you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present
with you.”
2.8.8.4.
Jude 5-7, “5 Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things
once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt,
subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.6 And angels who did not keep
their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal
bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.7 Just as Sodom and
Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these
indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an
example, in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.”
2.9. I have known many people who
have done various things in order to help them to remember important things in
their lives, including:
2.9.1. Some people tie a string
around their finger to remind them of something that they have committed to do.
2.9.2. Some people write notes on
their refrigerator, car dashboard, computer at work,etc.
2.9.2.1.
Some of the handouts you receive in our church are intended for you to
use in this way and to help you remember the things that the Lord has done or
taught you.
2.9.3. Some people daily journal
and write in diaries all of the things that the Lord speaks to them about during their quiet times and
prayer times, and this provides a very good way to remember what God has done.
2.9.3.1.
These can be very valuable resources not only for yourself but also for
others after you pass on from this life, as we see from the many books and movies that have been
written from a person’s diary or journal.
2.9.4. Some people wear crosses or
other jewelry and even tattoos.
2.9.5. Paul Clark, a
singer/songwriter who has been sharing the gospel and preaching since the “Jesus People”
days came to our church a few years ago.
He told us that he always carries three marbles in his pocket wherever
he goes. He carries a white one to
remind him that he is to be pure. He
carries a red one to remind him of the precious blood of Jesus who was shed on
his behalf. He carries a green one to
remind him that he is always to be growing.
2.9.5.1.
It doesn’t really matter too much what method you use to help you to
regularly remember the great things that the Lord has done for you or a commitment that
you have made to the Lord, just as long as you choose some mechanism, and as
long as you don’t go so far with that or “loose your marbles!”
2.10.
For you and I as Christians, the book of Joshua symbolizes
the walk in the blessing and the victory which is our inheritance in Christ,
however as we cross over into this land to begin this walk of claiming and
appropriating the promises that God has made to us, we must also take time to
set up memorials of what God has taught us and done in our lives!
3. VS 4:9-10 - “9 Then Joshua set up twelve
stones in the middle of the Jordan at the place where the feet of the priests
who carried the ark of the covenant were standing, and they are there to this
day.10 For the priests who carried the ark were standing in the middle of the
Jordan until everything was completed that the Lord had commanded Joshua to
speak to the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. And the
people hurried and crossed;” – Joshua tells the people to also set up twelve
stones in the middle of the Jordan River where the priests have been standing
with the ‘ark’
3.1. It is interesting to note
here that it is not recorded that the Lord told Joshua to set up twelve stones
in the center of the river. This was Joshua’s idea. It seems that for him the light switch turned
on and he got what the Lord was trying to teach us. He saw the importance of the principle of
setting up memorials to the great things that the Lord has done and decided
that it would also be good to set up a memorial in the center of the river
where they walked through.
3.2. In our last study, we saw
that the crossing of the Jordan River symbolized having died with Christ upon the cross of Calvary and
the crossing to the other side as being symbolic of being raised up to walk in
the newness of life in Christ. The
fingerprint of the Holy Spirit in revealing this was brought out in the fact
that when the Lord backed up the river that He backed it up to the city of
“Adam.” “Adam” is our federal
head as human beings, and all people have inherited sin and the sin
nature from their federal head, “Adam.” When a Christian begins to die to sin,
self and the old sinful nature, then the flow from Adam is cut off and
Christ, who is called “the second Adam,” begins to live through his life. Here we see then that the two memorials of
stones are in a sense symbolic of the two ways in which we as Christians are
identified with Christ, in His death and burial (the memorial in the
center of the river) and in His resurrection from the dead (the memorial
on
3.3. Joshua notes that the people
hurried across the parted river as they understood the importance as well as
the great blessing of this miracle and they were not going to take the Lord for
granted in anything.
3.4. Either Joshua towards the end of his life,
or an editor at a later date than Joshua, writes here that these
memorial stones in the
3.5. Year to year, these memorial
stones in the center of the
4. VS 4:11-13 - “11 and it came about when all
the people had finished crossing, that the ark of the Lord and the priests
crossed before the people.12 And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the
half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over in battle array before the sons of Israel,
just as Moses had spoken to them;13 about 40,000, equipped for war, crossed for
battle before the Lord to the desert plains of Jericho.” – Joshua writes that after
the people crossed the
4.1. In our first study of this
book in chapter 1, we discussed the two tribes of Reuben and Gad and how that long before the
children of Israel were ready to cross the Jordan River that they had
decided to take their inheritance as God’s people on the wilderness side of the
Jordan since they had lots of livestock.
This plan was eventually conceded to by Moses as long as the two
tribes went into the land and fought all of the battles with the other ten
tribes until each had conquered the people’s for their lands. However, we noted that in settling there they
had placed themselves in God’s “permissive” will, instead of His “perfect”
will for their lives, and that later the scriptures show that they paid a
huge price for walking in God’s “permissive” will. In chapter one, Joshua had the two
tribes agree to go before and lead the children of
5. VS 4:14 - “14 On that day the Lord exalted
Joshua in the sight of all Israel; so that they revered him, just as they had
revered Moses all the days of his life.” – We see that when the people had crossed the
Jordan River that this solidified the spiritual leadership of Joshua over the
children of
5.1. This verse speaks of
prophesy fulfilled. In the last chapter we saw that
when Moses led the people in the crossing of the Red Sea as they were
fleeing
6. VS 4:15-18 - “15 Now the Lord said to
Joshua,16 “Command the priests who carry the ark of the testimony that they
come up from the
6.1. The miracle of the crossing of the
6.2. Not in verse 18 that Joshua
tells us that the river went back to overflowing its banks, indicating that it was indeed
at flood stage as we asserted.
7. VS 4:19-24 - “19 Now the people came up from
the Jordan on the tenth of the first month and camped at Gilgal on the eastern
edge of Jericho.20 And those twelve stones which they had taken from the
Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal.21 And he said to the sons of Israel, “When
your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these
stones?’22 then you shall inform your children, saying, ‘Israel crossed this
Jordan on dry ground.’23 “For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the
Jordan before you until you had crossed, just as the Lord your God had done to
the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed;24 that all the
peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, so that you
may fear the Lord your God forever.”” - Joshua
tells us that the monument of twelve rocks was actually set up at Gilgal, not
right on the banks of the
7.1. Joshua tells us the date of
this crossing. There is nothing in God’s word incidentally. This was the very month, and the fortieth
anniversary of the Exodus out of
7.2. Evidently, we can surmise
that Gilgal provided a better place long term for setting up a monument than
the bank of the
7.3. Gilgal was about 6.2 miles
west from the Jordan River and 1.25 miles east of
7.4. The arrangement and detail
of this monument of rocks set up at Gilgal is not described, but it may have
been somewhat elaborate since it was designed to last for centuries as a reminder.
7.4.1. Some have suggested that the
rocks in this monument were set one on top of another to form a monolith type
of structure that would have been most visible to all traveling by.
7.5. Joshua instructed the people
that in the
future and throughout their generations that they were to use the memorial
of the stones at Gilgal as a teaching lesson for their children to tell
them about how the Lord had worked in such an incredible way on this day in
parting the
7.5.1. We Christian parents need to
use every opportunity that comes our way with our children as teaching tools to let them know about the
faithfulness of God and of the great things that He has done in times
past. When we’re driving, walking,
watching TV, playing with them, etc., we need to teach them the ways of God.
7.5.2. We parents must never
relinquish the teaching of our children of God’s ways to their Sunday School
teachers or the church, we must realize that we have been called by God to be the primary
teachers of our children.
7.5.3. Fathers, as the spiritual
leaders and head of the home, have an even greater responsibility for the
teaching and upbringing of their children and must not abdicate from this and
cause mom to have to do all of the teaching and child rearing.
7.5.4. The natural inquisitiveness
of our young children as they ask us question after question about God, things
in the Bible, our faith, our testimony, reasons for the decisions which we
make, can and should all be used to the best of our ability to teach our
children the Lord’s ways.
7.5.5. As our children grow older
and more independent we need to take opportunities to tell them of the God’s
ways when they are in need of wisdom or perhaps discerning God’s will for the
many decisions and choices that they make in life.
7.5.6. When we have grown old, we
need to remind our children and our children’s children of all that God has
done for us throughout all of our years.
8. CONCLUSION:
8.1. In concluding this study on
setting up memorials to the Lord, I would ask you to consider what legacy for
your life you would like to leave to your children, family, or friends after
you pass from this life? How do you want
your life to count for God?
8.1.1. It is such an important
thing I believe for us Christians to ponder this very question, as well as how
we might accomplish that legacy we desire to have.
8.1.2. I don’t want to be morbid,
but Benjamin Franklin comes to mind when I think of this question, for when he
considered the legacy that he wanted to leave behind in this world he decided
to pen the following words he wanted to be written on his gravestone, “The body of Benjamin Franklin, Printer, like the cover
of an old book, its contents torn out and stripped of its lettering and
gilding, lies here … Yet the Work itself shall not be lost; for it will, as he
believed, appear once more in a new and more beautiful edition, corrected and
amended by the Author.”
8.2. I would ask you from time to
time to consider how might you be able to make memorials to what the Lord has
taught you or done in your life in helping you to accomplish the goal of the
legacy you would like to leave behind.
8.3. I would ask you to take time
regularly to remember the things that the Lord has taught you over the years,
or the things that He has done in your life.
The things that He has delivered you from, the miraculous ways He has
provided for you, the times when His miraculous hand of protection has kept you
safe, etc.
8.4. As you make memorials to the
Lord and take time to think on the things that the Lord has done, watch and see
how you are encouraged to step out and trust Him yet again, to persevere in the
things that He has called you to do, and you will be filled with the love and joy
of the Holy Spirit working within your heart
8.5. In closing, let’s take a
moment corporately to thank God for the great things that He has taught us and
done in our lives