Sunday, October 2, 2011

Joshua 4

(1) When all the people had crossed the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua,

  •  Israel was now on the other side of the Jordan - in the Promised Land. But what is life in the Promised Land like?  Is it one glorious vacation time after another?  No; for Israel it was a place of battle, but most of all, it was a place of trust - they knew they had to trust God with every thing they had, because the challenges only got bigger in the Promised Land - but so did the blessings.
  • The question has been raised as to why the Canaanites - who had a reputation for great ferocity - did not attack Israel when they crossed the river, a time when they would be very vulnerable. The answer is probably that the Israelites crossed the river at a location where the Canaanites would never expect the Israelites to cross - an area which was muddy and marshland. The rapid crossing in an unexpected location clearly caught the Canaanites and the inhabitants of Jericho off-guard. The fact that the Israelites were across the river at an unexpected location in a miraculous way, while the river was at flood stage, indicated that YHWH was acting on behalf of his people. No doubt, when news reached Jericho that the entire nation of Israel had suddenly crossed the river and were but a few miles away headed toward Gilgal, its inhabitants were terrified.
  • Yet another significant thing to note is that once Israel crosses the river and the Jordan returns to flood stage, that the entire nation is now cut-off from any possibility of escape back into Moab. The entire nation of Israel is in Canaan - lock, stock and barrel. There is now no turning back. Israel must rely upon YHWH's power to keep his covenant promise and enable them to defeat the Canaanites. Israel must walk by faith and Israel obey YHWH's commands. Since the people have just witnessed YHWH's amazing provision for the crossing of the Jordan, he has given his people plenty of reason to trust in his covenant promise that he will drive the Canaanites out of the land. This is why YHWH orders the construction of a memorial to this event, because he knows that in our sinfulness and weakness, we always forget the good things that he has done for us.

(2) '"Now choose twelve men, one from each tribe.

(3) Tell them, "Take twelve *stones from the very place where the priests are standing in the middle of the Jordan. Carry them out and pile them up at the place where you will camp tonight.'"

  • The erection of a memorial to commemorate the crossing of the river was something commanded of them by YHWH through the mediation of Joshua. The instructions from YHWH are quite specific.
  • *stones:
    • There's another important stone in the Bible - the one that was rolled away from the mouth of a tomb!
    •  1 Peter 2:5: And you are living stones that God is building
      into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus
      Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.

(4) So Joshua called together the twelve men he had chosen one from each of the tribes of Israel.

(5) He told them, "Go into the middle of the Jordan, in front of the Ark of the Lord your God. Each of you must pick up one stone and carry it out on your *shoulder - twelve stones in all, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel.

  • *shoulder: These were pretty big rocks - closer to boulders!

(6) We will use these stones to build a *memorial. In the future your children will ask you, 'What do these stones mean?'

  • *memorial:
    • The meaning of the Hebrew word for memorial is "to remember". At the foot of Mt. Sinai, Moses built an altar of stones to commemorate God's covenant with Israel (Exodus 24:4).
    • The memorial will be a sign to ensure that Israel never forget what happened on this remarkable day. Commemorating this event will also remind all Israel of the fact that God always keeps his covenant promises. Yet, there are Christians who believe that God has replaced Israel with the Church - thus, breaking His promises!
    • We see several stone memorials placed in Old Testament days. Jacob sets up a stone at Bethel after God revealed to him in a dream that he had not deserted him. "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven" (Genesis 28:16-17). After the massing Philistine armies were destroyed by a thunderstorm, Samuel sets up a stone and names it Ebenezer ("stone of help"), saying, "Up to this point the Lord has helped us!" (1 Samuel 7:12).
    • Memorials give us -- and future generations - points of reference so we don't forget the significance of God's past dealings with us. Nor are these memorials always set in stone. After the Exodus, God instructs the people to remember their deliverance out of Egypt through the Passover feast. To this very day, on Passover night, Jewish families prompt the youngest child to ask the ancient question, "Why is this night different from all other nights?" And the father replies by telling the story of God's great redemption, of the sacrificial blood of a lamb on each Israelite doorpost and lintel, of bread dough freshly made "before the yeast was added" (Exodus 12), and of the awesome crossing through the Red Sea. Notice the importance that the emphasis was on passing on this memory to the next generations!
    • God used Gideon to defeat the huge Midianite army with just 300 men. But afterwards, he fashioned a gold ephod with the plunder that became much more than a memorial of victory. "all the Israelites prostituted themselves by worshiping it, and it became a trap for Gideon and his family." (Judges 8:27). God-ordained memorials point to Him, not to themselves.
    • The purpose of this memorial was so that the people of Israel could teach their children about the great things God had done, so that the work of God would not be forgotten among the generations. Often, the faith of our children is weak because they have never been told how great God is and how real His working is in our lives.

(7) Then you can tell them, 'They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord's Covenant went across.' These stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever."

(8) So the men did as Joshua had commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan River, one for each tribe, just as the Lord had told Joshua. They carried them to the place where they camped for the night and constructed the memorial there.

  • Here, the twelve from each tribe construct the memorial. In verse 9, Joshua constructed the memorial in the middle of the river.
  • They were to be a sign constantly under their eyes and those of their children.

(9) Joshua also set up another pile of twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, at the place where the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant were standing. And they are there to this day.

  • The twelve stones in the river-bed tell out the story of the death of Christ and our death with Him. We are dead to sin and to the law as well as crucified unto the world. We must, therefore, reckon ourselves dead unto sin. The other memorial was erected at Gilgal. As they looked upon these stones and their children asked them, "What mean these stones?" they could point to them and say, as these stones were taken out of Jordan on the dry land, so had they been brought out of Jordan into this land of promise. This memorial is the type of the fact "that we are alive unto God in our Lord Jesus Christ." We are a new creation in Christ Jesus, the old things are passed away, behold all things are become new. It is the memorial which tells us, that we are raised up and seated in Christ in the heavenly places.
  • When the water comes back only God will know what happened to those stones. But the memory lives on - in Joshua's mind - in the minds of the people.

(10) The priests who were carrying the Ark stood in the middle of the river until all of the Lord's commands that Moses had given to Joshua were carried out. Meanwhile, the people hurried across the riverbed.

(11) And when everyone was safely on the other side, the priests crossed over with the Ark of the Lord as the people watched.

(12) The armed warriors from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh led the Israelites across the Jordan, just as Moses had directed.

(13) These armed men - about *40,000 strong - were ready for battle, and the Lord was with them as they crossed over to the plains of Jericho.

  • *40,000 out of 100,000 counted in Numbers.

(14) That day the Lord made Joshua a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites, and for the rest of his life they revered him as much as they had revered Moses.

(15) The Lord had said to Joshua,

(16) "Command the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant to *come up out of the riverbed."

  • *come up: Revelation 4:1: Then as I looked, I saw a door standing open in heaven, and the same voice I had heard before spoke to me like a trumpet blast. The voice said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this." - Speaks of the Rapture.

(17) So Joshua gave the command.

(18) As soon as the priests carrying the Ark of the Lord's Covenant came up out of the riverbed and their feet were on high ground, the water of the Jordan returned and overflowed its banks as before.

(19) The people crossed the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month. Then they camped at Gilgal, just east of Jericho.

  • The month Nisan or Abib, which from the time of Israel's coming out of Egypt was appointed the first month of the year, (Exodus 12:2); on the fifteenth of which month they came out of Egypt, having kept the Passover on the fourteenth in the evening; so that their coming out of Egypt, to their entrance into Canaan, was just forty years, less five days. This tenth day was the day in which the Passover was taken from the flock, and kept till the fourteenth, on which day the children of Israel kept their first Passover in Canaan, in the plains of Jericho, (Joshua 5:10).
  • It is interesting that over a thousand years later, at that very spot at Bethabara, "House of Passage," John 1:28, John the Baptist pointed to this very memorial to make his point. Matthew 3:9; Luke 3:8.
    • Matthew 3:9: Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones.
    • Luke 3:8: Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones.

(20) It was there at *Gilgal that Joshua piled up the twelve stones taken from the Jordan River.

  • *Gilgal:
    • Gilgal will become their base of operations for the conquest of the entire Promised Land. Therefore, it was appropriate that the first work at Gilgal was to set up a memorial to God's great works.
    • Militarily, one would have expected the first act to be to prepare for battle!
    • Gilgal, was on rising ground, and, according to Josephus, nearly five miles from the river, and consequently about two from the city itself. The site of the camp was no doubt fortified by Joshua, as it constituted for some time the abiding foothold in Canaan, from where he sallied forth to subdue the country. It was also the place of safety where the ark, and no doubt also the women, children, cattle, and other property of the people were left. Hence, the demolition of Jericho and Ai, strong fortresses in the neighborhood of Gilgal, was no doubt dictated by sound policy as well as by religious obligations.
    • This was the place where Israel would camp, renew the covenant and celebrate the Passover. Both a sanctuary and an altar to God would be built here as well. Gilgal was the place where later on in Israel's history, Samuel would offer sacrifices and where Saul was made king. By the time of the prophets, five hundred years later, Gilgal had become closely associated with paganism, and this place became a sad symbol of Israel's apostasy.
    • When Samuel made his tour of holy places where he judged the people at Bethel, at Mizpeh, he also came to the holy place of Gilgal. In a time of great national crisis, the whole nation gathered together to renew their vows at Gilgal. It was at Gilgal that Saul was crowned king over all Israel. It was also at Gilgal that Saul was disfranchised, that he was rejected from being king over the people of the Lord. It was at Gilgal that Samuel cut Agag, king of the Amalekites, in pieces before the Lord. This campsite became one of the holy places in Palestine, and it was located just beyond the western bank of the Jordan River.
    • The memorial altar of stones erected there became a pagan shrine of later years against which Hosea (4:15) and Amos (4:4) warned the people.
      • Hosea 4:15: "Though you, Israel, are a prostitute, may Judah avoid such guilt. Do not join the false worship at Gilgal or Beth-aven, even though they take oaths there in the Lord’s name.
      • Amos 4:4: “Go ahead and offer sacrifices to the idols at Bethel. Keep on disobeying at Gilgal. Offer sacrifices each morning, and bring your tithes every three days.

(21) Then Joshua said to the Israelites, "In the future your *children will ask, 'What do these stones mean?'

  • *children:
    • 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. 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.
    • Do you take time to tell you children about God's work in your life? Do you have a story of God's work in your life?
    • In two places in the chapter, parents are reminded of their responsibility for the communication of God's Word and His calling on their children, generation to generation. Parents dare not and cannot abdicate this to others. God charges parents with this privilege and responsibility.
    • Consider what legacy for your life you would like to leave to your children after you pass from this life? How do you want your life to count for God?
    • We have a sacred responsibility to take the truth of God and see that it is passed down to the next generation. Psalm 102:18 says, "Let this be recorded for future generations, so that a people not yet born will praise the Lord." ”Those who are older have a special obligation to pass on the stories of what God did for them. Now that I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God. Let me proclaim your power to this new generation, your mighty miracles to all who come after me. (Psalm 71:18). As Joshua makes clear, parents bear the first responsibility to teaching their children - and not just parents in general, but fathers in particular. God holds fathers accountable for the spiritual development of their children.
    • It is the responsibility for both parents to build and explain memorials, God's Word to their children. The most important role of the parent is to build these memorials in the lives of their children. To do this we must first have memorials in our lives to remind us of what God has done for us.
    • What kind of memorials have you built in your life? For our children and grandchildren to see? At my wife's family reunion, I was asked to give a short talk about what the reunion represented and I mentioned this memorial at Gilgal and that all about 50 (with many missing) were a memorial to Arlo and Byrnece Harris and all of them came from two people who loved each other and loved the Lord.
    • If we do not pass along the faith to the rising generation, we have failed at our most important task. We must tell them what God has done for us - and then we must tell them again and again until the stories are tattooed on their souls. Tell your children how God answered your prayers in times of trouble. Tell them how Jesus rescued you from a life of sin. Tell them how you saw God do amazing things - tell the stories and then tell them again. Every generation needs its own stories. The older generation had the Red Sea, the younger generation had the Jordan River. Joshua wasn't concerned about his generation - they had seen the mighty works of God. Though he was past middle age, he was looking to the future, thinking about the legacy of faith he would pass on to the next generation.

(22) Then you can tell them, 'This is where the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry ground.'

(23) For the Lord your God dried up the river right before your eyes, and he kept it dry until you were all across, just as he did at the *Red Sea when he dried it up until we had all crossed over.

  • *Red Sea: The crossing of the Jordan certainly reminds us of the passage of the Red Sea. But the emphasis in the case of the Red Sea was Israel's deliverance out of Egypt; while the crossing of Jordan emphasizes Israel's entrance into the land of promise. This is the positive side of Israel's blessing and reminds us of God's words concerning the saints of God today, "blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3). Thus, the death and resurrection of Christ not only separates us from a hostile world, but it invests us with wealth beyond all imagination in a place of pure joy and eternal glory. Canaan is of course only a faint picture of this.

(24) He did this so all the nations of the earth might know that the Lord's hand is powerful, and so you might fear the Lord your God forever."

  • Here, God was again reminding Israel of her purpose as a nation of priests (Exodus 19:4-6; 1 Peter 2:5, 9-11). The application to us should be obvious. Christians are living stones of a holy temple, living memorials of the power of God. But we too face the threat of forgetting the Lord by forgetting our pilgrim character through preoccupation with the world.
  • As in the passage of the Jordan all Israel came up on to the river's bank, so in the resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus, the whole Church of his redeemed passed over to resurrection ground, and are, in the purpose and thought of God, already seated in heavenly places.
  • They are not just to be a memorial for Israel, but a message to all nations of who God is, that He is over all and that He can and will accomplish all he sets His hands to.
  • There are two significant events in the Old Testament that the writers refer to over and over and over again. The first is the deliverance from Egypt and the passing through the Red Sea - when God's people ceased being slaves and became a nation. All of which took place under Moses. The second significant event is the crossing of the Jordan. The crossing is more significant than the conquest of the Promised Land. The longest journey begins with a single step. The crossing is the first step.  The step of faith that moves the nation from wanderers in the desert to possessors of God's promised land.
  • All Israel knew that God would given them the land, as did the Canaanites, about whom we read in verse 1 of chapter 5, ";When all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings who lived along the Mediterranean coast heard how the Lord had dried up the Jordan River so the people of Israel could cross, they lost heart and were paralyzed with fear because of them." YHWH displayed his mighty power so that all the peoples of the earth might see and know that He is the LORD.
  • Ironically, the same thing can be seen in the public ministry of Jesus–the greater Joshua. When John was concluding his gospel in John 20:30-31, he wrote these words: “Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.” God does not act in dramatic and powerful ways to impress us, like some kind of cosmic magician who can do magic tricks which seemingly have no rational explanation. No, the miracles of God have a very specific purpose–they are signs to strengthen the faith of those who believe, and warnings to those who don’t.

NOTE: Unless otherwise noted, the scripture version used is the New Living Translation.

NOTE: Sources and References are on line at: http://joshua-biblestudy.blogspot.com/2011/07/joshua-references-and-sources.html

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