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May 26, 2013
We all have memory problems: we forget what we should remember, but dwell on what is best forgotten. In this study of Joshua 3 and 4, Alistair Begg explains that God often gives His people memorials as reminders of His faithfulness and provision. Like the Israelites who built a memorial from the stones of the Jordan River, God’s people in every generation must take care to commit a record of God’s faithfulness to coming generations.
1Then Joshua rose early in the morning and they set out tfrom Shittim. And they came to the Jordan, he and all the people of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over. 2uAt the end of three days the officers went through the camp 3and commanded the people, “As soon as you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by vthe Levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place and follow it. 4wYet there shall be a distance between you and it, about 2,000 cubits1 in length. Do not come near it, in order that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.” 5Then Joshua said to the people, x“Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” 6And Joshua said to the priests, y“Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on before the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people.
7The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to zexalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, aas I was with Moses, so I will be with you. 8And as for you, command bthe priests who bear the ark of the covenant, ‘When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, cyou shall stand still in the Jordan.’” 9And Joshua said to the people of Israel, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God.” 10And Joshua said, “Here is how you shall know that dthe living God is among you and that he will without fail edrive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites. 11Behold, the ark of the covenant of fthe Lord of all the earth2 gis passing over before you into the Jordan. 12Now therefore htake twelve men from the tribes of Israel, ifrom each tribe a man. 13And jwhen the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the Lord, fthe Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall kstand in one heap.”
14So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing lthe ark of the covenant before the people, 15and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and mthe feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (now nthe Jordan overflows all its banks othroughout the time of harvest), 16the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away, at Adam, the city that is beside pZarethan, and those flowing down toward the Sea of qthe Arabah, rthe Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho. 17Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, sand all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.
1When all the nation had finished passing tover the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, 2u“Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, 3and command them, saying, ‘Take vtwelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place wwhere the priests' feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in xthe place where you lodge tonight.’” 4Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. 5And Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, 6that this may be a sign among you. yWhen your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ 7then you shall tell them that zthe waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel aa memorial forever.”
8And the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, just as the Lord told Joshua. And they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down1 there. 9And Joshua set up2 twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, bin the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood; and they are there to this day. 10For the priests bearing the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to tell the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua.
The people passed over in haste. 11And when all the people had finished passing over, the ark of the Lord and the priests passed over before the people. 12The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh cpassed over armed before the people of Israel, as Moses had told them. 13About 40,000 ready for war passed over before the Lord for battle, to the plains of Jericho. 14On that day the Lord dexalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they stood in awe of him just as they had stood in awe of Moses, all the days of his life.
15And the Lord said to Joshua, 16“Command the priests bearing ethe ark of the testimony to come up out of the Jordan.” 17So Joshua commanded the priests, “Come up out of the Jordan.” 18And when the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord came up from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up on dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks, fas before.
19The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped at gGilgal on the east border of Jericho. 20And hthose twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal. 21And he said to the people of Israel, i“When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 22then you shall let your children know, j‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’ 23For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, kwhich he dried up for us until we passed over, 24lso that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mmighty, that you may nfear the Lord your God forever.”3
Copyright © 2024, Alistair Begg. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.
