EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries
Joshua 4:1-24
Come in, and receive God’s promises!
Joshua
Brian Rowlands
Maps to help you to study this book are on the Internet at www.easyenglish.info.Chapter 4
v1 When all the *Israelites had crossed the Jordan, the *Lord spoke to Joshua. v2 ‘Choose 12 men from the people. Choose one from each *tribe’, he said. v3 ‘Tell them to take up 12 stones from the middle of the Jordan. Take them from where the priests are standing. Carry the stones over with you. Put them down where you stay tonight.’
v4 So Joshua called the 12 men that he had chosen. There was one from each *Israelite *tribe. v5 He said to them, ‘Go back into the river where of the *ark of the *Lord is. Each of you must pick up a stone and put it on his shoulder. There will be one stone for each of the *tribes of *Israel. v6 This will be like a special sign for you. In future years, your children will ask you, "What do these stones mean?" v7 Then you will tell them that the waters of the river Jordan stopped. That was while the *ark of God’s promise went across the river. These stones will help the *Israelites to remember this always.’
v8 So the 12 men obeyed Joshua. They took 12 stones from the middle of the Jordan, as the *Lord had told Joshua. There was one stone for each *tribe of *Israel. They carried the stones to the place where the people had put their tents. And they put the stones down. v9 Joshua set up the 12 stones from the middle of the Jordan, where the priests with the *ark had stood. (The stones are still there.) v10 The priests stood in the middle of the Jordan. Then the people did everything as the *Lord had told Joshua. The *Lord had spoken to Joshua as he had spoken to Moses.
The people crossed the river quickly. v11 As soon as everybody was on the other side, the priests took the *ark to the other side, too. The people saw them.
Verses 2, 4, 8 Joshua chose 12 men. He chose one from each of the *tribes of *Israel. They acted for all the *Israelites. It was as if all of them were helping.
We are all doing God’s work. Sometimes our leaders do things for us. We must recognise this. We must appreciate the work that they do for us.
Verses 3, 5-9 The men took 12 stones from the middle of the river Jordan. Joshua built a *monument with the stones. It would always remind the *Israelites about what God had done for them. The *Passover reminds *Israelites that God rescued them from *slavery in Egypt. They remember this every year (Exodus 12:26; Exodus 12:27). The *Passover reminded the *Israelites that they had come out of Egypt. The pile of stones reminded them that they had come into the *promised land. We need to remind ourselves about what God has done for us. We do this when we take *Communion (1 Corinthians 11:24-25).
Some people think that there were two *monuments that the *Israelites built. We cannot be sure about this. If there were two *monuments, they built the second one in the middle of the river Jordan. This was to show that the old life was finished. The journey through the desert had ended. They had entered the *promised land. The past was behind them.
We must leave the past behind us. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says that if anyone is in Christ Jesus they are a new person. Their old lives have ended. And their new lives have begun.
v12 The *tribes of Reuben, Gad and the *half-tribe of Manasseh led the people. They were ready to fight, as Moses had told them. v13 About 40 000 men who were ready to fight crossed to the flat land near Jericho.
Verses 12, 13 The *tribes of Reuben, Gad and the *half-tribe of Manasseh already had their own land (see Joshua 1:12; Joshua 1:13). They crossed the river to help the other *Israelites.
v14 This is what the *Lord did that day. It made all the people think that Joshua was a great man. They gave him honour all his life, as they had given honour to Moses.
v15 Then the *Lord spoke again to Joshua. v16 ‘Tell the priests that are carrying the *ark to come up out of the Jordan.’
v17 So Joshua said to the priests, ‘Come up out of the Jordan.’ v18 And the priests came up out of the river. They were carrying the *ark of the *Lord. As soon as their feet touched the dry ground, the waters of the Jordan began to return. There was much water and it moved fast.
v19 The people went from the Jordan and put their tents at Gilgal. It was the 10th day of the first month. Gilgal was a city on the east side of Jericho. v20 At Gilgal, Joshua put the 12 stones that they had taken out of the Jordan. v21 He said to the *Israelites, ‘Your children will ask, in later years, "What do these stones mean?" v22 Then you must tell them, "*Israel went across the river Jordan on dry ground." v23 The *Lord your God made the river dry up as he made the Red Sea dry up. He dried the Sea. Then the people could cross it when they left Egypt. v24 He did this to show all the nations in the world how powerful he was. He did it so that you would always *fear the *Lord, your God”.’
Verse 14 Moses had helped the *Israelites to escape from Egypt. The *Israelites had crossed the Red Sea on dry ground (Exodus 14). The *Israelites thought that Moses was a great man. Now Joshua had done something similar. The *Israelites crossed the river Jordan on dry ground. The *Israelites now thought that Joshua was a great man.
Verse 15-18 God completed the *miracle. The river started to flow again. This happened when the priests walked out of the dry river.
Verses 19-24 Moses gave instructions about the pile of stones. He said, ‘Your children will ask about them. Tell them about God and what he did for us.’
It is always good to ask questions. We should encourage people to ask us questions. This may give us the opportunity to tell people about what God has done for us.
Israelites ~ people from Israel. They are also called Hebrews and Jews.Israel ~ all the people born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children; the people that God chose; or, the land that the Israelites lived in.
Jew ~ a person who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children. It is also a name for one of the Israelites.
Lord ~ a name for God in the Bible. The original language of the Old Testament is called Hebrew. In the Hebrew language, there are two words that we translate as ‘Lord’. The Hebrew word ‘ADONAI’ means that God rules. God is our master. The Hebrew word ‘YHWH’ means that God never changes. God is always God.
Old Testament ~ the first part of the Bible, which the writers wrote before the life of Jesus.
tribe ~ the whole family of one of Jacob’s 12 sons.
ark ~ the ark of the Lord, the ark of God or the ark of God’s promise; the Bible also calls it the ark of the Covenant (or agreement). It was a wooden box with gold all over the outside and inside. The Israelites kept the ark in the house of the Lord and only the high priest could see it. It is also called the ark of promise of the Lord of all the earth.
Lord ~ a name for God in the Bible. The original language of the Old Testament is called Hebrew. In the Hebrew language, there are two words that we translate as ‘Lord’. The Hebrew word ‘ADONAI’ means that God rules. God is our master. The Hebrew word ‘YHWH’ means that God never changes. God is always God.
covenant ~ an agreement between two people; or, an agreement between God and a person or people; or, an agreement between groups of people.
Israelites ~ people from Israel. They are also called Hebrews and Jews.
high priest ~ the most important priest.
Old Testament ~ the first part of the Bible, which the writers wrote before the life of Jesus.
Israel ~ all the people born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children; the people that God chose; or, the land that the Israelites lived in.
Jew ~ a person who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children. It is also a name for one of the Israelites.
Israel ~ all the people born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children; the people that God chose; or, the land that the Israelites lived in.
Israelites ~ people from Israel. They are also called Hebrews and Jews.
Jew ~ a person who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children. It is also a name for one of the Israelites.
monument ~ a pile of stones; a place where people remember important events.
Passover ~ an important holy day for the Jews. They eat a special meal on this day every year. This helps them to remember that God freed them from slavery in Egypt. This happened at the time of Moses.
holy ~ description of God, God’s character; set apart, perfect, wonderful; completely good, with nothing bad in it. People can be holy if they belong to God. And, they should refuse to do evil things.
Jew ~ a person who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children. It is also a name for one of the Israelites.
slave, slavery ~ a slave is someone who belongs to someone else. A slave must work hard for his master and obey him.
Israelites ~ people from Israel. They are also called Hebrews and Jews.
Israel ~ all the people born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children; the people that God chose; or, the land that the Israelites lived in.
Communion ~ when Christians eat bread and drink wine to remember Jesus.'half-tribe ~ the tribe of Joseph became two tribes. The names of these two tribes were the names of Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. The tribe of Manasseh divided into two. The two halves of Manasseh are called half-tribes.
tribe ~ the whole family of one of Jacob’s 12 sons.
fear ~ to be afraid of someone; or, to respect someone.
miracle ~ a wonderful work that God does by his power.