Joshua 4:15

_AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO JOSHUA, SAYING,_ No JFB commentary on these verses....

10-19 The priests with the ark did not stir till ordered to move. Let none be weary of waiting, while they have the tokens of God's presence with them, even the ark of the covenant, though it be in the depths of adversity. Notice is taken of the honour put upon Joshua. Those are feared in the best manner, and to the best purpose, who make it appear that God is with them, and that they set him before them....

The passage of the priests to the further bank had been already referred to, Joshua 4:11; but the writer, in observance of his general plan (compare introductory remarks to Joshua 3), re-introduces it here as the leading feature in the concluding section of his account, and (as before) with mention of God’s special direction about it. The statement that on the removal of the ark the waters of Jordan at once returned to their former level Joshua 4:18, heightens the impression which is especially inculcated throughout - that the whole transaction was extraordinary and miraculous. The details and incidents of the passage are no doubt open to manifold discussion: but all such discussion will be futile unless it proceed throu

EXPOSITION THE MEMORIAL.— JOSHUA 4:2 TWELVE STONES. The commemoration of events by the setting up of huge stones was by no means peculiar to the Jews, though it was often used by them, as, for instance, Genesis 28:18; Genesis 35:14, 1 Samuel 7:12. Almost every nation has adopted it. The Egyptian obelisks, the stones at Hamath, supposed to be of Hittite origin, the dolmens and other megalithic monuments of the Celts, the Logan or rocking stones, are cases in point. The Scandinavians filled their country with them. Our own Stonehenge and the Avebury s

AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO JOSHUA,.... When all the people had passed over jordan: SAYING; as follows....

4. THE MEMORIAL STONES CHAPTER 4 _ 1. The first memorial (Joshua 4:1)_ 2. The second memorial (Joshua 4:9) 3. The return of the priests with the ark (Joshua 4:10) 4. The encampment at Gilgal (Joshua 4:19) Jehovah commanded that the great event should be remembered by a memorial. From the river-bed, where the priest's feet stood firm, twelve men, one from each tribe, were to carry twelve stones and leave them at the first lodging place in the land, that is, at Gilgal. These memorial stones were to tell subsequent generations the story of God's faithfulness and power in bringing His people through Jordan into t

JOSHUA 3:1 TO JOSHUA 5:1. THE CROSSING OF JORDAN. Here we begin to meet with more serious difficulties. The old tradition was that after the Israelites had crossed the Jordan, they commemorated the event by the erection of twelve stones. But this simple narrative existed in two recensions, which differed as to the destination of these memorial stones. According to one account, they were to be placed in the midst of the river; according to the other, they were to be set up on the W. side of the Jordan in the place where the army encamped for the night. Deuteronomic additions have been made to these narratives, _i.e._ additions of a religious colouring as in Joshua 3:7, And Yahweh said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in t

_VER._ 15-18. _AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO JOSHUA,_ &C.— Before the people advanced into the country, Joshua had commanded the priests, who bare the ark, to quit the channel of the river, and come to the western bank; and as soon as they had gained this side, and their feet were beyond the place to which the waters had formerly reached, we see that the waters gradually resumed their wonted course, and flowed, as before, over the two shores. Thus every thing in this memorable event was miraculous....

_The Crossing Completed Joshua 4:10-18_ 10 For the priests which bare the ark stood in the midst of Jordan, until every thing was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to speak unto the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua: and the people hasted and passed over. 11 And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over, the ark of the Lord passed over, and the priests, in the presence of the people. 12 And the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, passed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses spake unto them: 13 About forty thousand prepared for war passed over before the Lord unto battle, to the plains of Jericho. 14 And that day the Lord magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life. 15And the Lord spake unto Joshua, saying

THE DOUBLE MEMORIAL OF THE PASSAGE OF JORDAN The main subject of the chapter is the memorial cairn set up at Gilgal, which is described in two sections, Joshua 4:1 and Joshua 4:20, separated by the record in a single v. (Joshua 4:9) of another cairn set up in the midst of Jordan, and by a long parenthesis (Joshua 4:10) describing in an expanded form the crossing already narrated in Joshua 3:14. The repetitions are most satisfactorily explained on the hypothesis that the narrator has incorporated extracts from more ancient sources in his narrative....