Joshua 4:2

_TAKE YOU TWELVE MEN OUT OF THE PEOPLE, OUT OF EVERY TRIBE A MAN,_ Take you twelve men - each representing a tribe. They had been previously chosen for this service (Joshua 3:12), and the repetition of the command is made here solely to introduce the account of its execution. Though Joshua had been divinely instructed to erect a commemorative pile, the representatives were not apprised of the work they were to do until the time of the passage....

1-9 The works of the Lord are so worthy of rememberance, and the heart of man is so prone to forget them, that various methods are needful to refresh our memories, for the glory of God, our advantage, and that of our children. God gave orders for preparing this memorial....

Verse Joshua 4:2. _TAKE YOU TWELVE MEN_] From Joshua 3:12, it appears that the twelve men had been _before_ appointed, one taken out of each of the twelve tribes; and now they are employed for that purpose for which they had been _before_ selected....

TAKE YOU TWELVE MEN - The order is given in the plural, because no doubt the tribes themselves were to choose their own representatives, the choice being approved by Joshua Joshua 4:4. These twelve would be left with Joshua on the hither bank of the river, waiting to receive his orders after the rest of the people had made their way across Joshua 3:17; Joshua 4:1....

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

TAKE YOU TWELVE MEN OUT OF THE PEOPLE,.... Joshua had before this ordered twelve men to be taken from among them, which seems to have been done of himself; and now he has a direction from God for it, and what to employ them in: OUT OF EVERY TRIBE A MAN; so that what they did was in the name of the several tribes, and as representing them....

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

MEN. PI of _'ish_ or _'enosh._ See App-14. MAN. Hebrew. _'lsh_. App-14....

_The Memorials of the Crossing Joshua 4:1-9_ And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over Jordan, that the Lord spake unto Joshua, saying, 2 Take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man, 3 And command ye them, saying, Take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priests-' feet stood firm, twelve stones, and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging place, where ye shall lodge this night. 4 Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man: 5 And Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of Jordan, and take ye up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel: 6 That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their