JOSHUA 4

In Joshua 3:7-17, we explored the crossing of the Jordan River by the two million people of the Hebrew nation. Joshua 4 retells the story of the crossing of the Jordan, not once but twice, adding significant details.

Verses 1-14 will focus on stones that are to be taken out of the river, another group of stones that are to be left in the middle of the river, and the details of the crossing through the river.

What we're going to see through this entire chapter is that God was in complete control of all the activities at the Jordan River that day.

• He told the priests when to enter the river and when to leave the river and go up on the other side.
• God told the river when to roll back and expose the dry ground, and when to flood back into place again. Both the people and the water obeyed God that day. And everything worked out as God had planned.

1 ¶ And it came to pass, when all the people were clean (fully) 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 (from) 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.

• This explains the purpose that God had for the twelve men chosen back in Joshua 3:12 when he said, "Now therefore take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, from each tribe a man." Joshua obeyed the Lord, and in verses 4-7 he tells these twelve men what to do.

4 Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared (appointed) of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man:

·      We will see tonight that whenever God tells Joshua to do something that he obeys unhesitatingly. One practical point from tonight’s study is this: listen to God and obey Him. That is discipleship. That is ministry.

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 fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones?

7 Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.

·      When these second-generation inheritors of the promised land asked about the significance of the memorial stones, the fathers of the family, as spiritual heads of their households, could rehearse their own personal experiences of how God had led his people across the Jordan River at flood time, a miraculous act that was never to be forgotten.

• These verses tell us that the purpose of the memorial was to remind successive generations of the power and faithfulness of God on behalf of His people. Beloved, our God is faithful.
• In our country, sites like the Vietnam Memorial or the Lincoln Memorial reflect the idea here of these 12 stones.
• I believe that it is important that we have memorials in our lives as well. Never forget what the Lord has done for you in your yesterdays. It is those yesterday experiences that will tide you over when the trials of today and tomorrow arise in your life! Alan Carr
• Your memorial stone may be at a summer camp where you came to know the Lord Jesus. It may be an altar in a church where you surrendered your life in service for the Lord. It also might be a college campus or just a place under a tree somewhere. It might also be the memories of a significant experience while studying the Scriptures.
• We can never return to that experience, even as God never again dried up the Jordan River for Israel. But we can draw strength and hope for the present by remembering that the God of yesterday is still the God of today and tomorrow.
• Perhaps the most glorious memorial that God has left us with is The Lord’s Supper.  Whenever we partake of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus said that we were to observe in remembrance of Him.

8 And the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of Jordan, as the LORD spake unto Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them unto the place where they lodged, and laid them down there. 9 And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood: and they are there unto this day.

• In verse 8, 12 stones were to be taken from the river and set up in Gilgal. In verse 9 that Joshua himself goes down into the river alone, and standing in front of these priests who are holding the ark, he sets up twelve stones in the very middle of the riverbed of the Jordan.
• The monument set up in Gilgal would be visible to the naked eye, while the monument in the midst of the Jordan river would not be invisible to the naked eye.
• When the parents of the children on the west bank of Gilgal talked about the visible memorial stones, no doubt they would also tell them, "You can't see it, but under the waters there are twelve more stones that Joshua, our leader, put there."

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 (the people hurried as they crossed over).

11 And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over, that 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.

• As promised, the 2 ½ tribes sent an army of 40,000 men to fight along side of the other tribes until they possessed the mad that God had given unto them.
• There was no turning back now. A new and exciting chapter in their history had begun. Bible Knowledge Commentary.

14 On 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.

15 And the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying, 16 Command the priests that bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of Jordan. 17 Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, Come ye up out of Jordan.

• As I pointed out earlier, note how God speaks to Joshua and Joshua does exactly what God commands him to do. .

18 And it came to pass, when the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD were come up out of the midst of Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up unto the dry land, that the waters of Jordan returned unto their place, and flowed over all his banks, as they did before.

• Immediately after the priests obeyed the command that God gave through Joshua, the mighty Jordan thundered back into its natural course and even its banks overflowed as it did prior to this miraculous work of God.

19 And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho.

• That date, the tenth day of the first month, is significant. In Old Testament chronology, exactly forty years earlier to the day, Israel had marched out of Egypt. The Passover lamb had been killed, the blood had been sprinkled, and the nation had been delivered from the bondage of Egypt.

20 ¶ And those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal.

• The twelve stones that Joshua set up at Gilgal represent the first of seven stone memorials described in Joshua (see also 7:26; 8:28–29; 8:32; 10:27; 22:34; 24:26–27). This first one is a reminder of God's faithfulness in bringing Israel safely across the Jordan into the Promised Land.
• Gilgal is an important name. Names always are significant in the Old Testament. The word Gilgal means, "The reproach has been rolled away."
• Remember, for forty years in the interim they had wandered in the wilderness of unbelief, carnality, and disobedience. But now they have come through the Jordan, and they are camping at Gilgal.
  A beachhead has been established in the land of promise. Forty years of spiritual defeat and failure have been rolled away. And the fact that they have this beachhead at Gilgal means that they are now ready to follow the Lord wholeheartedly into the land that he is giving them.

21 And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones?

22 Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.

• When the Israeli children saw the memorial and asked their fathers what it meant, the fathers were to say that the God who miraculously led Israel out of Egypt has miraculously brought them into Canaan.

23 For the LORD your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over:

24 That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the LORD your God for ever.

• One of the purposes in God's divine interventions on behalf of His people is to reveal Himself to the rest of the world.
• The second reason given here for God's divine intervention on behalf of His people is to foster a deep seated awe and reverence for God.

JOSHUA 5

1 ¶ And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, which were on the side of Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we were passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit (courage) in them any more, because of the children of Israel.

• Reports of God’s supernaturally opening a crossing through the midst of the Jordan for His people struck fear into the Canaanites. The miracle was all the more incredible and shocking since God performed it when the Jordan was swollen to flood height (3:15). To the people in the Land, this miracle was a powerful demonstration proving that God is mighty (4:24). This came on top of reports about the Red Sea miracle (2:10).
• Even before Israel did anything to take the land, the Lord went before and demoralized the enemy so that there was no longer any spirit in them.
• It would appear that this would be the perfect time for Joshua to lead the people forward into the attack top conquer the land. However, instead of commanding His people to go forward into the battle, God commands them to remain at Gilgal and to do several things that, on the surface, appear very strange. It even appears that the things that God tells them to do would  put them at risk before their enemies.
• When an adult man is circumcised, it takes about a week to recover to the point where you can move about. When Jacob’s sons (Gen. 34) wanted revenge on the city of Shechem because Shechem’s prince had raped their sister Dinah, they tricked the men of the city into becoming circumcised, and after the three days, when the men of the city were at their worst, the sons of Jacob came and slaughtered the entire city.
• Israel appeared ready for the battle. They possessed a large army and they faced an enemy that was terrified at their presence. However, God knew that they would never be ready to fight and win the battle until their spiritual house was in order and right before God.
• They were put in the place where they could trust in nothing but God alone - a hard place, but a good place.

2 At that time the LORD said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.

• In Israel circumcision was a sign of the covenant instituted by Yahweh in Gen. 17:10–14 and was to be administered to all males when they were eight days old. The purpose for this circumcision is explained in Josh. 5:4–5, 7.

3 And Joshua made him sharp knives, and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the foreskins. 4 And this is the cause (reason, purpose) why Joshua did circumcise: All the people that came out of Egypt, that were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness by the way, after they came out of Egypt. 5 Now all the people that came out were circumcised: but all the people that were born in the wilderness by the way as they came forth out of Egypt, them they had not circumcised.

• Those men who were born during the 40 years of wilderness wandering had not been circumcised. To the Jew, circumcision was a reminder that they were a "marked people."
• This mark on the bodies of the men of the covenant reminded them that their bodies belonged to the Lord, and they were not to be used for sinful purposes. Remember that Israel was surrounded by nations that served idols and worshipped those idols in sexually degrading ways. This physical mark reminded the Jews that they were a special, separated people, a holy nation, and that they were to maintain purity in all of their relationships-in their marriages, in their society, and in their worship.
• Before these men can claim their Canaan, they must be circumcised. They must renew the covenant with the Lord. They were to never forget that they were the servants of the living God and that they were under obligation to obey Him in all things. Circumcision was to be the outward reminder of an inward work of faith, Deut. 10:16.
• The lesson of circumcision was meant to be signify much more than an outward ritual, but that special work of God in their heart.

o   Rom 2:28-29 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: {29} But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

·      For NT saints, the circumcision of Christ symbolizes that cutting off the flesh, a separation from the fleshly, sin nature.

o   Col 2:11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:

§  Beloved, before we are going to experience and enjoy the life of the Spirit, we are going to experience that ongoing circumcision of our hearts by cutting off the things that feed the flesh. 

6 For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: unto whom the LORD sware that he would not shew them the land, which the LORD sware unto their fathers that he would give us, a land that floweth with milk and honey.

7 And their children, whom he raised up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised: for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them by the way. 8 And it came to pass, when they had done circumcising all the people, that they abode in their places in the camp, till they were whole.

• At this point, Israel is camped in the heart of enemy territory. They were literally sitting ducks for the enemy and they knew it. After they have been circumcised, every male in the nation of Israel was temporarily disabled rendered unable to fight.
• It was a tremendous act of faith to remain in their places, waiting to heal. Joshua had to exercise faith in performing this amazing act on all these men. The people had to wait, obey the Lord, and trust him even though they were weak, in pain, and vulnerable to attack at this time. How would they defend themselves?

9 And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day.

• By His miracle of bringing the people into the Land, God removed (rolled away) the ridicule which the Egyptians had heaped on them. But there is much more than this. The term "reproach of Egypt" may also be a reference to 2 events during Israel's wilderness wanderings.
• The first is found in Ex. 32:1-12 when the Children of Israel made a golden calf and worshiped it as God.
• The other happened at Kadesh-Barnea when the children of Israel displayed unbelief and refused to enter into the promised land, Num 14:11-14.
• In other words, their past was no longer an issue. It was a new day!
• Tonight, some of you may be living with the shame of things you did before you came to faith in Christ. You may be ashamed of times when you have failed the Lord since you were saved.
• Let me remind you tonight that if you have place your faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, your past is not an issue any longer, Psa. 103:12, Isa. 38:17; Isa. 43:25; Jer. 50:20; Micah 7:19; 1 John 1:7. The reproach of the old life of sin and rebellion has been removed forever!
• As a follower of Jesus Christ, you can also be assured that when you are truly sorry and confess your sin, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1.9).

10 ¶ And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho.

• In the first exodus, the Passover preceded the crossing of the Red Sea. In this “second exodus,” it followed the crossing of the Jordan.
• The reinstitution of the covenant sign of circumcision (vv. 2–9) and the celebration of Passover (vv. 10–12) remind God's people of their privileged covenant relationship with him (signified by circumcision) and of their redemption out of bondage by him (signified by the Passover).
• The land of Egypt is a picture of the old, secular life. It is a picture of living in bondage to sin and to Satan. But we are set free from Egypt when the blood of Jesus, the Passover Lamb, is applied to our souls.

11 And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day.

12 And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

• For 40 years, God had supernaturally provided for them day by day. Now, God would provide for them from the fruit of the ground.. Since food was plentiful in the land of Canaan, God would provide for them with produce such as dates, barley, and olives.
• The reality is that God is Lord of both the supernatural and the natural. It is just as supernatural for God to provide through a 40-hour workweek as it was when He provided for the nation in the wilderness. The results are the same in that He expresses His character and provides for us.

13 ¶ And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?

• Most of the nation had never seen a fortified city before. Neither did they have any of the “modern” kind of military hardware that were commonly used for a siege. So we may well suppose that many doubts and fears shook the courage of the army, as it drew around the doomed city. No doubt Joshua had his own concerns as well.
• The man with a drawn sword in His hand. These verses provide us with what is known in Scripture as a Christophany, which is a pre-incarnate appearance, of The Lord Jesus Christ.
• Joshua boldly asked the man with the drawn sword to identify himself and to state which side he was on! The more appropriate question was not if the LORD was on Joshua's side, but if Joshua was on the LORD's side.  Listen to The Lord’s response!

14 And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant?

• When the man responded, He said that He was the Captain of the Lord's Host. He told Joshua that He did not come to take sides, but to take over! That is, He was in control of the Lord's armies in Heaven and in the earth. He told Joshua that He was in charge. General Joshua had just met the Commander in Chief! Joshua's response is to fall down before Him and to worship Him. This is an indication that Joshua is submitting to the will of the Lord and that he knows Who is in control.
• No doubt this Captain of The Lord’s host had come to instruct Joshua about the plan to conquer Jericho that is so improbable it could only have been initiated at the direct command of God.

• Joshua falling down and worshipping before this Captain of The Lord’s host is proof that this is none other than The Lord Jesus Christ. This is another infallible proof of His Deity.
• Beloved, in the battles of life, we must realize what Joshua realized here; Before you can conquer, you must first be conquered! We must lay down all of our swords, all of our affections and all of our plans at the feet of the Captain of the Lord's host.

15 And the captain of the LORD'S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.

• This removal of his shoes was an act of humility similar to what was required of Moses when God encountered him out in the Sinai desert (Ex. 3:5). The same Lord that commanded Joshua earlier in our studies now commands him to take off his sandals.
• Shall we end tonight by submitting unto The Lord as a church family all of our needs, cares, plans and concerns as we worship Him.