With the Israelite camp situated just northwest of the northernmost part of the Dead Sea, Joshua sent two spies into Jericho to survey the land. Joshua 2 reports their activities as well as Rahab’s hiding them and keeping them safe. The spies returned and gave Joshua their report: “The LORD has handed over the entire land to us. Everyone who lives in the land is also panicking because of us” (2:24).
In Joshua 3, when the Israelites, moving east, crossed the Jordan River, God performed a miracle. When “the priests carrying the ark reached the Jordan, their feet touched the water at its edge and the water flowing downstream stood still, rising up in a mass that extended as far as Adam, a city next to Zarethan. The water flowing downstream into the Sea of the Arabah (the Dead Sea) was completely cut off, and the people crossed opposite Jericho. The priests carrying the ark of the LORD’s covenant stood firmly on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel crossed on dry ground until the entire nation had finished crossing the Jordan” (3:15-17).
God then gave Joshua some special instructions. He said, “Choose 12 men from the people, one man for each tribe, and command them: Take 12 stones from this place in the middle of the Jordan where the priests are standing, carry them with you, and set them down at the place where you spend the night” (vv. 4:2-3). One man from each tribe returned to the middle of the Jordan River and took a stone from the riverbed. Joshua also had 12 stones placed at the bottom of the river where the priests who were carrying the ark of the covenant were standing. The priests continued to stand there until this work was completed. When it was finished, Joshua told the priests to come up out of the riverbed. When they placed their feet on the ground by the river’s edge, “the waters of the Jordan resumed their course, flowing over all the banks as before” (v. 18).
Why the stones? Joshua explained, “In the future, when your children ask their fathers, ‘What is the meaning of these stones?’ you should tell your children, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, just as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over. This is so that all the people of the earth may know that the LORD’s hand is mighty, and so that you may always fear the LORD your God” (vv. 21-24).
Indeed, when word spread about this miracle, the leaders of all the surrounding nations were disheartened (see 5:1). The stones, however, were memorials to help the Israelites remember in the future what God had done for them, and to help them pass the baton of faith along to their children and their children’s children. What “memorial stones” might you be able to set up and point to as you teach your children and future generations about God’s working on His people’s behalf?
Copyright © 2016 B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations in this article are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.