King James Version, with Nii Okai's journal notes · 6 notes
1And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over Jordan, that the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying,
2Take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man,
3And 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.
4Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man:
5And 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:
6That 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?
7Then 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.
Memorials are a good thing. I've got to pass on our history to our children 🧒.
Now to the Bible: God knew men forget easily; men die off, but physical symbols live on and will serve as a good reminder.
8And 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.
God was putting up memorials everywhere so that the children of Israel do not forget what he had done, and their children will have a witness and testimony to what the Lord had done in time past.
So that when they are at rest in the promised land and do not need that many divine miracles and interventions, they have the stories, and not just stories but physical evidences of the stories.
That way they will know the stories really happened and not folklore.
But we have a witness of the happenings in the Bible and of the scriptures. The witness is the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
We can't deny him. HE lives right inside us. Even when the wind is contrary and we hear different stories and so-called scientific evidences contrary to the word of God, which in reality is not science but agendas of men, our faith still stands strong, because we cannot deny the Spirit that lives in us and whom we fellowship with day in and day out,
for our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son.
9And 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.
Who asked him to? No one, we are not told. Or the interplay of wisdom. As God gave instruction as a witness to the children of men, he also thought it wise to leave a witness to the Spirit, to GOD. SO that witness was under the river where no man can see but God can.
But wait, these stones were not just a witness to the Spirit but to men, the children of Israel unborn. Anyone can take up stones and arrange them and claim they were from under the river as a result of miraculously being stopped by God for the people to walk on dry ground.
But if you should dive into the river, you will see twelve stones, intelligently arranged under the bank of the river, maybe even with names of the tribes of Israel etched in them.
A feat that could only be achieved if someone dived in there who could go that deep down and hold his breath for ages against the current and lift boulders and arrange them etc. Something that is not possible humanly except if the river dried up.
I won't be surprised if these stones were perfectly aligned with the ones on the land.
Oh Lord, give us the wisdom to keep memorials of divine and key moments of our lives for the future generations.
10For 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.
11And 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.
12And 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:
13About forty thousand prepared for war passed over before the LORD unto battle, to the plains of Jericho.
14On 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,
16Command the priests that bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of Jordan.
How did the Lord speak, was it audibly?
Secondly, why did he speak to Joshua and not the priests? For Joshua was not a Levite.
He spoke to Joshua because he was the leader.
17Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, Come ye up out of Jordan.
18And 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.
19And 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.
20And those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal.
21And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones?
22Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.
23For 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:
They came out of Egypt and slavery through the dry ground of the Red Sea, and entered the promised land of Canaan through the dry ground of the river Jordan.
24That 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.
Now the purpose of the memorial is stated.
God knew he was not going to be appearing to everyone and to Israel 🇮🇱 in such dynamic fashion always, but the memorial will always be present 📦 to represent God.