1And it happened, when the whole nation had finished crossing over the Jordan, that the LORD said to Joshua, saying, 2“Take for yourselves from the people twelve men, one man from each tribe, 3and charge them, saying, ‘Carry from here, from the Jordan, from the place where the feet of the priests stand firm, twelve stones and bring them across with you and set them down at the encampment where tonight you will spend the night.’” 4And Joshua called to twelve men whom he had readied from the Israelites, one man from each tribe. 5And Joshua said to them, “Cross over before the Ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan and each of you lift up one stone on his shoulder according to the number of the tribes of Israel, 6so this may be a sign in your midst: Should your children ask you tomorrow, saying, ‘What are these stones to you?,’ 7you shall say, ‘That the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant, when it was crossing over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off, and these stones became a memorial for the Israelites forever.’” 8And thus did the Israelites do, as Joshua had charged them, and they carried twelve stones from the Jordan as the LORD had spoken to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of Israel, and they brought them across with them to the encampment and set them down there. 9And Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan in the place where the feet of the priests, bearers of the Ark of the Covenant, had stood, and they have been there to this day. 10And the priests, bearers of the Ark of the Covenant, were standing in the Jordan until all the mission that the LORD had charged Joshua to speak to the people was finished, as all that Moses had charged Joshua. And the people hurried and crossed over. 11And it happened, when all the people had finished crossing over, that the Ark of the LORD, and the priests with it, crossed over before the people. 12And the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over in battle array before the Israelites as Moses had spoken to them, 13about forty thousand, vanguard of the army, crossed over before the LORD for battle to the plains of Jericho. 14On that day the LORD made Joshua great in the eyes of all Israel, and they feared him as they had feared Moses all the days of his life. 15And the LORD said to Joshua, saying, 16“Charge the priests, bearers of the Ark of the Covenant, that they come up from the Jordan.” 17And Joshua charged the priests, saying, “Come up from the Jordan.” 18And it happened when the priests, bearers of the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant, came up from within the Jordan, that the priests’ footsoles pulled up onto dry ground and the waters of the Jordan went back to their place and flowed as in time past over all its banks. 19And the people had come up from the Jordan on the tenth of the first month, and they camped at Gilgal at the eastern edge of Jericho. 20And these twelve stones that they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal. 21And he said to the Israelites, saying, “When your children ask their fathers tomorrow, saying, ‘What are these stones?,’ 22you shall inform your children, saying, ‘On dry land Israel crossed over this Jordan. 23For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before them until they crossed over, as the LORD your God had done to the Sea of Reeds, which He dried up before us until we crossed over, 24so that all the peoples of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, for it is strong, so that you might fear the LORD your God at all times.’”
CHAPTER 4 NOTES
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6. Should your children ask you tomorrow. This is a liturgical or, as some put it, catechistic formula, which has fairly close parallels in Exodus 12:26–27, Exodus 13:14–15, and Deuteronomy 6:20. “Tomorrow” is, of course, a homey idiom for “in future times.” The commemorative stones become a didactic occasion for recounting the ancient miracle to future generations.
9. And Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan. This second set of twelve stones looks redundant. There may have been a competing account of the event in which the conveyers of the traditional material felt that the more appropriate memorial was on the very spot where the feet of the priests had stood, and the redactor decided to include both versions. This would, however, be an underwater memorial scarcely visible except when the Jordan was nearly dry. But see the next comment on the question of the stones’ visibility.
and they have been there to this day. This is an explicitly etiological tag absent in the report about the other set of twelve stones. It leads one to wonder whether there in fact might have been a pattern of stones in the riverbed detectable from the surface around which this story was woven.
10. as all that Moses had charged Joshua. This clause is puzzling because Moses clearly had no role in instructing Joshua about the procedure for crossing the Jordan. The clause does not appear in the Septuagint, and one suspects a scribe inadvertently added it here because it was a set formula, and akin to the concluding clause of verse 12, where the reference to Moses is appropriate.
14. feared him. The context makes clear that the force of the verb is not an experience of fright but reverence or, perhaps more specifically, acceptance of his authority. After the enactment of a miracle that closely corresponds to the great miracle performed for Moses at the Sea of Reeds, Joshua’s position as legitimate leader is fully confirmed.
16. Ark of the Covenant. Here a different term ʿedut (“witnessing”) is used, but it appears to be a synonym for brit, “covenant.”
19. on the tenth of the first month. This is the month of Nissan, approximately corresponding to April. The tenth of Nissan is four days before the Passover festival.
the eastern edge of Jericho. This would mean the edge opposite Jericho’s territory.
20. And these twelve stones . . . Joshua set up at Gilgal. The name Gilgal means “circle” (although it is given a secondary etymology in the next episode), and so we may assume that the stones were set up in a circle. Gilgal was an important cultic site in the first two centuries of the monarchy and figures significantly in the stories of Samuel, Elijah, and Elisha. As with other sacred places in ancient Israel, it may well have been a locus of pagan worship before it was taken over by the Israelites. There is some likelihood, then, that the stones arrayed in a circle were originally matseivot, cultic steles, and that the story is framed to make them integral to the monotheistic narrative.
22. dry land. Here yabashah is used, the term that occurs in Exodus 14–15.
23. which He dried up before us. The switch from third person (“dried up the waters of the Jordan before them”) to first-person plural reflects the operation of the commemorative ritual: it was the Israelites of Joshua’s generation who experienced the miracle at the Jordan, but all Israel of every generation—beginning with everyone over twenty who was with Moses, the generation that has purportedly died out—participates in the defining moment of the parting of the Sea of Reeds, replicated at the Jordan.
24. so that all the peoples of the earth might know the hand of the LORD. This theme is similar to the one reiterated in the narrative of the Ten Plagues in Exodus. Its validity will then be confirmed in the first verse of chapter 5, which in all likelihood is the actual conclusion of this narrative unit.
so that you might fear the LORD your God at all times. The repetition of “so that,” lemaʿan, inscribes a causal chain: the other nations recognize the power of the God of Israel through this great miracle, and Israel fears, or reveres, its God both through the direct experience of the miracle and through its confirmation in the eyes of the surrounding peoples.