Joshua 4 Study Notes
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4:1 The emphasis on the entire nation crossing suggests the importance of the unity pictured here. The term had finished could also be interpreted as “were finishing,” meaning the crossing and the events of vv. 1-5 overlapped. The key word crossing (Hb ‘avar) occurs four times in this section. See note at 1:2.
4:2 These are the twelve men selected at 3:12.
4:3 The twelve stones represent the point of the crossing of the whole nation of Israel, all twelve tribes. This would enable future generations to understand and participate spiritually in the crossing that Joshua and the twelve tribes experienced.
4:4-5 Joshua did exactly what the Lord had commanded.
4:6-7 The word translated sign occurs only two other times in Joshua (2:12; 24:17). In the Pentateuch it is associated with Israel’s religious festivals and events, such as Passover (Ex 12:13; 13:9). The explanation given to future generations takes a chiastic form. The outermost phrases designate a sign or memorial. Within that are lines referring to these stones and then how the waters of the Jordan were cut off. The central focus is that this occurred when the ark of the Lord’s covenant, the presence of God, crossed the Jordan.
’oth
| Hebrew pronunciation | [OATH] |
| CSB translation | sign |
| Uses in Joshua | 3 |
| Uses in the OT | 79 |
| Focus passage | Joshua 4:6 |
An ’oth points to something else and could be a military flag (Nm 2:2), a report (Jb 21:29), or a distinguishing mark on people or things (Gn 4:15; Ex 12:13). Heavenly bodies served as signs to mark seasons (Gn 1:14). ’Oth chiefly pertains to God’s activity and miracles. The rainbow, circumcision, and the Sabbath were signs of God’s covenants (Gn 9:12; 17:11; Ex 31:13). Objects and holidays memorialized God’s miracles (Jos 4:6; Ex 13:9; Nm 17:10). Signs indicated fulfilled prophecy (Ex 3:12) or that prophecy would be fulfilled (2Kg 20:8-9). They certified instructions, events, or people as divine (1Sm 10:7,9; 2Kg 19:29; Jdg 6:17). ’Oth and mopeth (“wonders”) occur 16 times as a word pair about God’s actions, especially the exodus (Ex 7:3). But false prophets could perform them (Dt 13:1-3). People and actions could be signs (Is 8:18; Ezk 4:3). ’Oth can mean omen (Is 44:25).
4:8-9 These verses allow for three readings. First, Joshua may have set up a separate pile of stones in the middle of the Jordan, which was probably visible during the dry season. Second, Joshua commanded twelve men, one from each tribe, to take a one hundred-pound stone from middle of the Jordan and set up the twelve stones in the camp. Third, v. 9 might be retrospective—Joshua had set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan—and the twelve men subsequently picked up those same stones and set them down in the camp. Still . . . today (lit “to this day”) occurs in Joshua twelve times. It signifies the importance of remembering the past. See especially 7:26; 8:28-29; 10:27.
4:10 The phrase in keeping with all that Moses had commanded Joshua seems strange since such instructions about the crossing are unknown to us. The point is simply that Joshua was Moses’s successor, anticipating the exaltation of Joshua in v. 14. The people hurried across because they were eager to obey God’s command.
4:11 In the sight of the people is emphasized. Like the memorial, the witness of the people was the means of preserving the remarkable event and the ceremony that surrounded it.
4:12 On these tribes, see note at 1:12-18.
4:13 The troops that crossed entered enemy territory, but they also had established a foothold in the promised land when they arrived west of the Jordan River. This forty thousand represented the best portion of the Transjordanian fighting force that crossed with their kinsmen. According to Nm 26:7,18,34 the total of these two and a half tribes would have been over a hundred thousand (see note at Nm 1:44-46). Perhaps the rest were protecting their land and families.
4:14 That the Lord exalted Joshua indicates the fulfillment of 3:8. The connection with Moses is reaffirmed.
4:15-17 The time of the exit from the Jordan River, like the time of the entrance into the river, is determined by God.
4:18 The priests’ ascent from the riverbed brings the miracle to an end. They reversed the procedure by which the parting of the waters began in 3:13-16.
4:19 The tenth day of the first month was the day that preparations for the Passover were to be made (Ex 12:2-3). This signals the celebration of Jos 5. Gilgal, meaning “circle,” could describe any of a variety of sites.
4:20-23 The purpose of the twelve stones is found in the questions that the children would ask. The question and the instruction of the next generation about the divine miracles resembles Dt 6:6-9. Questions asked by sons about the significance of the Passover and the exodus are found in the Jewish Passover Seder or liturgy. Their mention here connects this Passover with the events of the crossing of the Jordan just as the earlier Passover remembered the crossing of the Red Sea.
4:24 The purpose of this miracle is to declare God’s might to all the peoples of the earth and to encourage Israel to always fear the Lord. Faith and commitment to God is the goal, just as with the miracles of Jesus (Jn 20:30-31).