Day 4 Joshua stones part 2

 In Joshua chapter 4 we see the ark of the covenant, carried by the Levite priests, standing in the middle of the river Jordan.  The river which had been in full flood is now dry enough for a very large quantity of people to cross over, while maintaining a distance of about  3,000 feet (90 meters) from the ark itself.  That's quite an expanse of dry ground.  How long do you think it took them all to cross over?  A few hours? Best part of a day?  I have no idea but I do note that once everyone had crossed the priests and the ark stayed put.

Those priests didnt know what was going to happen next.  They did know that in the Moses story the waters had closed back over as soon as the people had landed on the other side.  Yet here they stand, waiting for Joshua's instruction.  Brave

When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe,  and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.”

Joshua talks to the people and tells them to send 12 men, one from each trible, back into the river bed to collect 12 stones for a memorial.   God could have told them to do this before they crossed over .  He could have said ' whilst you are crossing pick up 12 stones and take them with you'.  That's what I would have done.😀  But God waits till they are all across and then sends 12 back.  And all this time the priests are standing there holding a gold covered box  which happens to contain stones.  How much did it weigh? How long were they standing in the heat of the day holding up the weight of the presence of God?  How much were they fearing the return of the waters?  

The 12 had been told before that they were not to go anywhere near the ark.  They knew how holy it was and how set apart the priests had to be in order to carry it.  Now they are being told to go right up to it and take stones from under the feet of the priests.  Being chosen as one of the 12 may well have been terrifying.  Does it remind you of another 12 men who were asked to approach the presence of the living God and get closer to Him than any ordinary man had got before?

v 16 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Command the priests carrying the ark of the covenant law to come up out of the Jordan.” So Joshua commanded the priests, “Come up out of the Jordan.” And the priests came up out of the river carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord. No sooner had they set their feet on the dry ground than the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and ran at flood stage as before.

I love the fact that Joshua waits for the Lord's instruction at every phase. He doesnt presume that once the people have all crossed over, the ark is coming with them. He waits. He listens for what God is going to say next.  If he hadnt waited the 12 stones would not have been collected. Which wouldnt have changed the fact of the miraculous crossing,  but would have deprived generations of those who came after of hearing about it. 

On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho.  And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan. He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’  tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’  For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea[b] when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over.  He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.” (v19-24)

The stones were carried for about two miles to the camp at Gilgal. There they were set up as a monument. Historians have uncovered several ancient stone memorials in the region. They arent piles of stones, they are rows of stones like this

Joshua says that this memorial is so that the whole world will know what God has done. He couldnt possibly have forseen that thousands of years later I would be writing this blog re-telling the story of how God parted the river to let His people through. 😃  The memorial of stones has become a memorial of the written word of God in the Bible.  But its not just about knowing the story.  Its about fearing the God of the story.  When we dig down into it we have to come to the conclusion that following His presence requires courage, faith, strength, patience and a willingness to listen and obey.  Its not always logical or safe.  But when we get it right ,the testimony of God's powerful goodness to us lasts and is retold so that yet more people may know Him