The Transition to Gilgal (Joshua 4:19–24)

The timing of the crossing was not coincidental. Israel had celebrated their first Passover just before crossing the Red Sea; they would celebrate this one just after crossing the Jordan River. For a time, Gilgal became a worship center of early Israel because of this memorial Joshua set up there. It was a reminder and a teaching aid for Israel’s subsequent generations of God’s goodness to Israel at the banks of the Jordan.

I. The date emphasizes a new beginning.

19 Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they camped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.

A. Until now, we knew that the crossing took place during the flood stage.

Now the text specifies the tenth day of the first month. The same date appears in Exodus 12:2–3, “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. 3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.” where it introduces the preparations for the Passover, which occurs on the fourteenth day.

The crossing of the Jordan River happened on the tenth day of the first month (i.e., the month of Nisan [also known as Abib], which corresponds with March–April). This was an important day, since it coincided with the day that the Passover lamb was to be selected. And the fact that this happened at Passover helps to connect the crossing of the Jordan even more closely with the events of the exodus and the crossing of the Red Sea.

B. The Israelites encamped at Gilgal.

Gilgal was the first of three religious bases the Israelites occupied in Joshua’s day. The second was Shiloh, and the third was Shechem. This is the first reference in the Book of Joshua to this important religious site. Here, the Israelites celebrated several religious rituals, including circumcision and Passover, and it was the place where a sanctuary and an altar were built for God.

It remained as an important place of sacrifice for many centuries later. It was one of the cities where Samuel judged and where Saul was made king. However, worship there eventually became apostate, and two eighth-century prophets condemned it.

II. Joshua now erected the stones.

20 And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. 21 Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ 22 then you shall let your children know, saying, ‘Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land’; 23 for the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over,

A. His instructions enabled the crossing, and this memorial will commemorate the event.

The twelve stones were to be a memorial for Israel, to pass along to their children, as Joshua had stated earlier. The wording here is slightly different from that of vv. 6–7. Here, the crossing itself is mentioned, and not just the miracle of the stoppage of the waters.

The miracle is still clearly in view: the “dry land” is mentioned in v. 22, and a new fact is introduced: the Lord “dried up” the Jordan until the Israelites crossed over. The similarities of this crossing of the Jordan and the crossing of the Red Sea have been noted. The text makes this connection explicit in 4:23. God did here exactly what he had done earlier: he “dried up” the waters. The wonder of the miracle is enhanced even further by this comparison with the defining moment at the Red Sea.

B. The purpose of the stones was clearly educational.

They were to remind Israel for generations to come that it was God who brought them through the Jordan just as He had taken their fathers through the Red Sea.

But how were the future generations to know what the stones meant? The answer is clear. Parents were to teach God’s ways and works to their children. A Jewish father was not to send his inquisitive child to a Levite for answers to his questions. The father was to answer them himself.

III. The miracle was performed for a greater purpose than merely getting the Israelites across the Jordan River.

24 that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever.”

A. It was to be a “sign” to all peoples.

The statement about the miracle being a testimony to all the peoples recalls the words of Rahab, who acknowledged that the inhabitants of Jericho had indeed heard about how great Israel’s God was, when he defeated Sihon and Og in the wilderness.

It also recalls the purpose of the tenth plague in Egypt, which was much more than merely to convince the pharaoh to release the Israelites. It was God’s challenge to the Egyptian gods: “I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt.” All of these cases show that God performed miracles to attest to Himself, along with the more immediate purposes of accomplishing certain ends for the people involved.

B. There is nothing wrong with memorials, provided they don’t become religious idols.

Glorifying the past is a good way to petrify the present and rob the church of power. The next generations need reminders of what God has done in history, but these reminders must also strengthen their faith and draw them closer to the Lord.

God brings us out that He might bring us in, and He brings us in that we might overcome and claim our inheritance in Jesus Christ. If you want to claim your spiritual inheritance in Christ, believe the Word of faith and get your feet wet! Step out in a walk of faith, and God will open the way for you. Surrender yourself to the Lord and die to the old life , and He will bring you into the land and give you “days of heaven upon the earth” (Deut. 11:21).