Signs of Remembrance

Introduction

I said this earlier this year and I will say it again. We humans forget things very easily, especially if the thing is God’s blessings in our life. I can prove it too, and I don’t want any hands to go up. How do you react when hard times hit? What goes through your mind when things in your life suddenly go sour? The good news is that God knows how easily we forget His faithfulness, love, grace, mercy, goodness, strength, and promises. He knows us better than we know ourselves, which is both terrifying and humbling. And He knows that we need reminding of what He has and will do for us that He has given us signs to remember Him by.

Joshua 3:1-5:12 is one story of the crossing of the Jordan River, and so we will look at this story as a whole. I don’t have time to look at all the interesting points within this story but will look specifically at the signs God gives to Israel so they will not forget who He is and what He has done.

Three Signs

God gives the people three signs. the first is the Ark of the Covenant. The second is the stones at Gilgal. And the last is the ongoing sign of circumcision. These three signs show God’s devotion to Israel and more importantly His covenant with them. These signs are not only to those whom God sent across the flooding Jordan River, but also a sign to their children and their children’s children. And this is why they were given signs. Fundamentally that Israel might remember the great and mighty deeds of their God, and live according to His Law. The covenant God who has redeemed them from slavery in Egypt and has made them His own. The LORD defeats giants and stops flooding rivers to keep His people safe. The significance of the crossing and the signs God gives is to show future generations that the God of Israel is a promise keeper. It also demonstrates the weakness of mankind to save ourselves and the strength of God to save.

The Ark of the Covenant

The first is the sign of God’s presence is the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant is important to the whole history of Israel, and especially to this story. So much so that it is mentioned 9 times in chapter 3 and 6 times in chapter 4. It represents God’s presence among His people. It represents God’s Sovereign rule and power over creation. It represents God’s holiness and moral standards. And just as important is its representation of God’s mercy.

The eternal God who created the heavens and earth is with His chosen people and leads them across the Jordan. Joshua 3:3, and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it.” Joshua 3:6, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. God is always the the one who leads His people through this life and into the Promised land, or the new earth. God has led Israel through the wilderness 40 years with the Ark of the Covenant leading them safely though. If you will remember back in Exodus 25:10-22 we have the story of how the artisans were to craft the Ark. It says that the bottom half of the Ark was a wooden box overlaid with gold. In Exodus 25:10 we are given its dimensions, “two and a half cubits shall be its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height. A cubit is about 45 cm. Now for us modern metric thinking people, the dimensions are approximately 112 cm long, by 67 cm wide and high.

The height of the Ark was much taller when the lid was placed on top. Exodus 25:17 “You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold; two and a half cubits shall be its length and a cubit and a half its width.” The lid was pure gold with two cherubim, angels, poised facing each other, wings spread out over the mercy seat. This lid, or mercy seat, is the symbolic place where God would meet His people. The New Testament authors use the word propitiation, in the NKJV as well as the ESV, or atonement in some of the others. These English words, propitiation and atonement, refer to the lid of the Ark of the Covenant symbolizing the mercy which God bestows upon us through the death of His Son, when Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our rebellion against God.

The Ark of the Covenant also represents God’s holiness. When Moses rewrote the Ten Commandments God instructed him to place the original into the Ark and to keep a copy for the nation. The Ten Commandments represent God’s holy standards for living a righteous life. Unattainable by any mere human, they instead demonstrate to us how depraved in our sin we truly are. Fast forward to Jesus and He is the only human ever to live the righteous life we see in the Ten Commandments. And it is His righteous life, His full obedience to the Law of God, that every Believer is clothed with. The moment we come to Faith, we take off our filthy rags of sin, and are given Christ’s righteous robes. In terms of the judgement of God, Believers are as right before God as Jesus is. In terms of practicality, though, we still sin and need forgiveness every day.

On the flip side it shows that though God is merciful, He will not, and cannot, allow sinners off Scott free. All those who do not come before His mercy seat will feel the wrath of His anger at the last judgement. These reasons are why God instructs Joshua to sanctify the people in verse 5. We come to the Lord, and go about the Lord’s business according to His will, not our own.

Stones of Memory

The next Sign of Remembrance is introduced in Joshua 3:12, Now therefore, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe. Then we don’t hear why these men were to be chosen until Joshua 4:2, where the words are repeated, “Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from every tribe. Why were these men chosen? Joshua 4:6, gives us the answer, ‘that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ The stones are a memory device so that future generations do not forget who God is and how He made the flooded waters of the Jordan (read that in Josh 3:15) stop so the people can cross over into the Promised Land safely. It is a sign that future Israelites can trust God to provide safe shelter and strong arm to repel invaders. They should see the monument and say to themselves, this is our God, the Almighty One, who overthrew Egypt and dried up the waters of the Red Sea as well as the flooding Jordan River.

One Monument or Two

We are only told that God commanded one lot of stones as a memorial but we read of two, and it is easy to skip over it as we read the story. The One commanded by God is erected at Gilgal on the western bank of the Jordan River. The other monument appears to be erected by Joshua in the middle of the Jordan Riverbed, right where the priest were standing with the Ark of the Covenant. Joshua 4:9, Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood; and they are there to this day. In my opinion I think this verse is speaking of where the stones came from and not where Joshua set up an extra monument. The 1984 version of the NIV, in Joshua 4:9, Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day. It makes more sense in the flow of the story if we look at verse 9 as the source of the stones not an extra placement.

We understand memorials very well. In Australia we celebrate the memory of the ANZACS and what they achieved over a century ago. As we go on a journey in the car we will often see a memorial of a car crash victim. In the Church we remember Christ’s sacrifice for us both in the crucifix on the wall, as well as in the Lord’s Supper. Memorials are not erected so we can bow down and worship them or pray to them but act to jog our memories to special occasions in the past.

The stone monument erected here is also for the current generation. Although God had given the land to Israel, the people still had a long hard road before they could begin to rest easy. The stones were erected at Gilgal because it was the base camp for the Israelites. Every time they returned to base they would see the stones and be reminded of God’s faithful love, and great strength. It would invigorate the army to keep up the work, press ahead to claim that which God had promised them.

Children often forget the faith of their fathers, even blend their own ideas until in only a couple of generations the past is all but forgotten. They need reminding. Joshua 4:6-7, “when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.” Also in Joshua 4:21-23, Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: “When your children [descendants] ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ then you shall let your children know, saying, ‘Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land’; 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. Elsewhere Israel is commanded to have the law on their minds and on the mouths all the time. God knows we forget Him too easily and so has given us guidelines on how to keep Him in the forefronts of our minds and in our lives.

Circumcision

The people had arrived at their new camp, but there was a major problem that needed addressing before the conquest could begin. The last sign in our passage is the sign of circumcision. We find this story in Joshua 5:1-12, with verses 4-7 being the heart of this text. The text tells us in Joshua 5:1, So it was, when all the kings of the Amorites who were on the west side of the Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until we had crossed over, that their heart melted; and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel.

The unexpected

In real language the author is telling us, the reader, that the land was ripe for the picking. Israel’s confidence has been bolstered by the miraculous crossing of the Jordan River. Humanly speaking, there would never be a better time to grab your sword and spear and march out. But if there is anything we know of the way God works, we should expect the unexpected.

Uncircumcised Children

Instead of commanding the Israelite army to ready themselves for war, he tells them in Joshua 5:2, At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives for yourself, and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time.” In verses 5 we read, For all the people who came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness, on the way as they came out of Egypt, had not been circumcised. The fathers who came out of Egypt were circumcised, but refused to trust in God. Joshua 5:6, For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people who were men of war, who came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they did not obey the voice of the LORD—to whom the LORD swore that He would not show them the land which the LORD had sworn to their fathers that He would give us, “a land flowing with milk and honey.” Their children, the current generation, were not circumcised yet God raised them up. Joshua 5:7, [God] raised up in their place; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way.

The sign

Circumcision was introduced to Abraham in Genesis 17. In Genesis 17:10-11, This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. the physical marring was a sign that these people are pledged to Almighty God, forever. This sign should never have been forgotten by every Israelite male. He would be reminded of the eternal Covenant between God and Israel every single day of His life.

Instead of sending the army of Israel to begin the conquest God commands allegiance to Himself of each individual male going to battle. Any who refused would be cut off from God’s people, according to Genesis 17.

Not only is circumcision a sign of the covenant between God and Israel, but God uses it, in Joshua 5:9, as a way to put off the reproach of Egypt. What does this mean? The reproach of Egypt is not referring to the events in Egypt but more recently to their parents who saw the mighty acts of God, yet did not believe in His promises. They were the reason for the 40 sojourning in the wilderness, and by implication the reason for their children not being circumcised. As such they died outside the Promised Land. Their children trusted in God’s faithfulness and so the embarrassment of the unbelieving parents is finally dealt with in the act of circumcision.

After the 40 years wandering in the desert and the miraculous way God brought them into the Promised Land, He gave them a little taste of rest. They ate food from the land, and so the manna ceased.

These signs were a great reminder that the Creator God is one who condescends to pour grace and blessings upon His children. Praise be to Almighty God.