Bible Commentaries

And command ye them, saying, Take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood ^a firm, twelve stones, and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the ^b lodging place, where ye shall lodge this night.

(a) As in (Joshua 3:17).

(b) Meaning, the place where they would camp.

That this may be a sign among you, [that] when your ^c children ask [their fathers] in time to come, saying, What [mean] ye by these stones?

(c) God commands that not only we ourselves profit by this wonderful work, but that our posterity may know the cause of it, and glorify his Name.

And Joshua set up ^d twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood: and they are there unto this day.

(d) Besides the twelve stones that were carried by the tribes and set up in Gilgal.

And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over, that the ark of the LORD passed over, and the priests, ^e in the presence of the people.

(e) Meaning, in the presence or sight of the people.

About forty thousand prepared for war passed over before the ^f LORD unto battle, to the plains of Jericho.

(f) That is, before the Ark.

Command the priests that bear the ^g ark of the testimony, that they come up out of Jordan.

(g) Because the ark testified God's presence, and the tables of the Law contained in it signified God's will toward his people.

And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth [day] of the ^h first month, and encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho.

(h) Called Abib or Nisan, containing part of March and part of April.

That all the people of the ⁱ earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it [is] mighty: that ye might fear the LORD your God for ever.

(i) God's benefits serve as a further condemnation to the wicked, and stir up his own to reverence and obey him.