Catholic Commentary on Joshua 4

"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." (Joshua 4:24)

Twelve Stones of Memorial

God commands Joshua to have twelve men, one from each tribe, take twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan and carry them to the camp at Gilgal. These stones will be a memorial. When your children ask in the future, what do these stones mean? you will tell them: Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground. The memorial stones are the pedagogical object lesson of the covenant: the physical marker that triggers the telling of the story for the next generation. The Catechism identifies this practice as the biblical model for all sacramental catechesis: the visible sign that prompts the question that opens the teaching (CCC 1667).

The LORD exalted Joshua in the eyes of all Israel as he had exalted Moses, and they revered him all the days of his life. The crossing of the Jordan at flood was itself the divine endorsement of Joshua's leadership. God commands that the twelve stones be set up at Gilgal as a permanent memorial: 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. The stones speak a double testimony: outward to the nations and inward to Israel.

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, set up your memorial stones. The moments when God parted the waters for you, the crossings you have made that were impossible without him, deserve a marker. Write them down, tell the stories to your children, name the Gilgals in your life. The question your children ask, what do these stones mean, is the opening of the transmission of faith.

Prayer

Lord God, you commanded twelve stones to be raised so that all peoples might know your power and your people might always fear you. Raise memorial stones in our lives and give us the stories to tell when our children ask. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

4
Twelve Stones from the Jordan
1 When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, 2 “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, 3 and command them: ‘Take up for yourselves twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan where the priests were standing, carry them with you, and set them down in the place where you spend the night.’ ”
 
4 So Joshua summoned the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, 5 and said to them, “Cross over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of Israel, 6 to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ 7 you are to tell them, ‘The waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters were cut off.’ Therefore these stones will be a memorial to the Israelites forever.”
 
8 Thus the Israelites did as Joshua had commanded them. They took up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, one for each tribe of Israel, just as the LORD had told Joshua; and they carried them to the camp, where they set them down.
 
9 Joshua also set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan,* 4:9 Some translators And Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan in the place where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant stood. And the stones are there to this day.
 
10 Now the priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until the people had completed everything the LORD had commanded Joshua to tell them, just as Moses had directed Joshua. The people hurried across, 11 and after everyone had finished crossing, the priests with the ark of the LORD crossed in the sight of the people. 12 The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over before the Israelites, armed for battle as Moses had instructed them. 13 About 40,000 troops armed for battle crossed over before the LORD into the plains of Jericho.
 
14 On that day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they revered him all the days of his life, just as they had revered Moses.
 
15 Then the LORD said to Joshua, 16 “Command the priests who carry the ark of the Testimony † 4:16 That is, the ark of the covenant to come up from the Jordan.”
 
17 So Joshua commanded the priests, “Come up from the Jordan.”
 
18 When the priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD came up out of the Jordan and their feet touched the dry land, the waters of the Jordan returned to their course and overflowed all the banks as before.
The Camp at Gilgal
 
19 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. 20 And there at Gilgal Joshua set up the twelve stones they had taken from the Jordan.
 
21 Then Joshua said to the Israelites, “In the future, when your children ask their fathers, ‘What is the meaning of these stones?’ 22 you are to tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ 23 For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, just as He did to the Red Sea,‡ 4:23 Or the Sea of Reeds which He dried up before us until we had crossed over. 24 He did this so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, and so that you may always fear the LORD your God.”

*4:9 4:9 Some translators And Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan

†4:16 4:16 That is, the ark of the covenant

‡4:23 4:23 Or the Sea of Reeds

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