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Joshua Chapter
Four
Joshua 4
Chapter Contents
Stones taken out of Jordan. (1-9) The people pass through
Jordan. (10-19) The twelve stones placed in Gilgal. (20-24)
Commentary on Joshua 4:1-9
(Read Joshua 4:1-9)
The works of the Lord are so worthy of rememberance
and
the heart of man is so prone to forget them
that various methods are needful
to refresh our memories
for the glory of God
our advantage
and that of our
children. God gave orders for preparing this memorial.
Commentary on Joshua 4:10-19
(Read Joshua 4:10-19)
The priests with the ark did not stir till ordered to
move. Let none be weary of waiting
while they have the tokens of God's
presence with them
even the ark of the covenant
though it be in the depths of
adversity. Notice is taken of the honour put upon Joshua. Those are feared in
the best manner
and to the best purpose
who make it appear that God is with
them
and that they set him before them.
Commentary on Joshua 4:20-24
(Read Joshua 4:20-24)
It is the duty of parents to tell their children betimes
of the words and works of God
that they may be trained up in the way they
should go. In all the instruction parents give their children
they should
teach them to fear God. Serious godliness is the best learning. Are we not
called
as much as the Israelites
to praise the loving-kindness of our God?
Shall we not raise a pillar to our God
who has brought us through dangers and
distresses in so wonderful a way? For hitherto the Lord hath helped us
as much
as he did his saints of old. How great the stupidity and ingratitude of men
who perceive not His hand
and will not acknowledge his goodness
in their
frequent deliverances!
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Joshua》
Joshua 4
Verse 1
[1] And
it came to pass
when all the people were clean passed over Jordan
that the
LORD spake unto Joshua
saying
Spake —
This was commanded before
Joshua 3:12
and is here repeated with
enlargement
as being now to be put in execution.
Verse 2
[2] Take you twelve men out of the people
out of every tribe a man
Out of every tribe a man — For the greater evidence
and the more effectual spreading the report of
this marvellous work among all the tribes.
Verse 3
[3] And
command ye them
saying
Take you hence out of the midst of Jordan
out of the
place where the priests' feet stood firm
twelve stones
and ye shall carry them
over with you
and leave them in the lodging place
where ye shall lodge this
night.
Lodge this night —
That is
in Gilgal
as is expressed below
verse 19
20.
Verse 4
[4] Then
Joshua called the twelve men
whom he had prepared of the children of Israel
out of every tribe a man:
Prepared —
That is
appointed for that work
and commanded to be ready for it.
Verse 5
[5] And Joshua said unto them
Pass over before the ark of the LORD your God
into the midst of Jordan
and take ye up every man of you a stone upon his
shoulder
according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel:
Before the ark —
That is
go back again to the place where the ark stands.
Verse 6
[6] That
this may be a sign among you
that when your children ask their fathers in time
to come
saying
What mean ye by these stones?
A sign — A
monument or memorial of this day's work.
Verse 9
[9] And
Joshua set up 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.
Twelve stones —
These stones are not the same with those which a man could carry upon his
shoulder
verse 5. They might be very much larger; and being set
up in two rows one above another
might be seen
at least when the water was
low
especially where it was shallow
as it was ordinarily
though not at this
time
when Jordan overflowed all its banks. Add to this
that the waters of
Jordan are very clear; therefore these stones might be seen in it
either by
those who stood upon the shore
because the river was not broad; or by those
that passed in boats.
Unto this day —
This might be written
either 1. by Joshua who probably wrote this book near 20
years after this was done: or
2. by some other holy man divinely inspired
who
inserted this and some such passages both in this book and in the writings of
Moses.
Verse 10
[10] For
the priests which bare the ark stood in the midst of Jordan
until every thing
was finished that the LORD commanded Joshua to speak unto the people
according
to all that Moses commanded Joshua: and the people hasted and passed over.
Commanded Joshua —
Not particularly
but in general; because he commanded Joshua to observe and do
all that God had commanded him by Moses
and all that he should command him any
other way.
Hasted —
That is
passed over with haste
an argument of their fear
or weakness of
their faith; as on the contrary
the priests are commended that they stood
firm
and settled in their minds
as well as in the posture of their bodies.
Verse 13
[13]
About forty thousand prepared for war passed over before the LORD unto battle
to the plains of Jericho.
Before the Lord —
Either
1. before the ark
or
2. in the presence of God who observed whether
they would keep their covenant made with their brethren
or not.
Verse 16
[16]
Command the priests that bear the ark of the testimony
that they come up out
of Jordan.
Out of Jordan —
For being now in the middle
and deepest place of the river
they are most
properly said to go up to the land.
Verse 17
[17]
Joshua therefore commanded the priests
saying
Come ye up out of Jordan.
The priests —
Who stayed contentedly in the river
'till God by Joshua called them out.
Verse 18
[18] And
it came to pass
when the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD
were come up out of the midst of Jordan
and the soles of the priests' feet
were lifted up unto the dry land
that the waters of Jordan returned unto their
place
and flowed over all his banks
as they did before.
Their place —
Returned into their proper channel
according to their natural and usual
course.
Verse 19
[19] And
the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month
and
encamped in Gilgal
in the east border of Jericho.
The first month —
Namely
of Nisan
which wanted but five days of forty years from the time of
their coming out of Egypt
which was on the fifteenth day of this month. So
punctual is God in the performing of his word
whether promised or threatened.
And this day was very seasonable for the taking up of the lambs which were to
he used four days after
according to the law
Exodus 12:3
6.
Gilgal — A
place afterwards so called
Joshua 5:9.
Verse 20
[20] And
those twelve stones
which they took out of Jordan
did Joshua pitch in Gilgal.
In Gilgal —
Probably in order
like so many little pillars
to keep up the remembrance of
this miraculous benefit.
Verse 23
[23] For
the LORD your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you
until ye were
passed over
as the LORD your God did to the Red sea
which he dried up from
before us
until we were gone over:
Before us —
That is
myself and Caleb
and all of us here present; for this benefit
though
done to their fathers
is justly said to be done to themselves
because they
were then in their parent's loins. It greatly magnifies later mercies
to
compare them with former mercies; for hereby it appears
that God is the same
yesterday
today and forever.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Joshua》
04 Chapter 4
Verses 1-24
What mean ye by these stones?
The first act in Canaan
These stones proclaimed certain realities. Taken from the dry bed
of the river
they declared God’s power in cutting off the waters before the
ark of His covenant; twelve in number
one stone for each tribe
they declared
how that all Israel had entered into Canaan; set up together in Canaan
they
witnessed to Israel’s unity in that land. Moreover
they became a memorial to
the nation of Jehovah’s work for them. First
these stones declared Jehovah’s
great work for His people; even Jordan emptied of its waters before the ark of
His covenant
and His people brought thereby into the fulness of their
blessing. Now as we truly recognise that we are brought
in Christ
into the
heavenly places
our first action in spirit will resemble that of Israel: we
shall extol God for His power and might in accomplishing His purpose in
bringing us into such blessing. Christ
our ark
went down into death for us
exhausted its power
stripped it of its might; and God has given us
who were
dead in sins
life “together with” Christ risen from among the dead
and has
set us in Him in the fulness of blessing
so that as truly as Israel through the
passage of the Jordan were in Canaan
saints now are in Christ in the heavenly
places. To enter into this grace
it is necessary to keep before our hearts
in
faith
the measure of God’s Divine power exercised towards us
the exceeding
greatness of which is according to that energy and might of His “which He
wrought
” &c. (Ephesians 1:20). And speaking in the
language of the type under our consideration as “clean passed over” Jordan
the
Christian’s first act should be the heart recognition of what God has done. We
are across the river; to God through Christ be the praise. Next
the stones
twelve in number
“according to the number of the tribes of the children of
Israel” (Joshua 4:5; Joshua 4:8)
spoke of the whole of
Israel. Christians occupy themselves practically with spiritual
not national
unity; therefore with the truth that all saints of every nation are one in
God’s sight and according to His purpose. Saints are seated together in the
heavenly places in Christ
the one common place of blessing for all who
believe. One association and one privilege mark all saints
and all equally
have the highest and the best place. Even as each individual believer has life
for himself “together” with Christ risen (Ephesians 2:5)
so have all believers the
highest privileges in common; they are by God made “to sit together” (Ephesians 2:6). The pillar of twelve
stones
set up in Gilgal
became a memorial to the nation of Jehovah’s work for
them. The question
“What mean ye by these stones?” which the children would
ask their fathers was to be answered by a relation of the Lord’s doings. And
well indeed may Christians recount to their children what God has wrought. Our
little ones should be grounded in the great truths of God’s Word. Redemption
resurrection
and ascension facts should be implanted in their minds and
memories. (H. F. Witherby.)
The pile of stones speaking
It is an outrage to build a house like this
occupying so much
room in a crowded thoroughfare
and with such vast toil and outlay
unless
there be some tremendous reasons for doing it; and so I demand of all who have
assisted in the building of this structure: “What mean ye by these stones?”
1. We mean that they shall be an earthly residence for Christ. Jesus
did not have much of a home when He was here. Oh
Jesus! is it not time that
Thou hadst a house? We give Thee this. Thou didst give it to us first
but we
give it back to Thee. It is too good for us
but not half good enough for Thee.
2. We mean the communion of saints.
3. We mean by these stones the salvation of the people. We did not
build this church for mere worldly reforms
or for an educational institution
or as a platform on which to read essays and philosophical disquisitions; but a
place for the tremendous work of soul-saving. Do not make the blunder of the
ship carpenters in Noah’s time
who helped to build the ark
but did not get
into it. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Stones buried and raised
I. These stones
were most emphatically A monument of great might. The hand of man is capable of
great achievements. How stupendous
how unparalleled
was the work of carrying
Israel across Jordan in this fashion; yet how easily
how quickly
how quietly
was it all done!
II. Yet these
stones formed a monument that might be despised. Simple and rude it was; it had
no beauty or architectural comeliness
to be desired; it was nothing more than
a rough pyramid of twelve muddy stones. With what contempt would an Egyptian
look down upon it. But
after all
ostentation is human
simplicity is Divine;
for though
from a human point of view
the wonder commemorated here was very
great
what was it from the Divine? Nothing. What
after all
was the opening
up of this passage to Him who upholds all things by the word of His power
who
gathers the waters in the hollow of His hand
who taketh up the isles as a very
little thing? Nothing
and less than nothing. It was easy for the men of Israel
to raise such a monument. Yes; yet it was harder for them to heap up these
stones than for God to heap up these waters; and all the might that reared the
pyramids could never have congealed these depths.
III. Again
this
monument had a worldwide reference and a special application. Most monuments
have a very restricted reference. They speak to a political or a religious
community; to the inhabitants of a city or the natives of a country
or to the
members of a common faith; but this simple monument on Jordan’s bank has a
voice for all mankind. It gives a declaration of God’s mighty power
so clear
and emphatic that if men do not hear its testimony it is because they have
stopped their ears. And if it had
for the human race as a whole
a great
lesson to teach
it was fraught with special instruction to the Israel of God.
To all men it cried
“God is mighty”; to Israel it testified
“This God abides
thy God for evermore.” He is your refuge and strength. Therefore this monument
was set up that they might remember and fear the Lord for ever and walk in His
ways
and do His commandments.
IV. Other lessons
are taught by these stones. They were twelve in number
arranged in their
places by twelve warriors
one from each tribe; therefore it is plain that the
whole people are represented by these stones. Also there were two sets of
twelve stones: one set in the bed of the river
buried by its waters; another
raised from the bed of the river
and piled upon its bank. Therefore we have
here the whole people represented in two different aspects. The twelve buried
stones speak of Israel in one relation; the twelve raised in another. Think of
the buried. What mean ye by these stones? They lie on the bottom of the river
covered by its muddy waters. They represent God’s chosen people
for they are twelve.
The strange place
therefore
in which they lie
must be a representation of
some spiritual and important truth concerning Israel. What is it? “By grace are
ye saved
through faith
and that not of yourselves
it is the gift of God.”
The death of those who came out of Egypt made this very plain. Now the children
have arisen in place of the fathers
and they are about to enter in. What is
their title to the inheritance? Is it better than that of their fathers? Is it
true that they are worthy; that they have clean hands and a pure heart
and
have not lifted up their souls unto vanity
nor sworn deceitfully? Is it true
that they are righteous? Can they claim entrance because of their obedience to
the law? Nay
by the law shall no man be justified; and this burying of the
twelve stones most solemnly emphasises this declaration. “Flesh and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven.” The sinner must leave the old man
behind; the body of sin must be destroyed; we must be born again ere ever we
see or enter into the kingdom of God. Do we ask
where is the old man
the body
of sin? The Cross and grave of Christ give answer: it is gone
clean gone for
ever; lost sight of
as these stones in the bed of Jordan. They are buried
to
know no resurrection; yea
God tells us He has cast them behind His back
into
the depths of the sea
a far deeper grave than Jordan. Through Alaric I. the
Goths first learned the way to Rome. He and his rugged hosts were everywhere
invincible. All Italy
luxurious and effeminate
lay at his feet. He extended
his conquest as far south as Sicily. But at Cosenza in Calabria he was seized
with a deadly malady. When he died
his followers had to face a great
difficulty. What were they to do with the dead body of their great leader? It
was impossible to carry it back over Italian plain and snowy Alp to the dark
forests of his fatherland. It dare not be left to the mockery and desecration
of the caitiffs he had conquered. Therefore they determined to bury it in the bed of
the river Busento. They set their captives to the task of diverting the stream
from its channel
and there in its dry bed they dug the grave of Alaric. Then
when he was buried deep in his rocky tomb
and the waters rolled once more in
their wonted channel
to hide for ever the secret of this strange sepulchre
all the captives were put to death. These Goths wished to give their king a
grave which no hand could reach. Even such a grave has God given our sins
and
here in these stones we behold a picture of what He has done. We are buried
with Christ. Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God by
Christ Jesus our Lord. But there were twelve stones raised upon the bank as
well as twelve buried in the bed of Jordan
and we may well ask
“What mean ye
by these stones?” This is the positive side of the same truth we have been
considering. As the buried stones speak of death
so the raised speak of
resurrection. We are not only buried with Christ
but are also quickened with
Him
raised with Him
and seated with Him in heavenly places. The twelve buried
stones picture our place on account of sin; the twelve raised declare our place
on account of righteousness. The first speak of weakness; the second of might.
The one declares all “old things are passed away”; the other
“all things are
become new.” These twelve stones set on Jordan’s bank were raised from Jordan’s
bed. That river
as it were
begot them. They were of it
from it
out of it.
Even so the Church of Christ is begotten and brought forth from His death. The
agonies of Christ crucified were the travail pangs of the new creation. As His
people are buried with Him
so are they quickened
“begotten again unto a
lively hope
by the resurrection of Christ from the dead.” Yes
it is a “lively
hope.” The great pyramid of Egypt was after all a monument of despair
“the
eternal abode” of the dead. This little pyramid of Canaan is a pyramid of hope
placed in the goodly land conspicuously and permanently; reminding those that
believe that we are not only raised with Christ
but seated with Him in
heavenly places--that we are henceforth a constituent part of His inheritance.
(A. B. Mackay.)
Voiceful stones
This primitive form of a memorial is common to almost all nations.
Of this character are the Egyptian obelisks and the cairns and the Druidical
circles in England and Scotland. The text is the question of the children. The
sight of the cairn would awaken curiosity. It has been well asked
“What child
in Altorf but must have inquired respecting the statue of William Tell
or in
Lucerne about the lion sculptured by Thorwaldsen to commemorate the deaths of
the Swiss Guard? “These memorial stones would remind the tribes of God’s
greatness and goodness. But the stones must have tongues in order that their
testimony may be more complete. They were not simply to be memorial; they were
also to be declaratory . . . Occupying to-day for the first time this place of
worship
it is fitting that we should ask and answer the old question
“What
mean ye by these stones?” The form which the stones have taken partly answers
the question. Turret
tower
and spire point heavenward. In its symmetry and
sincerity the whole structure preaches the need of truth in the heart and life.
1. These stones express our conviction of the world’s need of Christ’s
gospel. Sin is the terrible fact in human existence. It is the absence of
wholeness and of happiness; of Godlikeness here
and of heaven hereafter. It
has separated man from God
and man from man. It is the prolific parent of all
our woes. In the fulness of time the Christ was born. One element
the negative
element
in that fulness was the world’s fruitless effort to help itself.
Mighty Rome
in her abject helplessness
was calling for a deliverer. Beautiful
Greece was stretching out her hands for a healer. Christ was both to both so
far as they received Him. The experience of the world must be that of each
individual. God says
and experience echoes the saying
“Thou hast destroyed
thyself.” Thank God He speaks this other word: “But in Me is thy help.”
2. These stones express our faith in Christ’s gospel to meet the
world’s need. To each man
guilty and condemned
it offers
through the death
and mediation of Christ
a full and free pardon. It makes the redeemed here
have foretastes of heaven. It harmonises all the conflicting interests of human
society.
3. These stones declare our faith in and our duty toward the
aggressive
the missionary side of Christ’s gospel. It means to conquer the
world. It will do it. This is its lofty ambition and its Divine destiny. In
this respect it stands unique among the religions of the world. We are not to
satisfy ourselves by singing
“Hold the fort!” we must shout
“Storm the fort!”
Our anti-mission Church is an anti-Christian Church.
4. These stones declare our faith in our distinctive organic order
as a body of Christians
as being in harmony with Christ’s gospel. (R. S.
MacArthur.)
Stones of memorial
I. The memory of
god’s goodness is honouring to god himself. To receive favours from an earthly
friend
and then to forget them
and to act as if they had never been bestowed;
this is ingratitude
base and contemptible. How much worse is the conduct of
those who are insensible to and negligent of the favours shown by God to man!
Especially should redemption wrought by the Son of God be kept in everlasting
remembrance. The least we can do is to praise and glorify the God of grace.
II. The memory of
god’s goodness is a stimulus to piety. Remembrance feeds the flame of devotion
of love
of trust. To think of God’s favours and to be thankful is “a good
thing
” is profitable to the spiritual life
and conducive to fellowship with
God
and to true happiness and contentment.
III. The memory of
god’s goodness is an encouragement in time of trial
danger
and fear. The
distressed and harassed may well call to mind the Divine interpositions of the
past
which will lead them to exclaim: “The Lord hath been mindful of us: He
will help us.” (Family Churchman.)
The memorial stones
I. What was God’s
purpose?
1. The memorial was to be an aid to faith.
2. It had the purpose of cherishing gratitude.
3. It was a reminder of the need of unity.
II. What are the
prophetic aspects of this memorial?
1. The two piles of stones
according to St. Augustine
represent
the twelve patriarchs and the twelve apostles; the new Israel on the bank of
the old river
the old in the midst of the stream
as the “buried” past. Thus
the “memorial” is the Church of Christ
built upon the apostles
the one Divine
Society
which is founded on a Rock
and against which the gates of hell may
beat
but cannot prevail; for it is a memorial “for ever.”
2. As the passage of the Bed Sea represents baptism--God “safely led
the children of Israel Thy people through the Red Sea
figuring thereby Thy
holy baptism” (Prayer Book)--so some writers have seen in the crossing of
Jordan a figure of the pardon for sins committed after baptism; in other words
an image of repentance. Further
as after passing Jordan
the Passover was
kept
so after repentance the Holy Communion is received. In fact
the memorial
as to its purposes may be compared to the Holy Eucharist; that is
a “memorial”
of the death and passion of Christ: “Do this
for My memorial”; it is the great
service of thanksgiving for redemption
as its name announces; and it is a
pledge of unity
for “we being many are one bread
and one body: for we are all
partakers of that one Bread” (1 Corinthians 10:17).
3. Further
as through Jordan the Hebrews entered the land of
promise
the “Holy Land
” so penitence must be introductory to a holy life
which leads to heaven.
4. It may be noticed that by some modern writers Jordan is regarded
as the river of death
and the words
“How wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?”
(Jeremiah 12:5) to be applicable to the
fears which surround death
through which all must pass before they can “see
the kingdom of God.”
III. Lessons.
1. To sustain our faith by the use of those “outward and visible”
signs--the Sacraments
which our Lord has appointed as the memorials of what He
has wrought for us.
2. To make our lives more lives of thanksgiving
and especially by
receiving the Holy Eucharist
which is the “thanksgiving” which Christ ordained
to be offered up to the end of time
“till He come” (1 Corinthians 11:26).
3. Further
let the twelve stones remind us of the union which
should exist between the members of Christ; for whilst we are bidden to “honour
all men
” the apostle says further
“love the brotherhood.”
4. The cairn of stones at Gilgal should teach us that we “as lively
stones are built up a spiritual house
an holy priesthood
” &c. (1 Peter 2:5). The truest witness to
Christ is to be found in the lives of His members
those who make Him visible.
To such
the power which made a way for Israel through Jordan will not fail
them
and the promise will be fulfilled by the Saviour (Isaiah 43:2). (Canon Hutchings.)
Memorials
I. That the
spiritual life should be one of continued memorials. Is it not one continued
course of mercies? And as these mercies
these proofs of love and care telling
sweetly of the provision of a Father
the grace of a Saviour
the presence of a
Comforter
are manifested day by day and hour by hour
what cry so fitting as that
of the Psalmist
“Bless the Lord
O my soul
and forget not all His benefits”?
How delightful to look back and trace the dealings of God with your soul; or
not confining the mind to spiritual things
to see how
at times
especial
providences have fallen out
telling of unceasing watchfulness on the part of
the Lord
and calling for devout acknowledgment on yours. How delightful to
find that you have not overlooked these signs of goodness
but that they still
live fresh in loving recollection
and that here on earth those things are not
forgotten which assuredly will furnish themes of praise hereafter in heaven. It
has been so all along. Observe Abraham on mount Moriah; Jacob on the plain by
Luz; Moses after Israel’s defeat of Amalek at Rephidim; Samuel when the
Philistines had fled before him; look at the children of Israel here at Gilgal;
the same Spirit moves them all.
II. It is useful to
consider what we should commemorate
and the manner in which such commemoration
should be observed. We might speak of national mercies
and mercies to our
Church; of signal benefits
such as our pure creed
our heritage of the Word of
God
the opening of wide fields for Christian enterprise
the revival of the
spirit of religion
which
a century ago
made England see a wondrous
resurrection from spiritual death
and which is still manifesting itself in a
thousand forms for the good of man. Such things as these call for deep
thankfulness. The Christian community which can recount them may appropriate
the language (Psalms 78:1-7). But just in proportion as
thankfulness fills the individual heart will the general mind of the community
feel its expanding power. The revival of God’s work in this
as in other
respects
must begin in the individual
and the community will take its tone
from the majority. And if we learn to value for ourselves
by personal
participation
the blessings of the gospel of Christ Jesus
we are prepared to
appreciate the benefit which those blessings confer on the community: if we
really set up our memorials for saving mercy conferred on ourselves
the Divine
goodness shown to our nation and our Church will not readily be overlooked.
III. Why it is
desirable to act in the way that has been pointed out. We are prone to look
rather at our sorrows than at our joys; to brood over trouble rather than to be
grateful for prosperity. Poor complaining souls
take heed lest you rebuke God.
Look on the other side. Try to count your mercies. “My mercies.” Yes! The help
God has given you over and over again; the difference which you may find
between your trials
which are so great
and those of your neighbour
which are
even greater; the patience and long-suffering with which God has borne all your
repining
your murmuring
your forgetfulness of Him
your doubts and fears and
unbelief; the grace which has spared you instead of cutting you off in sin and
casting you down to hell; the rich privileges and means of spiritual good
brought to your very door and placed within your reach
set by your side from
time to time
with merciful perseverance and consideration for your soul. Let
us be well assured that if we kept these things more in remembrance the
spiritual life of the people of God would flourish and abound to an extent as
yet not generally seen.
1. There would be more gratitude. Fresh exercises of praise would
spring from hearts whose thankfulness would be from time to time more specially
revived.
2. There would be more hope. As desires after mercies might arise
they would not be vague
but accompanied by well-grounded expectations based on
the past experience of so many mercies remembered.
3. There would be more faith. When dark clouds gather we should see
the light streak where they would ere long break
the golden fringe to show
that the sun is still there. We should feel that these shadows shall be
dissipated as others have been.
4. There would be more happiness. Where gratitude and hope and faith
abide
repining and doubt can find no room. (C. D. Marston
M. A.)
Memorials
Memorials! What are they? For what do they stand
and what do they
teach? They are special signs of Divine interposition in human lives
and
commemorate some event or circumstance claiming special remembrance and study.
I. This memorial
was commemorative and suggestive.
1. It commemorated a new departure. They had not been this way
before
they had never stood so near the fulfilment of hope as they did now.
This is typical of every life. We all have our new departures
times of marked
and decisive change
when some sudden bend in the road completely changes the
track
leads us into new scenes of activity or rest
giving us new revelations
and new experiences
and are truly periods of deep interest
epochs
red-letter
days in our lives; we cannot forget them
and have raised memorials marking
them as points to be remembered and studied.
2. It commemorated a signal mercy. Every Christian life has its
seasons of peculiar need
which are often made special means of grace. And should
he not raise memorials to mark both the trial and the mercy?
3. It commemorated a remarkable deliverance. What a sublime
spectacle! When all human aid is unavailing
and nothing can save but direct
Divine intervention
then Jehovah commands the waters to stand up upon a heap
again showing His salvation to His people. Some such memorial you have in your
life. Some time of pressing need
when human help failed
and God came to your
deliverance by opening up a path through the deep waters for you. And have you
made no mark
no sign
put up no lasting reminder?
II. The value of
such memorials.
1. They witness for God. They stand at different points on the ways
of life
bearing silent but telling testimony to the power and grace of the
Infinite Father in some time of sore and pressing need
confirming our faith in
the doctrine of the conscious
abiding
personal presence of God in the lives
of His people.
2. They remind us of mercies received in the past. We are
consciously faulty in memory
are apt to forget the blessings already received
and to grow impatient and fretful when things are a little contrary; then it is
of service to us to go back a little in our history to some of these times of
God’s special nearness to us
when He gave us such unmistakable proof of His
presence and grace by some marked deliverance
some special blessing
or some
signal answer to prayer; when we can refresh our faulty memories by putting our
hand upon some place
or time
or event in our life that we had marked by a
stone of memorial
as a record of faith in God and gratitude to Him.
3. They inspire confidence and hope for the future. Much was before
them to perplex.
4. They check despondency and gloom.
5. They supply precious lessons of Divine faithfulness. God would
have us raise these memorials by the way to remind us of His covenant
engagements. The past shall repeat itself in our future.
6. These memorials are of service to others. The pillar at Gilgal
was not only to be a memento of the sovereign mercy of God to those who had
actually witnessed the cutting off of the waters of Jordan
blot it was to
supply to posterity some precious lessons of Divine majesty and love. Much so
it is with the memorials of Christian lives--they exert a helping influence on
other lives.
7. These memorials supply incentives to increased devotion
and
stimulate to loftier praise. In this day of scepticism
coldness
indifference
and practical infidelity
when the actual presence of God in individual lives
is more or less ignored
it is both refreshing and reassuring to take up
Christian biography and hear how the holy men and women who have passed into
the Father’s house accounted for similar events in their lives. I have
sometimes seen family Bibles marked with peculiar hieroglyphics which a stranger
could not read or understand; but ask the husband or wife to tell you what
these marks mean
and you will find that each has a history precious and sweet
to the marker. They are pillars that have been raised to remind them of some
special answer to prayer
when they pleaded that promise; or When some
extraordinary light broke upon the mind
on a certain day
as they pondered and
prayed over that verse; or perhaps it was a literal fulfilment of another
promise on which they had rested in a time of distressing calamity
and they
have placed these memorials there to call to mind the signal mercy of God in
their time of urgent need
and they would as soon doubt the need as they would
the source of supply. “God did it for us
” they say
“as surely as He divided
Jordan for Israel to pass over to Canaan.” I have also heard matured Christian
men converse together on God’s dealings with them
and have felt a strange
thrill pass through me as one of them has put his hand upon some pillar in his
life and said
“Here God met me
and I communed with Him. It was a time of
bitter pain and need
and I was bowed down to earth with the burden
and was
fainting by the wayside
but the Lord drew very near
and I seemed to hear His
voice speaking to me
and asking me to tell Him about the pain
and I was drawn
out to tell Him all
and He blessed me there
by giving in a way marvellous to
me just what I needed; I rose up a strong man
and the grace was so like a
miracle that I put up this memorial
and this spot is very dear to me
for here
I saw God face to face and my life is preserved.” (J. Higgins.)
The stones buried in the Jordan
As a memorial of this wonderful passage
twelve stones were
selected from the rocky bed of the river
one for each of the twelve tribes of
Israel; and these were borne across before them on the shoulders of twelve men
and planted on the upper terrace of the valley beyond the reach of the annual
inundation. In this manner was formed the first sanctuary of the Holy Land
which was a circle of upright stones--like one of the so-called Druidical
circles in which our pagan ancestors worshipped in our own country. But besides
this memorial which was set up on the western bank of the Jordan
there was
another set up in the bed of the river itself. In the place where the feet of
the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood
in the centre of the
channel
twelve stones like those which had been carried across to the opposite
bank were arranged probably in the same manner; and when the river
which had been
temporarily driven back wards to allow the Israelites to cross
returned to its
forsaken bed
its dark
muddy waters flowed over the buried stones and hid them
for ever from view. Thus there were two monuments of the miraculous passage of
the Jordan taken from the materials of its own bed; one that gave rise to the
sacred shrine of Gilgal
which was for a long time the appointed place of
worship in the land; and another that was buried out of sight for ever in the
muddy ooze of the deep rushing river. The sacred narrative tells us what were
the purpose and meaning of the monument that stood on the dry land and was
visible to every eye; but we have to find out what were the purpose and meaning
of the monument that was invisible beneath the waters of the river. The place
where they entered the Holy Land is unique. There is no other place like it in
the world. It is the deepest chasm on the surface of the earth--at a great
depth below the level of the sea. Do we not see in this circumstance a symbol
of the deep repentance and self-abasement which a people so sensual
so
ignorant
required before they could be fitted to occupy the heights of worship
in God’s holy heritage? Then look further at the fact that the time when the
Israelites crossed the Jordan was the spring-time
which in Palestine is the
commencement of the barley-harvest. We are told elsewhere in Scripture that the
harvest is emblematical of the judgment. It was therefore a time of judgment
when the Israelites crossed the river; their past sins
their numerous
rebellions
and outbursts of unbelief
deserved condemnation and punishment;
their iniquities rose up against them
and demanded their exclusion from the
land of promise as unworthy. But God in His great mercy held back the waters of
the Jordan
the waters of judgment and death
which would otherwise have
overwhelmed them
whilst His holy ark stood in the midst of the stream
and
Israel crossed in safety; a token surely that though He was angry with them
His anger had passed away
and He was about to give them double for all their
sins. Look further still at the significant fact that when the Israelites had
erected their first sanctuary on the other side of Jordan
on the soil of the
Holy Land
which by this solemn act became their own inheritance
they were
immediately circumcised
and thus consecrated anew to the Lord
made new
creatures
as it were
from their birth to Him. So that we see in this
incident
as well as in the circumstance that the older generation which had
left Egypt all perished in the wilderness
and only their children entered the
Holy Land
what we may regard as the origin and illustration of our Lord’s
saying
“Except ye be converted
and become as little children
ye cannot enter
the kingdom of heaven.” Seeing
then
that all the incidents and circumstances
of the passage of the Israelites across the Jordan form a very focus of
symbolism
we are surely warranted in looking for a spiritual significance in
the burying of the memorial stones in the bed of the river. The Jordan was a
boundary river
separating between the wilderness and the promised land. It
flowed down to the dreary
lifeless solitude of the Dead Sea. Its waters
laden
with mud
were dark and drumly
and concealed their bed and whatever they
flowed over completely. Its course also was very rapid and impetuous. In all
these respects it was a most expressive symbol to the Israelites. The
transition from the wilderness to Canaan was not made over continuous dry land;
a water-boundary was interposed
through which they had to pass. And did not
this teach them that in the passage from the wandering life of the desert to a
settled home in the land of promise they were not to continue the same persons
in the new circumstances that they had been in the old; but
on the contrary
were to undergo a moral change
a spiritual reformation. They were to be made a
holy nation
in order to be fit occupants of the Holy Land. Their passage of
the Jordan was therefore a baptism of repentance; the river at the entrance of
the Holy Land
like the laver at the entrance of the tabernacle
afforded a
bath of purification; and the memorial stones laid in the bed of the river
over which the waters
when they had safely crossed on dry land
returned
burying them for ever from sight
represented the fate which should have been
theirs had God dealt with them according to their sins. And just as the
scape-goat carried away the sins of the people
confessed on its head
into the
wilderness
into a land of forgetfulness
so the dark
muddy waters of the
Jordan carried away the stones which represented the sins of the Israelites
into the Dead Sea
there to be engulphed for ever. All baptism is in a
spiritual sense the crossing of a boundary. When a child is baptized it crosses
a boundary between nature and grace--between ignorance and knowledge. And when
in later life we are baptized with a spiritual baptism
born again of water and
the Spirit
we cross the boundary between spiritual death and life--from the
kingdom of Satan to that kingdom which is not meat and drink
but righteousness
and peace
and joy in the Holy Ghost. Now the river of baptism is a river of
death. In crossing it we die to sin and live to righteousness. In entering into
the new life the old life perishes. Through the death of the old man there is
the resurrection of the new man. All that is connected with the old life of sin
and unbelief is taken from us and carried down to the Dead Sea. The body of sin
is drowned in the waters of forgiveness
and shall no more rise up against us.
Like the stones in the bed of the Jordan
there is no resurrection for that
which was connected with our former dead sinful selves. And how precious is the
significance of the buried stones when looked at in this light! It is not a
truth that pleases the intelligence by its ingenuity only; it is a truth that
Satisfies the heart by its suitableness to its wants. How comforting and
reassuring is the thought that when
through faith in Christ
we have crossed
from a state of nature to a state of grace
all our sins are cast into the sea
of God’s mercy. They are as completely buried out of sight as the stones in the
ooze of the Jordan. The peace that is like a river and the righteousness that
is like the waves of the sea flow over them
(H. Macmillan
D. D.)
The witness of the stones
1. They were stones of
witness
for in after-years they powerfully proclaimed that the miracle of
dividing the water of the Jordan was true
since they were raised at the very
time; they were erected publicly in the sight of the people
and no one would
have dared to make such a monument
and to declare that it commemorated such an
event
had the miracle never taken place. Scripture miracles are attested by
witnesses
which attestation distinguishes them from the so-called miracles of
the heathen world.
2. And the stones of Gilgal were stones of encouragement
for when
Israel looked on them
and recollected that they recalled God’s power
no doubt
could be felt that God was able to make their enterprise a success. When the
great cities
vast wealth
and mighty armies of the Canaanites were considered
many a Hebrew might feel his heart sink within him as he looked on the rude and
undisciplined host which Joshua had led across the Jordan. But a glance at the
stones of the circle of Gilgal would dispel all such fears
and he would
think--“The mighty Jehovah who divided the waters of Jordan is on our side; and
against the power that cleft asunder the waves of that river what can the might
of the Amorites avail? Jehovah is with us
and against Him whose word divided
Jordan vain is the power of the Canaanite
and our victory is absolutely sure.”
3. But while these stones gave encouragement to Israel
they bore
witness in a different manner to their enemies
for to the Canaanites they were
stones of warning. How could Amorite or Hittite withstand invaders whose God
possessed the power of dividing the waters of Jordan? They had run riot in sin;
they had stifled conscience: they had despised warning; and now the day of
mercy was past
and the avengers were upon them
and who could hope to resist
their power and to escape their swords
when their God made the waters of
Jordan to stand as a heap in the day when His people passed over? Sin will not
go for ever unpunished; God’s Spirit shall not always strive with man
and
corruption shall not with impunity defile the fairest portions of a groaning
creation: but when the day of grace has passed
the day of vengeance shall
certainly follow. The stones in Gilgal are gone
the circle is destroyed
and the
stony witness of encouragement and warning is no longer borne; but there are
stones around us now which give their witness
and our ears must be heavy if we
do not hear
and our minds dull if we do not understand
the testimony that
they deliver. “What mean these stones?”
1. They show God’s power; for who could make such mighty foundation
rocks
and after their formation could heave them up into their present lofty
heights
but a Being possessed of almighty power?
2. What wisdom
too
is exhibited in their formation! What a
wonderful skill is shown in the selection of their constituent elements
and in
their combination according to a fixed design!
3. And what goodness also do these stones of the hills manifest? for
how useful they are to man
and how it stimulates his inventive faculty to
quarry
shape
and erect them as monuments to beautify the creations of his
genius! Man puts up milestones to measure the length of his journey
and God
also erects milestones to mark how man himself is advancing on that journey
which we are all travelling. What is our life but a journey? ever advancing and
ceaselessly progressing day by day
month by month
and year by year. Life’s
journey is to many painful and wearisome. The morning of life
with its
freshness
is gone; the noonday sun beats fiercely on our heads; the novelty of
changing experiences has passed away; and as we slowly advance along the
highway of daily life
our hearts begin to get weary
and we too become
discouraged “because of the way.” God puts up His milestones to mark our
progress on life’s journey
and as we pass them successively
it is solemn to
notice their witness and their character. The eyesight begins to grow dim:
slowly
indeed
but surely; and we treat the fact almost with indifference. It
is a mere common event
but it is another milestone on the road of life
to
show that the end will before long draw near. The hearing is dulled. Pleasant
sounds can no more be enjoyed
and the harmonies of nature’s and of human music
gratify us no longer. We quietly accept the inevitable
perhaps with sigh
but
at all events with resignation
knowing that it must be so; and in the heavy
ear we recognise another of God’s milestones. Memory now begins to fail. We
cannot trust it as formerly
and do not attempt to tax its power for fear that
it should prove treacherous. Failing
capricious memory! what is it but another
milestone placed by God by the side of the road of life to tell us that we have
passed over the greater part of our journey and are drawing near to home? The
milestones of the way
how differently they affect different people! Here is a
man going away from his country
seeking his place of abode in a distant land
and leaving behind him all he holds dear in this world: his lands
his
treasures
and his friends. Milestones are sad things to him
for they tell him
that his time in the land in which all his pleasure is found is rapidly passing
away. But here is another man
returning to his home. He has been in a foreign
land; has made his fortune: has landed on his return at the well-known port
and is journeying rapidly along the highroad to his loved and long-expected
home. He knows a welcome is there: dear ones are all looking out for his
arrival
and his greeting will be joyous
while he will not merely meet them
but will never leave them again. How quickly he walks! How slowly the
milestones seem to pass! The heat of the sun
the length of the way
the ups
and downs of the road
are all nothing to him
for the thought of the home ever
drawing nearer and nearer makes him take no notice of them whatever. So it
should be with us. We have had
perhaps
our morning of life
and it may be
that the journey is beginning to grow wearisome; but let us think less of the
road and more of the home. (D. G. Whitley.)
The priests . . . stood . . . until everything was finished.
The way of difficulty
I. Remembrance of
God is the only encouragement through which some parts of life’s way become
bearable and passable.
II. God’s regard to
the greater trials of our life does not call off his attention from details. He
not only parted the waters
but He waited in the river
both in power and
presence
“until everything was finished.”
III. the general
commandments of the bible are meant to regulate and control the specific acts
of our life. “According to all that Moses
” &c. But Moses had never given
any commands touching the actual passage of the Jordan. Yet Moses had commanded
an implicit reliance on Divine guidance and a careful obedience to Divine
requirements. Such general words covered all the particulars of the case. There
are many things in the family
in business
in the Church
and in the world
which no specific precept may touch; there is absolutely no place which we can
occupy in our daily life which in principle and in spirit is not covered by the
Scriptures.
IV. While divine
patience never wearies in giving us necessary help
when God goes before we
should promptly follow. “The people hasted and passed over.” Whatever motive
actuated their haste
haste was the right thing for the time. God does not work
that we may idly look on. His manifest energy is a call for our marked
diligence (2 Samuel 5:24).
V. God
who makes
way in the van of our difficulties
is no less necessary to secure our rear (Joshua 4:11; Deuteronomy 25:17-18). Not only that He
may see His people
but that He may save them
He besets them “behind and
before.” (F. G. Marchant.)
The people hasted
Probably the majority of the people were moved by fear
but some
feelings may have led some of the host to hasten
and other considerations
others.
I. The haste of
fear. This also leads to Canaan.
II. The haste of
diligence. With so much to be done
each had need to remember
“the night
cometh.”
III. The haste of
reverent obedience. God does not work mightily and command urgently that men
may move slothfully.
IV. The haste of
compassion. While the people tarried
the priests must wait. No man ever idles
without expense and inconvenience to some one else.
V. The haste of
unconscious influence. The quick movement of a few would communicate itself to
all. Our pace times that of our companion
and his that of others. (D. G.
Whitley.)
Quick use of opportunity
They made the best use of the golden opportunity afforded them
and with the utmost alacrity and diligence hastened across the river while thus
laid bare for them. The torrent was restrained by the mighty power of God to
afford the people an opportunity to pass over dry-shod. But there was no time
for presumptuous delays
as though they could count upon an indefinite
prolongation of this favoured season
and might postpone crossing until it
suited their pleasure
in the confidence that God’s grace would wait upon their
dilatory movements. There was no disposition on the part of any to remain as
long as they could on the wilderness
side
with any chance of getting into Canaan before the waters should rush back
again into their accustomed channel. (W. H. Green
D. D.)
The people’s haste
The priests and the ark stood still; but “the people hasted
and passed over.” Many commentators assume that they hastened from fear. Such
haste would have been both utterly unseemly
and an evil omen for the conquest.
There were other reasons for making all possible haste. Were they not keeping
the priests of God with their arms outstretched
to bear up their holy burden?
And moreover
there
distinct before them
beautiful in the soft
rich light of
the early morning
lay the homes
and vineyards
and fields
which they were to
possess. A few steps
and their feet would be in Canaan; a few moments
and the
weary waiting of years would end. As the tired labourer hastes at the first
glimpse of his home
so must they have hastened. There may have been
also
some innocent rivalry to be among the first to touch the further shore. All
these motives
indeed
might easily combine as they hastened and passed over.
And shall not the thought that Jesus waits till all be gathered in--waits
without coming yet “in His power and great glory”--shall not this thought stir
up His Church
not only to be looking for
but hastening His coming? The love
of Christ constraining us
will urge us onward. And who that has had “the eyes
of the understanding opened” to behold what are “the riches of glory” of this
inheritance in Christ Jesus would not fain “to his speed add wings
” that he might
enter it and at once possess it? (S. F. Smiley.)
Come ye up out of
Jordan.--
Firm in duty
We can fancy how the people who had reached the western shore
lined the bank
gazing on the group in the channel
who stood still waiting
God’s command to relieve them at their post. The word comes at last
and is
immediately obeyed. May we not learn the lesson to stand fixed and patient
wherever God sets us
as long as He does not call us thence? God’s priests
should be like the legionary on guard in Pompeii
who stuck to his post while
the ashes were falling thick
and was smothered by them
rather than leave his
charge without his commander’s orders. One graphic word pictures the priests
lifting
or
as it might be translated
“plucking
” the soles of their feet from
the slimy bottom into which they had settled down in their long standing still.
They reach the bank
marching as steadily with their sacred burden as might be
over so rough and slippery a road. The first to enter were the last to leave
the river’s bed. God’s ark “goes before us
” and “is our rearward.” He besets
us behind and before
and all dangerous service is safe if begun and ended in
Him. The one point made prominent is the instantaneous rush back of the
impatient torrent as soon as the curb was taken off. Like some horse rejoicing
to be free
the tawny flood pours down
and soon everything looks “as
aforetime
” except for the new rock
piled by human hands
round which the
waters chafed. The dullest would understand what had wrought the miracle when
they saw the immediate consequence of the ark’s leaving its place. Cause and
effect seldom come thus close together in God’s dealings; but sometimes He lets
us see them as near each other as the lightning and the thunder
that we may
learn to trace them in faith
when centuries part them. How the people would
gaze as the hurrying stream covered up their path
and would look across to the
further shore
almost doubting if they had really stood there that morning!
They were indeed “Hebrews”--men from the other side--now
and would set
themselves to the dangerous task before them with courage. Well begun is half
done; “and God would not divide the river for them to thrust them into a
tiger’s den
where they would be torn to pieces. Retreat was impossible now. A
new page in their history was turned. The desert was as unreachable as Egypt.
The passage of the Jordan rounded off the epoch which the passage of the Red
Sea introduced
and began a new era. (A. Maclaren
D. D.)
Life a journey
I. That human life
in this world is a journey.
1. Change of scenery.
2. Approach to an end.
3. Unsettledness of feeling. Life’s journey is--
II. That human life
in this world is a journey which will have an end.
1. Our end is certain.
2. It is solemn.
III. Human life in
this world will have an end which may be glorious.
1. It may be glorious in the courage of the traveller.
2. It may’ be glorious in the destination reached. (Homilist.)
Those twelve stones..
did
Joshua pitch in Gilgal.--
The double monument of the passage of the Lord’s host across the
Jordan
Many fine allegories have been reared upon the foundation of the
twenty-four stones that were placed
twelve in the river-bed
and twelve at the
encampment in Gilgal. Some have spiritualised them as types of death and the
resurrection; others have seen in them a representation of the prophets and
apostles of the Old and New Testament dispensations. They mean that the passage of the
Israelites over Jordan is--
I. A real event.
The history that records it is not an oriental poem or a patriotic legend. It
is not a fine conception of an impassioned imagination. It is not an
exaggeration. We have before us a plain matter of actual history.
II. A significant
event.
1. God was glorified. He was herein exhibited as “the living God” (Joshua 3:10)
and “the Lord of all the
earth” (Joshua 3:11).
2. Joshua
moreover
was magnified
and shown to be Moses’
divinely-sanctioned successor (Joshua 3:7).
3. The Israelites
moreover
were assured. With the remembrance of
the naked channel of Jordan
what cause of trepidation can remain?
4. By this miracle their enemies were appalled--namely
the inland
Amorites
the immediate spectators; and the Canaanites
or coast tribes (Numbers 13:30) in the distance
who heard
the report (Joshua 5:1). The passage took place
“right against Jericho” (Joshua 3:16). Oh
portentous sight for the
inhabitants of that fortress!
III. A pattern
event. It was with apparent reference to this event that God promised His
people by the mouth of the prophet Isaiah
“When thou passest through the
waters
” &c. Let us
then
claim the promise
and embrace the consolation
that this history declares to us for ourselves. And what can we do in these
“swellings of Jordan”? Here is an answer to our misgivings
“The Lord will do
wonders among you!”
IV. A symbolical
event.
1. On the one hand
we may regard the passage of the Jordan as a
glorious and “abundant entrance” into the promised inheritance.
2. On the other hand
we may regard it as illustrating
not only the
triumphant close
but also the hopeful beginning of the believer’s course
and
conversion
not death
will be the aspect of Christian experience that we shall
recognise.
Application:
1. Are you yet in your sins? and do you long to experience the
saving change of the new birth? But does a very torrent of difficulties seem to
roll at their fullest height between you and the peace and pardon you long to
enjoy? Go forward
and fear not. Jesus Himself calls you. He Himself
accompanies you. Every hindrance will vanish if you obey His word.
2. Are you already amongst God’s people? Have you anxieties
difficulties
obstructions
in your course of life? He who opened a highway
through the Jordan is also your helper.
3. Is Jesus your hope
and do you nevertheless quail when you think
of the hour of your departure hence
when you must leave all you love here
below? (Isaiah 43:1-8). (G. W. Butler
M. A.)
The stones of memorial
I. Great events
deserve commemoration. In them God is the teacher. Men have always been ready
to perpetuate the memory of their own great deeds. By memorial structures
memorial days
memorial observances
they have sought to keep alive the
knowledge of their achievements and to foster a regard for the sentiments which
lived in them. It has been common for all men in every age to act upon the
principle which Daniel Webster stated when the corner-stone of the Bunker Hill
Monument was laid: “Human beings are composed not of reason only
but of
imagination also
and sentiment
and that is neither wasted nor misapplied
which is appropriated to the purpose of giving right direction to sentiments
and opening proper springs of feeling in the heart.” But no memorial structure
elaborately reared to perpetuate right feeling and sentiment could subserve
this end as fitly and fully as did the rude circle of stones set up at Gilgal.
It nursed no pride of ancestry. It declared God’s “mighty acts.” Reminded by
this rude memorial
one generation praised His works to another. They were led
to speak of the glory of His kingdom
and to talk of His power.
II. God expects the
children to become interested in great events of the past. It was for the
children’s sake that the circle of stones was set up at Gilgal. It was to
awaken their curiosity. God wishes the children to ask a great many questions. In
this way He would have them learn what He has been doing for His people in past
ages.
III. God expects the
fathers to be ready to answer the children’s questions. The stones of Gilgal
could be of little use to those children whose parents did not keep freshly in
mind the events commemorated. They would become a monument whose inscription
had faded away. No doubt the word “fathers” means parents
but it is worthy of
remark that it does not mean mothers only or especially. The father who gives
over to the mother the religious training of the child fails in the special
duty which fatherhood imposes. He shirks the greatest responsibility of life.
The father who answers his child’s questions by evasion acts unworthily. “My
wife takes care of the religion of the family
” a busy man said. But this is
not God’s plan. This father’s life
in many respects admirable
failed
miserably in a central
essential duty. For this failure no other well-doing
could compensate.
IV. The stones
erected at Gilgal suggest more lasting memorials which God has set up.
1. A memorial book. Concerning this book He would have the children
question and the fathers give answer. How has this book been made
and by what
providence has it been preserved?
2. A Church with memorial rites. What do baptism and the Lord’s
Supper have to tell us about God’s ways with men?
3. A memorial day. Sunday is God’s commemoration day. It stands a
lasting memorial of the greatest event in human history. (W. G. Sperry.)
The memorial stones
Gilgal
the first encampment
lay defenceless in the open plain
and the first thing to be done would be to throw up some earthwork round the
camp. It seems to have been the resting-place of the ark
and probably of the
non-combatants
during the conquest
and to have derived thence a sacredness
which long clung to it
and finally led
singularly enough
to its becoming a
centre of idolatrous worship. The rude circle of unhewn stones without
inscription was
no doubt
exactly like the many pre historic monuments found
all over the world which forgotten races have raised to keep in everlasting
remembrance forgotten fights and heroes. It was a comparatively small thing;
for each stone was but a load for one man
and it would seem mean enough by the
side of Stonehenge or Carnac
just as Israel’s history is on a small scale as
compared with the world-embracing empires of old. Size is not greatness; and
Joshua’s little circle told a more wonderful story than its taller kindred
or
Egyptian obelisks or colossi.
1. These grey stones preached at once the duty of remembering and
the danger of forgetting the past mercies of God. When they were reared they
would seem needless; but the deepest impressions get filled up by degrees
as
the river of time deposits its sands on them. We do not forget pain so quickly
as joy
and most men have a longer and keener remembrance of their injurers
than of their benefactors
human or Divine. The stones were set up because
Israel remembered
but also lest Israel should forget. We often think of the
Jews as monsters of ingratitude; but we should more truly learn the lesson of
their history if we regarded them as fair
average men
and asked ourselves
whether our recollection of God’s goodness to us is much more vivid than
theirs. Unless we make distinct and frequent efforts to recall
we shall
certainly forget God’s goodness. The cultivation of thankful remembrance is a
very large part of practical religion; and it is not by accident that the
psalmist puts it in the middle
between hope and obedience (Psalms 78:7).
2. The memorial stones further proclaimed the duty of parental
instruction in God’s mercies. They speak of a time when tradition was the
vehicle of history; when books were rare
and monuments were relied upon to
awaken curiosity which a father’s words would satisfy. Notwithstanding all
differences in means of obtaining knowledge
the old law remains in full force
that the parent is the natural and most powerful instructor in the ways of God.
The decay of parental religious teaching is working enormous mischief in
Christian households; and the happiest results would follow if Joshua’s homely
advice were attended to
“Ye shall let your children know.”
3. The same principle which led to the erection of this simple
monument reaches its highest and sacredest instance in the institution of the
Lord’s Supper
in which Jesus
with wonderful lowliness
condescends to avail
Himself of material symbols in order to secure a firmer place in treacherous
memories. (A. Maclaren
D. D.)
The Lord your God dried up
the . . . Jordan.--
Hindrances removed
That is true. We saw it. We were there. It is happening every day.
Take out the mere detail and put in the great picture
and what is it? It is
Divine interposition in the affairs of life. It is God taking away all
hindrances to the progress which He Himself has purposed and defined; not the
hindrances to your progress
but the hindrances to His own progress as shown
through your life. He will not take any stones out of our way if they lie
between us and ruin. He will rather embed those stones a little more firmly.
God be praised for His hindrances! We wanted to make that contract
and could
not. We had the pen in hand to sign it
but the ink would not flow
or the
light suddenly gave out
and we dropped the pen. What did it? We see now we
were going to sign away our birthright
our liberty
our honour
our
conscience
and we were doing this more or less unconsciously
and God said
“No.” Blessed be God for His denials! Sometimes we are able to say
“Blessed be
God for His bereavements!” Let God alone. Let us put our lives lust into His
hands and say
“Lord
they are Thy lives more than ours. Thou hast only lent
them to us. We would not spoil one moment of these trembling frailties which we
call our lives. Undertake everything for us and use us. We will run Thine
errands
we will obey Thy will
we will do what Thou dost bid us do. Lord
undertake for us. Then if there is a river in the way Thou wilt dry it up
if
there is a Red Sea in the way Thou wilt command it to stand back
and we shall
walk through the beds of rivers as if they were beds of roses
” you would be
greatly comforted
as I have been in a thousand instances
by reasoning from
the river to the sea. This is the right method of inference
by induction and
by deduction. What has God done for us in the past? Hear David. He said: “The
God that delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear
will deliver me from this uncircumcised Philistine. I will strike him in the
name of the Eternal.” Was it a rash act? It was reasoned piety. Why did the
young man’s blood boil for one moment and then subside? It was all the piety of
the past gathered up into one supreme stroke. Sometimes one act of faith
condenses a lifetime of study
experience
and prayer. “Wondrously doth life
bring its own power
and marvellously doth yesterday contribute its quota to
the forces of to-day. When a great man advises you upon a certain course
he
does not speak for the moment. For a quarter of a century and more he has been
buried in the study of law
and when he gives you advice that could be written
down in a line he puts a lifetime into that line. When the hoary physician
touches your pulse half a century touches it. So we should thus see God moving
as in contemplation and in faith
from the Jordan to the Red Sea. He says to
us
as we near the sea: “What about the Jordan? Was there one drop of water on
the sole of your feet?” No
Lord
there was not. “Then
” saith He in reply
“as
with the Jordan
so with the Red Sea. It shall be dried up as if it had never
been.” When the disciples said
“How can we feed this multitude?” He said
“Did
I not feed a multitude once. What lack was there then?” None. “Had the people
barely enough to eat?” Nay. “How many baskets took you up?” Twelve. And He
helped them to carry out that reasoning
that He who was able to do it once was
able to do it twice; and if He could do it twice
He could do it for ever. Here
is the historical lesson He teaches us
that what He did yesterday He is going
to do to-morrow. If you have no faith in to-morrow
surely you have faith in
your own recollection of yesterday. There are timid souls who never dare look
at to-morrow. The Lord says to these
“Then think about yesterday; that is
over. Now what was done to you yesterday? You thought your heart was going to
burst. Did your heart break yesterday?” No. “You thought all things were
against you yesternight. Did one star fall out of its place?” No
Lord
they
are all there. “Then
” saith God
“as yesterday
so to-morrow; as the Jordan
so the Red Sea.” What is your experience? How have you been treated in straits
and perplexities and difficulties? Who cooled your fever? Who brought light
when all was darkness? Bacon saith
“A little learning inclineth to atheism”;
but much learning
great wisdom
makes a man pray. Whenever you doubt God
think that you are but feebly or superficially instructed. When you can lean
upon Him four-square
know that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. How true it
is that all things in life are done by an unseen power in so far as they are
either good or bad. The devil is as invisible as God. How wonderful a thing it
is that-life becomes shaped into palaces and temples without any handling of
our own. The Jordan was dried up not with hands; the Red Sea was dried up--not
with hands. Hands
poor hands
what can hands make? “The hand can make and
break” is a little proverb
I would suggest. Whatever can be made by the hand
can be unmade by the hand. God Himself takes all primary ministry unto His own
power and employs us
even when we are going about our own errands
simply as
His messengers. All life as it grows wisely and well turns and tends to
service. Blessed be God
there is a bondage of love
there is a slavery of joy!
Are you dreading the Jordan? He will dry it up for you if you put your trust in
Him. Are you dreading the Red Sea? He will blow it away with the wind of His
mouth. You may go within a step of it
nay
you may touch it
but the moment
the foot of faith touches that sea
the sea is gone. (J. Parker
D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》