Comments on Joshua 4

     A memorial is created to commemorate and remind Israel
concerning this miracle they witnessed.  Thus is the nature of
miracles, they are stunning in the present but fade quickly in
memory.  Hence the need for a memorial to reinforce the reality
of it, and also to remind Israel to teach her children concerning
it (v. 21-24).  That one man is taken from each tribe of Israel
to bring out one stone each obviously indicates that all of
Israel witnessed the miracle.

v6-7 can be arranged chiastically as follows:

  A - 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?  Then ye shall answer them, That 

    B - the waters of Jordan were cut off 
 
      C - before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; 

      C - when it passed over Jordan, 

    B - the waters of Jordan were cut off: 

  A - and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children 
  of Israel for ever.




Copyright © 2002 by S. Kurt Neumiller <kurtn@cybcon.com>.  All rights 
reserved.  No part of this text may be reproduced in any form or by 
any means for commercial gain without the express written consent of 
the author.  Digital or printed copies may be freely made and 
distributed for personal and public non-commercial use.