By Elder Tim White
With the Red Sea and forty years behind them, the children of Israel found themselves on the cusp of the promise land. The only thing in their way was the Jordan River, in flood stage. God’s people once again needed a miracle to press on to where God had told them to go. Upon God’s instructions, Joshua commands the priest to bear up the Ark of the Covenant and stand in the Jordan River. Once again, God moved the water, and caused even the priest to stand on dry ground. God knew that the children of Israel would need to be reminded of this miracle, so He had Joshua set up a memorial.
Joshua 4:3-7 and 21-23, “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. Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man: 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: 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 the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever”. “And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones? Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. 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”.
Stones of remembrance! As Christians, we have events in our life that we need to be reminded of from time to time. Do we have tangible items to visually stimulate conversations with our children about these events? Stones of remembrance would be an excellent way to witness to the next generation of the great things God has done in our lives.
