Joshua 4:7, commentary and pictures

The waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord when it passed over, so that Israel crossed on dry land into the promised land in a miraculous deliverance revealing God's mighty power, care and mercy. Twelve men, one from each tribe, each took a stone from the bed of the Jordan, from the place where the priests bearing the ark had stood, and carried it to dry land. Those twelve stones were set up as a monument at Gilgal to commemorate the miraculous passage through the Jordan.

These stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever, a lasting, visible reminder to keep God's dealings and wonderful works in memory and to preserve the story of His deliverance. The memorial was to strengthen faith and to remind Israel of God's mighty power, so that they would fear Him forever. It was meant to prompt children and later generations to ask what the stones meant, giving parents and teachers the occasion to recount how the river was cut off before the ark passed over. In telling the story they were to explain what God had done, impress the lesson on mind and heart, keep His care and deliverance in memory, and pass on the lessons taught to the people so they would remain impressive.

The crossing marked a covenant with Israel on entering the promised land, which was later honored when the altar on Carmel was rebuilt with twelve stones reflecting the twelve tribes. Like Israel's stones of witness, believers are to keep God's acts fresh in memory and inscribed as a precious personal story, reviewing His dealings in the pilgrimage with gratitude so that faith is strengthened to claim and receive more and more. They are to set up their own stones by acknowledging His grace from individual experience in a Christ-like life and declaring publicly what He has done, which reveals Christ to the world and works with irresistible power for the salvation of souls.