Joshua 4:3

3 and command them to take twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests were standing. Tell them to carry these stones with them and to put them down where you camp tonight."

Joshua 4:3 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 4:3

And command you them, saying
As follows:

take you hence out of the midst of Jordan;
so that they were obliged to go back into the midst of Jordan, having already passed over it, as appears from ( Joshua 4:1 ) ;

out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm;
where being stones, they chose to stand upon them, and which were a firm standing for them; and which secured them from the slime and mud at the bottom of the river the waters left behind; though it is not absolutely necessary to understand it that they were to take, and did take, the stones from under their feet, but those that lay about the place where they stood:

twelve stones;
each man a stone; and, according to the Samaritan Chronicle ^F6, every man inscribed his name on the stone:

and ye shall carry them over with you;
from the place they took them up, to the place they should next stop at:

and leave them in the lodging place where you shall lodge this night:
which was in the place afterwards called Gilgal, ( Joshua 4:19 Joshua 4:20 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 Apud Hottinger. Smegma Oriental. p. 500, 503.

Joshua 4:3 In-Context

1 When the whole nation had crossed the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua,

2 "Choose twelve men, one from each tribe,

3 and command them to take twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests were standing. Tell them to carry these stones with them and to put them down where you camp tonight."

4 Then Joshua called the twelve men he had chosen,

5 and he told them, "Go into the Jordan ahead of the Covenant Box of the Lord your God. Each one of you take a stone on your shoulder, one for each of the tribes of Israel.