July 2: Joshua 4

The Memorial Stones

v. 9. “Joshua set up twelve stones in the
midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing
the ark of he covenant had stood, and they are there to this day.”

Commemoration
is an interesting exercise. If you travel around the ancient world, you
will come across monuments to the glory of past rulers, especially in
Egypt, where the pyramids remain as magnificent memorials to this day.
The kings they were built for have mostly been forgotten; their tombs
were mostly all raided long ago and there is little of any substance
left. Yet something remains – the stones that were piled one on top of
the other and which neither time nor the destructive force of
subsequent ages has been able to remove.

Joshua, it need hardly
be said, was in a different league altogether. As one of only two
Israelites to have survived the wilderness journey of his people, he
may have seen pyramids in his youth, but his thoughts on crossing the
Jordan would have been a world away from them. The pyramids celebrated
death. They were literally tombs designed to help the kings of Egypt on
their way to another life. The Israelites were also passing over to
another life, but it was very different from the one envisaged for the
Pharaohs. The twelve stones set up in the Jordan were not signs of
death but of new life. They bore witness to the passage fot he people
of God from their desert wanderings into the land which God had
promised to their ancestor Abraham. The great crossing over the Jordan
was not the end but the beginning, and it was that that Joshua was told
to commemorate and symbolize in this way.

The stones were not
placed just anywhere, but on the spot where the priests had stood with
the ark of the covenant as the people passed over. The river had backed
up to let them cross, and even the priests had never even got their
toes wet. It was a miracle, not unlike the crossing of the Red Sea when
they escaped from Egypt. But then, they had fled in haste and in some
disarray, whereas now they crossed over in triumph. They were
well-organized and ready to conquer the land that belonged to them. It
was a moment to pause and reflect, but it was also a time to look ahead
at what was to come. The twelve stones in the river represented each of
the twelve tribes of Israel, but they were the living stones on which
the nation would be built.

Today we often put up memorials of
one kind or another, and sometimes even build churches to honor the
memory of a great leader or to celebrate a special event. As time goes
by, the plaques fade and the names on them become strange to us, as
those who knew them die and their memories pass away with them. The
stones in the Jordan are still there, but who notices them now? Israel
on the other hand has gone from strength to strength. We who have
inherited the promises God made to them look back in wonder at all that
he has done for us, but we also look ahead. The achievements of the
past are an encouragement for the future. That is how Joshua saw it,
and how we must see it too. God has brought us a long way, but there is
still much land to conquer. May he guide and direct our paths, so that
the stones that commemorate us remain to bear witness to the one in
whom we have believed and with whom we have walked and accomplished
such great things.