Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ then you shall let your children know, saying, ‘Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land’; for the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.” (Joshua 4:21-24)

When The River Stopped

The Jordan River rises from the springs of Mount Hermon in Syria, flowing about 100 miles to what used to be Lake Hula. It then winds in and out for 200 miles through the deep valley called the Ghor. Finally, the Jordan empties into the Dead Sea, 1,286 feet below sea level. In the ten miles from Lake Hula area to the Sea of Galilee, the river falls 689 feet. There are many rapids and whirlpools, making navigation impossible. Most of the zig-zagging river is no more than five feet deep, except during the flood season in March. The melting snow from Mount Hermon often floods the little river valley, which is from a half mile to two miles wide.

When Joshua led the people of Israel across the Jordan River, the river was in a flood stage. During the time of harvest, Jordan would overflow its banks, making crossing the river very dangerous. More than two million souls would cross the Jordan to enter the promised land. Like the miracle at the Red Sea, the Lord replicated His divine power to hold back the waters of the Jordan. Joshua told the people to follow the Ark of the Tabernacle as it was borne on the shoulders of the priests. They were to stay about a half mile behind the priests. When the feet of the priest dipped in the edge of the water, the Jordan River stood still, and rose in a heap very far upstream. The water that went down to the Dead Sea was cut off. As the priest stood in the middle of the Jordan River, the people crossed over on dry land.

God also instructed Joshua to establish a memorial of the crossing of the Jordan River. One man from every tribe took a stone from the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet stood firm, and carried the stone to where they would lodge that night. These stones would be a memorial to the day Israel crossed the Jordan by the power of God. Joshua also set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan River, in the place where the feet of the priests stood firm as the people passed over the river. The author of the book of Joshua noted that the stones remained to his day.

Memorials are for teaching and reminding. God has always had memorials as part of His way to show His people His power and for them not to forget what He has done for them. The Passover was a memorial to remind Israel that only by the power of God they were freed from Egypt. Setting the stones in the midst of the Jordan reminded the people why they possessed the land of promise. Everything pointed to the power of God, and only by His grace would the people be blessed. All the earth would know the hand of the Lord is mighty. The Jordan being heaped up in one place was not a natural phenomenon. It was not a freak act of nature. The waters of the Jordan stopped because God said so.

Memorials can also serve to instill fear. God wanted His people to remember why their parents and grandparents perished in the wilderness. The memorial stones served as a warning that taking sin lightly came with a cost. Only by the mighty power of God was the Jordan forded, and that power would destroy Jericho and the cities of Canaan as God delivered the nations to the power of Israel. The people of God soon forgot the meaning of the memorials as they embraced idolatry and were destroyed. God has placed the memorial of His word into the hands of the world to show His power and to warn of His wrath. Ignoring the word of God comes at the peril of eternal life. Like the stones taken from the Jordan, the word of God is the testimony to the promises of God – both good and evil. God will bless those who obey His will and punish those who forget Him.