Visible Goodness
Day 297 – 24 October
What Do These Stones Mean?
“This shall be a sign among you; when your children ask later, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ then you shall say to them, ‘That the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’” (Joshua 4:6–7a, NASB)
Twelve Men Walk Back Into the River
The whole nation had crossed the Jordan in the season when the river overflows its banks (Joshua 3:15), and the priests carrying the ark were still standing in the middle of the riverbed. Before anyone moved on, Joshua sent twelve men back. “Cross again to the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan,” he told them, “and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel” (Joshua 4:5).
So they went down again into the riverbed, one man for each tribe, and each came up with a heavy stone from the place “where the priests’ feet are standing firmly” (Joshua 4:3). They carried the stones to the camp and set them down there (Joshua 4:8), and later Joshua set up those twelve stones at Gilgal (Joshua 4:20). It may have seemed an odd thing to do on the day of a great crossing. Joshua explained it in a single sentence about the future: one day the children would ask.
A Pile Built to Raise a Question
Most monuments explain themselves with an inscription. These stones were set up to make a child stop and wonder, and the whole purpose of the memorial was the question it would raise: “What do these stones mean to you?”
The Hebrew verb for “ask” is yish’alun (they will ask), from sha’al (to ask, to enquire), and the word NASB renders “later” is machar (tomorrow, a time to come). Literally, Joshua says, “when your sons ask tomorrow.” The King James renders the same word “in time to come” in this verse. The stones were set down for a generation that was yet to be born, a “tomorrow” in which children who had never seen the river stand still would point at a heap of rocks and want to know its story.
A Memorial That Speaks
Joshua gave the stones a name for their job. “So these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever” (Joshua 4:7). The word is zikkaron (a memorial, a reminder, something that keeps a memory alive), from zakhar (to remember). Strong’s defines it as “a memento (or memorable thing, day or writing),” and Brown-Driver-Briggs lists among its uses memorial days, memorial objects and written records. The same word marks the Passover in Exodus 12:14: “this day shall be a memorial to you.”
A zikkaron (memorial) holds the past steady so that each new generation can meet it. The faithfulness those stones remembered belonged to a God who never changes, so the story they told was as true for the children of tomorrow as for the parents who crossed. The stones made the goodness of God visible long after the riverbed had filled with water again.
For Every People on Earth
Joshua repeated the instruction at Gilgal, and this time he widened the audience. “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ then you shall inform your children, saying, ‘Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground’” (Joshua 4:21–22). Then he named the larger purpose: “so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, so that you may fear the LORD your God forever” (Joshua 4:24).
The memorial was for Israel’s children, and it was also for the world. Any traveller from any nation who passed Gilgal and asked about the stones would hear the same story of a faithful God. The “fear” in that verse is yare’ (to fear, to hold in reverence), the honour a family gives to a Father whose goodness has carried them through deep water.
Saturday Stones at Home
Saturdays often bring families together, round a table, in a car, on a long walk. Use one of those moments to set down a stone. Tell a child, a grandchild, or a young friend about a time when God’s goodness carried you through, the job that came when you had nothing left, the illness that turned, the reconciliation nobody expected.
Then leave something behind that invites the question, perhaps a photograph on the shelf, a date written in the front of a Bible, or a small object kept on a windowsill. One day someone younger will ask what it means, and you will have a story ready, plain and true, about the God who is still faithful.
Declaration
My life holds markers of faithfulness, and I keep them where others can see. I tell the younger ones what grace has done, simply and gladly. Every river I have crossed has a story, and I am ready to share it. I build reminders into my home that invite good questions. Let each generation after me find the same faithfulness I found, and let every curious heart be led to the One who brought me safely over.
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