Joshua 4:9
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Joshua also set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant stood. And the stones are there to this day.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
This chapter gives a further account of the miraculous passage of Israel through Jordan. I. The provision that was made at that time to preserve the memorial of it, by twelve stones set up in Jordan (Jos 4:9) and other twelve stones taken up out of Jordan (Jos 4:1-8). II. The march of the people through Jordan's channel, the two tribes first, then all the people, and the priests that bore the ark last (Jos 4:10-14). III. The closing of the waters again upon their coming up with the ark (Jos 4:15-19). IV. The erecting of the monument in Gilgal, to preserve the remembrance of this work of wonder to posterity (Jos 4:20-24).
Open source ↗4:9 A second memorial of twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan was submerged as soon as the river resumed its flow. The monument’s top would be visible in the dry summer seasons. • Their existence to this day indicates that the memorials stood for generations, until the final editing of the book (see Joshua Book Introduction, “Author and Date”).
Open source ↗Cross-references
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Afterward, Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.”
So he called it Shibah, and to this day the name of the city is Beersheba.
because the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and have lived there as foreigners to this day.
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and stay here, so that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”
Early the next morning, Jacob took the stone that he had placed under his head, and he set it up as a pillar. He poured oil on top of it,
The twelve stones are to correspond to the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes.
Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was near the sanctuary of the LORD.
The poles of the ark extended far enough that their ends were visible from in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are there to this day.
And the man went to the land of the Hittites, built a city, and called it Luz, which is its name to this day.
And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab facing Beth-peor, and no one to this day knows the location of his grave.