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Josue 4

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1 At nangyari nang nakatawid na lubos sa Jordan ang buong bansa, na ang Panginoon ay nagsalita kay Josue, na nagsasabi,

2 Kumuha ka ng labing dalawang lalake sa bayan, na isa sa bawa't lipi,

3 At iutos ninyo sa kanila, na sabihin, Kumuha kayo mula rito sa gitna ng Jordan, mula sa dakong tinatayuang matatag ng mga paa ng mga saserdote, ng labing dalawang bato, at dalhin ninyo, at ilapag ninyo sa tigilang dako, na inyong tutuluyan sa gabing ito.

4 Nang magkagayo'y tinawag ni Josue ang labing dalawang lalake, na kaniyang inihanda sa mga anak ni Israel, na isang lalake sa bawa't lipi.

5 At sinabi ni Josue sa kanila, Dumaan kayo sa harap ng kaban ng Panginoon ninyong Dios sa gitna ng Jordan, at pasanin ng bawa't isa sa inyo ang isang bato sa kaniyang balikat, ayon sa bilang ng mga lipi ng mga anak ni Israel;

6 Upang ito'y maging pinaka tanda sa gitna ninyo, na pagka itinanong ng inyong mga anak sa panahong darating, na sasabihin, Anong kahulugan sa inyo ng mga batong ito?

7 At inyo ngang sasabihin sa kanila, Sapagka't ang tubig ng Jordan ay nahawi sa harap ng kaban ng tipan ng Panginoon; nang magdaan yaon sa Jordan, ay nahawi ang tubig sa Jordan: at ang mga batong ito ay magiging pinaka alaala sa mga anak ni Israel magpakailan man.

8 At ginawang gayon ng mga anak ni Israel gaya ng iniutos ni Josue, at pumasan ng labing dalawang bato mula sa gitna ng Jordan, gaya ng sinalita ng Panginoon kay Josue, ayon sa bilang ng mga lipi ng mga anak ni Israel; at kanilang dinala sa dakong kanilang tutuluyan, at inilapag doon.

9 At si Josue ay nagpabunton ng labing dalawang bato sa gitna ng Jordan, sa dakong tinayuan ng mga saserdote na nagdadala ng kaban ng tipan: at nangandoon, hanggang sa araw na ito.

10 Sapagka't ang mga saserdote na nagdadala ng kaban ay tumayo sa gitna ng Jordan, hanggang sa natapos ang bawa't bagay na iniutos ng Panginoon kay Josue na salitain sa bayan, ayon sa buong iniutos ni Moises kay Josue: at ang bayan ay nagmadali at tumawid.

11 At nangyari nang nakatawid na lubos ang buong bayan, na ang kaban ng Panginoon ay itinawid at ang mga saserdote sa harap ng bayan.

12 At ang mga anak ni Ruben, at ang mga anak ni Gad, at ang kalahati ni Manases, ay dumaang may sandata sa harap ng mga anak ni Israel, gaya ng salita ni Moises sa kanila:

13 May apat na pung libo na nasasakbatang handa sa pakikidigma ang dumaan sa harap ng Panginoon na patungo sa pakikibaka, sa mga kapatagan ng Jerico.

14 Nang araw na yaon ay pinadakila ng Panginoon si Josue sa paningin ng buong Israel; at sila'y natakot sa kaniya, gaya ng kanilang pagkatakot kay Moises, sa lahat ng mga araw ng kaniyang buhay.

15 At ang Panginoon ay nagsalita kay Josue, na sinasabi,

16 Iutos mo sa mga saserdote na nagdadala ng kaban ng patotoo, na sila'y sumampa mula sa Jordan.

17 Nagutos nga si Josue sa mga saserdote, na sinasabi, Umahon kayo mula sa Jordan.

18 At nangyari, nang umahon mula sa gitna ng Jordan ang mga saserdote na nagdadala ng kaban ng tipan ng Panginoon, at nang matungtong sa tuyong lupa ang mga talampakan ng mga paa ng mga saserdote, na ang tubig ng Jordan ay nanauli sa kanilang dako, at umapaw sa pangpang na gaya ng dati.

19 At ang bayan ay umahon mula sa Jordan nang ikasangpung araw ng unang buwan, at humantong sa Gilgal, sa hangganang silanganan ng Jerico.

20 At yaong labing dalawang bato, na kanilang kinuha sa Jordan, ay ibinunton ni Josue sa Gilgal.

21 At siya'y nagsalita sa mga anak ni Israel, na sinasabi, Pagka itatanong ng inyong mga anak sa kanilang mga magulang sa panahong darating, na sasabihin, Anong kahulugan ng mga batong ito?

22 Ay inyo ngang ipatatalastas sa mga anak ninyo, na sasabihin, Ang Israel ay tumawid sa Jordang ito sa tuyong lupa.

23 Sapagka't tinuyo ng Panginoon ninyong Dios ang tubig ng Jordan sa harap ninyo, hanggang sa kayo'y nakatawid, gaya ng ginawa ng Panginoon ninyong Dios sa Dagat na Mapula, na kaniyang tinuyo sa harap namin, hanggang sa kami ay nakatawid;

24 Upang makilala ng lahat na mga bayan sa lupa ang kamay ng Panginoon, na makapangyarihan; upang sila'y matakot sa Panginoon ninyong Dios magpakailan man.

   

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Exploring the Meaning of Joshua 4

Napsal(a) New Christian Bible Study Staff, Julian Duckworth

Joshua 4: Twelve stones are taken from the river Jordan

In this chapter we pick up on the command to take twelve men, one from each tribe, which was mentioned in chapter 3. The task is for each man to pick up a large stone from where the priests’ feet stand, and take it across, and put it in the lodging place. These stones will be as memorial stones so that later generations who ask what these stones mean will be told about the miracle of the Lord in the crossing of the river Jordan.

Later, the Israelites camped at Gilgal and Joshua set the twelve stones up as a permanent memorial.

A ‘stone’ is a piece of hard rock. It corresponds to a truth; for us it stands for a truth which we have made ours and which guides us in our life (Apocalypse Revealed 231). It might be the truth that the Lord’s providence is involved in everything that happens. It could be the great truth that we will live for ever, or that God came on earth as a human being and overcame the power of hell. These and other truths are rock hard truths or stones.

But here, it is a stone which has been washed and worked on by the waters of the river Jordan, and over much time has become fashioned and rounded by erosion. So, it could be a life-truth, for example that we are to show respect to other people. That’s a great truth, but now it is connected with our understanding of the Lord. So we are to show respect to other people because each and every person has been created by God for a unique purpose. And we can also add that we know how it feels when other people respect us.

So we assemble our twelve memorial stones. These are to be recalled, remembered, revisited by us again and again as time passes. “Yes, God brought me here from where I was before.” (Arcana Caelestia 1988). This meaning of the stones helps us with the apparent contradiction in the chapter between Joshua 4:9 where “the stones are set up in the Jordan and are there to this day” and verse Joshua 4:20 where “Joshua sets up the twelves stones from out of the Jordan, in Gilgal.” Stones can’t be in two places at once, but yes, spiritually they can and need to be.

We need to always remember and be mindful of how the Lord works with us in giving us truths for our life. Everything is the Lord! These are stones in the Jordan. Yet we need to always remember that we are to live, act, and turn away from any evil as if it is only us making that decision and doing it. These are the stones set up at Gilgal (Apocalypse Explained 700[14]). Both of them are involved in our regeneration and spiritual life.

Then we are told that the men of the tribes of Reuben, Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh went across the Jordan armed and went before all the other tribes. This links with several other mentions of these tribes who had chosen to live back over the Jordan and not in the land of Canaan. They stand for our outward life and our life in the world which, while it is not directly spiritual, must have qualities that come from God’s truths. Here, those qualities come from being willing to go in and fight to help take the land (Arcana Caelestia 2184).

Verse 13 says that about 40,000 prepared for war and crossed the river Jordan before the Lord for battle. Here is a number. Numbers in the Word are helpful clues to the inner meaning. The number 40 always stands for some kind of temptation or crisis in the Word – for example, Jesus was in the wilderness 40 days and 40 nights, tempted. Here, 40 has grown to become 40,000 but it has the same meaning of temptation (Arcana Caelestia 2273). Our spiritual life and regeneration will certainly take us into various temptations (‘battles’) and the Lord allows them so that we grow stronger through them. The whole conquest of Canaan is nothing else!

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Apocalypse Revealed # 231

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231. And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance. (4:3) This symbolizes an appearance of the Lord's Divine wisdom and love in outmost expressions.

In the Word a stone symbolizes truth in outmost expressions, and a precious stone symbolizes truth made translucent by the presence of good (no. 915).

Two colors are fundamental to all the rest in the spiritual world: the color white and the color red. The color white takes its origin from the light of the sun in heaven, thus from spiritual light, which is bright white; and the color red takes its origin from the fire of the sun there, thus from celestial light, which is flaming.

Because spiritual angels are governed by truths of wisdom from the Lord, they live in that bright white light, and are therefore attired in white; and because celestial angels are governed by goods of love from the Lord, they live in that flaming light, and are therefore attired in red. These two colors are consequently found in precious stones in heaven, where they exist in great abundance.

It is owing to this that in the Word precious stones symbolize qualities connected with either the truth of wisdom or the goodness of love; and because jasper is bright white, it symbolizes qualities connected with the truth of wisdom, while because sardius is red, it symbolizes qualities connected with the goodness of love.

These stones symbolize an appearance of Divine wisdom and Divine love in outmost expressions because all precious stones in heaven draw their origin from the outmost constituents of the Word, and they owe their translucence to the spiritual meaning of the outmost expressions in it. The reality of this may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 44, 45. The outmost expressions of the Word are the truths and goods in its literal sense.

Someone in our world can hardly believe that this is the origin of precious stones in heaven, because he does not know that everything found in the spiritual world is a correspondent form, and that everything found in the natural world takes its spiritual origin from those forms. From conversation with angels I have been given to know that this is the origin of precious stones in heaven, and also to see that it is the origin with my own eyes. It is the Lord alone, however, who causes their formation.

In contrast, dark colors take their origin from hell, of which there are also two. One is the opposite of white, the kind of darkness that exists with people who have falsified the truths of the Word. The other is the opposite of red, the kind of darkness that exists with those who have adulterated the goods of the Word. The first kind of darkness is satanic, the latter diabolical.

Regarding what jasper and sardius symbolize, more may be seen in the exposition of chapter 21, verses 11, 18-20.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.