Matthew Henry on Joshua 4:1-9
We may well imagine how busy Joshua and all the men of war were while they were passing over Jordan, when besides their own marching into an enemy's country, and in the face of the enemy, which could not but occasion them many thoughts of hear, they had their wives, and children, and families, their cattle, and tents, and all their effects, bag and baggage, to convey by this strange and untrodden path, which we must suppose either very muddy or very stony, troublesome to the weak and frightful to the timorous, the descent to the bottom of the river and the ascent out of it steep, so that every man must needs have his head full of care and his hands full of business, and Joshua more than any…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Joshua 4:8
the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded--that is, it was done by their twelve representatives.
Adam Clarke on Joshua 4:6
This may be a sign - Stand as a continual memorial of this miraculous passage, and consequently a proof of their lasting obligation to God.
John Gill on Joshua 4:8
And the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded,.... That is, the twelve men taken out of the twelve tribes of Israel, and who were the representatives of them in this action:
and took up twelve stones out of the midst of Jordan, as the Lord spake unto Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel; they took the exact number, and out of the very place Joshua was ordered to direct them to do:
and carried them over with them unto the place where they lodged: which, as Josephus says (i), was fifty furlongs from Jordan, which was above six miles; so far they carried these stones on their shoulders:
and laid them down there; which afterwards were put in proper o…
Read the whole note in the consoleJohn Calvin
