Joshua 4:20 records that Joshua set up a memorial of twelve stones at Gilgal, using stones taken from the bed of the Jordan River after Israel crossed over on dry ground. The verse explains where the memorial was placed, and the verses that follow explain why it was built. Joshua spoke to the people of Israel, the nation he was leading into the promised land after Moses had died.
Joshua set up those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, in Gilgal.
Joshua 4:20 (WEB)
What Joshua 4:20 Means
The phrase “Joshua set up” tells us that this was a deliberate act of leadership. He did not leave the crossing as a passing event. He gathered a visible reminder and made it stand, so that the event would be remembered. The words “those twelve stones” point back to the twelve men chosen from the twelve tribes, one from each tribe, who carried stones out of the river bed on Joshua’s instruction.
The words “in Gilgal” name the place where Israel camped after crossing, on the eastern edge of Jericho. Gilgal became an important early base in the land, and placing the memorial there meant that every person who camped or passed through would see it. The verse does not promise anything directly about the future. What it does is show a community deliberately choosing to remember what God had done, and to make that memory something their children could ask about.
The Context of Joshua 4:20
The book of Joshua is traditionally attributed to Joshua himself, with some later editing, and it tells the story of Israel’s entry into Canaan after the wilderness years. Its first audience was the generation that had come out of Egypt’s slavery in the desert and was now ready to take possession of the land God had promised to their ancestors. The book holds together conquest, division of the land, and renewed covenant commitment to the LORD.
Just before verse 20, the priests carrying the ark step out of the Jordan, and the waters return to their banks as the people reach dry ground. Just after, Joshua explains that the stones are to prompt questions from children, and that the answer should retell how the LORD dried up the river, just as he had dried up the Red Sea in the exodus. Read this way, the stones are not decoration. They are a teaching tool, placed in the middle of Israel’s new life so that the story of God’s faithfulness would be passed on.
Key Phrases in Joshua 4:20
Deuteronomy 6:20-21
20 When your son asks you in time to come, saying, “What do the testimonies, the statutes, and the ordinances, which the LORD our God has commanded you mean?” 21 then you shall tell your son, “We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand…
(WEB)
This passage describes children asking their parents about the commands of the LORD, and the parents answering by recounting the exodus. It shows the same pattern found in Joshua 4, where a memorial prompts a question and the question opens the way to telling God’s story to the next generation.
Exodus 14:21-22
21 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 The children of Israel went into the middle of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand, and on their left.
(WEB)
These verses describe the original crossing of the sea on dry ground, the event that Joshua 4 echoes when the Jordan is dried up. Reading them alongside Joshua 4:20 shows how the Lord’s saving acts in one generation become the reference point for the next.
A Short Prayer From Joshua 4:20
Lord, you have brought your people through rivers that seemed impossible to cross. Help me to remember what you have already done in my life, and to set up reminders of your faithfulness where I will see them every day. When I face a new season that feels uncertain, let my memory of your past help steady my trust in you now. Give me a story worth telling to the people who are watching me, so that they will come to know you as I have. Amen.
