John Calvin Commentary Joshua 4:19

"And the people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, on the east border of Jericho." — Joshua 4:19 (ASV)

And the people came up, etc. We will see in the next chapter why the day on which they entered the land, and first encamped in it, is noted. However, the name Gilgal is given to the first station in anticipation, because this new name was later given to it by Joshua at the renewal of circumcision. Its etymology will be explained in its proper place.

Furthermore, the main subject discussed here is the monument of twelve stones. Although it was mentioned before, a type of solemn dedication is now described: Joshua not only erected a mound but also drew the people's attention to its purpose—to help fathers keep the memory of God's goodness alive among their children. From his portrayal of the children asking, What do these stones mean? we infer that they were arranged in such a way as to attract the attention of onlookers. For if they had been piled together randomly without any order, it would never have occurred to future generations to ask about their meaning. Therefore, there must have been something so remarkable in their arrangement that they could not be overlooked.

Furthermore, because the covenant by which God had adopted the descendants of Abraham was firm through an uninterrupted succession for a thousand generations, the benefit God had bestowed on their deceased ancestors is, due to the unity of the body, transferred collectively to their children who were born long afterward.

And this continuation must have captured their attention more strongly, since future generations were thereby reminded that what had long ago been given to their ancestors belonged to them also. The parents' answer would have been received with little interest if God's favor had been confined to a single day.

But when their descendants hear that the waters of the Jordan were dried up many ages before they were born, they acknowledge themselves to be the very people toward whom that wonderful act of divine favor had been manifested. The same applies to the drying up of the Red Sea, though that event was not very ancient.

It is certain that of those who had come out of Egypt, only Caleb and Joshua survived, and yet Joshua addresses the whole people as if they had been eyewitnesses of the miracle. God dried up the Red Sea before our face; in other words, this was possible because of the adoption that passed without interruption from their ancestors to their descendants.

Furthermore, it was worthwhile to recall the crossing of the Red Sea, not only so that the similarity of the miracle might inspire belief, but also so that, upon hearing the story of the Jordan, the memory of that former miracle might be simultaneously renewed, even though no visible symbol of it was present.