John Gill Commentary Joshua 4

And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed
over Jordan
As related, (Joshua 3:17) ;

that the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying :
as follows.

Take you twelve men out of the people
Joshua had before this ordered twelve men to be taken from among them, which seems to have been done of himself; and now he has a direction from God for it, and what to employ them in:

out of every tribe a man ;
so that what they did was in the name of the several tribes, and as representing them.

And command you them, saying
As follows:

take you hence out of the midst of Jordan ;
so that they were obliged to go back into the midst of Jordan, having already passed over it, as appears from (Joshua 4:1) ;

out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm ;
where being stones, they chose to stand upon them, and which were a firm standing for them; and which secured them from the slime and mud at the bottom of the river the waters left behind; though it is not absolutely necessary to understand it that they were to take, and did take, the stones from under their feet, but those that lay about the place where they stood:

twelve stones ;
each man a stone; and, according to the Samaritan Chronicle ^F6 , every man inscribed his name on the stone:

and you shall carry them over with you ;
from the place they took them up, to the place they should next stop at:

and leave them in the lodging place where you shall lodge this night :
which was in the place afterwards called Gilgal, (Joshua 4:19Joshua 4:20) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F6: Apud Hottinger. Smegma Oriental. p. 500, 503.

Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he has prepared of the
children of Israel
It may be for some other purpose, (Joshua 3:12) ; but this was the destination of them eventually, and as by divine direction:

out of every tribe a man :
as he had before ordered, and was now directed to.

And Joshua said unto them
The twelve men:

pass you over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of
Jordan ;
that is, they were to go back to Jordan again, which they had passed over, and go into the midst of it, where were the priests bearing the ark; for it is not to be imagined that the ark went along with them, or followed them, they going before it; but they went where that was, just before it, from where they were to take the stones, as next directed:

and take you up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder ;
This indicates they were large stones, not ones they could carry in their hands, but ones they were obliged to take upon their shoulders:

according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel ;
who had that day passed over Jordan, of which these stones were to be a memorial.