A Memorial To The Lord

Joshua 4:1-7
By Harold Dinsmore, M.Div.
© 2008 Harold Dinsmore

Memorial Day in the USA has turned into a holiday known as the first big fling of spring.  Traveling, going to the lake, camping, pools opening, fishing and going to the cemetery to decorate the graves are all a part of this American tradition.

When it comes to the cemetery part of things, Memorial Day is bittersweet.  Bitter in that we open old wounds of grief as we go to decorate the graves of loved ones and friends, and sweet in that we remember the relationships of the past and all the pleasant experiences that went along with them.

Today, I would like for us to look at one of the oldest memorials in the Bible.  So as you are turning to Joshua 4:1-7, we need to place ourselves back in time.  Some authors believe it was written in the 6^th century BC, while others believe the author to have been an eye witness, which would place its writing anywhere from 1200 BC top 1375 BC.  I choose to believe the latter of those 3 dates.

We find in our text the event known as the marching into the land of Canaan.  The long awaited time when the children of Israel move in to take the Promised Land.  The priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant stepped to the shore and then stepped into the water.  At that, the water stopped and the nation of Israel passed over the Jordan on dry ground.  Now is where we pick up our narrative in Joshua 4:1-7.