Глава 4

1. Divine command to remove 12 stones to perpetuate the memory of the event. 9. Erecting another monument near the bank of the Jordan. 10, 19. The passage of all the people through the Jordan and the time of the event. 15. Exit of the priests with the Ark of the Covenant. 14, 21. The meaning of the miraculous event. The crossing of the Jordan along its drained bed was of great importance not only for the contemporaries of this event, but also for subsequent generations. He therefore demanded perpetuation. How the latter happened is set out in the first 9 verses of this chapter. Joshua 4:1. When all the people had crossed the Jordan, the Lord said to Jesus: The idea of ​​perpetuating the event does not belong to Joshua, but to the Lord, with whose command this presentation begins. Although the divine revelation of this was given to the Israelite leader before the transition itself, as can be seen from Joshua 3:12, the biblical writer sets it out in this place because in its content it relates to this part of the story. By divine command, Joshua had to take 12 people who had already been chosen from the 12 tribes of Israel (Joshua 3:12) so that they would lift 12 stones from the bottom of the Jordan, where the feet of the priests stood, carry them out and put them in the place where the people would stop for the night. Joshua 4:2. take for yourselves twelve men from among the people, one man from each tribe, Joshua 4:3. and give them a command and say: take yourself from here, from the middle of the Jordan, where the feet of the priests stood motionless, twelve stones, and carry them with you, and put them in the lodgings where you will spend the night that night. "Take... and command them" according to the current Hebrew text; in the Slavic Bible: “they took... they led” according to the translation of LXX 39, Theodotion and Blessed Jerome. Since this divine command was addressed to Joshua, and not to the people, the accepted LXX form of the imperative mood in the singular seems more appropriate. “From the middle of the Jordan”, see explanation of Joshua 3:17. “Still”, which serves as a rendering of the same Hebrew word (“gaken”), as in Joshua 3:17; in LXX 40 it is translated here through ἑτοίμους - “ready” (Slavic Bible), in Blessed Jerome: durissimos - “hardest”, and this word is attached not to the preceding, but to the subsequent words “twelve stones”. This Greek-Slavic-Latin translation has the meaning that in order to select the stones that needed to be removed, the sign is indicated: “readiness”, i.e. suitability for the construction of a monument, or "solidity". Joshua 4:4. Joshua called twelve men whom he appointed from among the children of Israel, one man per tribe, Joshua 4:5. And Jesus said to them, “Go before the Ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and [take from there and] put on your shoulder one stone, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, Joshua 4:6. so that they may [always remain] with you as a sign; When your sons ask you in the future and say, “Why do you have these stones?” In fulfillment of the divine command, Joshua called "the twelve men whom he had appointed" and who, as chosen before, remained on the east side of the Jordan awaiting the commission they were to carry out. The words “whom he appointed” in the Greek-Slavic translation correspond to the word ἐνδόξων - “glorious”, expressing the same idea in a more general form. The words “[take from there]” are borrowed from the Slavic Bible, which agrees here with the Alexandrian and other copies, as well as with the Aldinian Bible, in which it reads ἀνελόμενος ἐκεῖθεν. The same must be said regarding the words “[always lying]”, corresponding to the Greco-Slavic translation, but not found in the Hebrew text and Latin translation. Joshua 4:7. you will say to them: “in remembrance of the fact that the waters of the Jordan were divided before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord [of the whole earth]; when he crossed the Jordan, then the waters of the Jordan were divided”; Thus these stones will [be with you] for the children of Israel as a memorial forever. The words “in memory of that” were introduced by Russian translators to connect speech. Joshua 4:9. And Jesus set [other] twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan in the place where the feet of the priests stood who carried the Ark of the Covenant. They are there to this day. In addition to the monument built from 12 stones taken from the bed of the Jordan, in Gilgal (Joshua 4:20), Joshua erected another monument also from 12 stones in the place where the feet of the priests stood with the Ark of the Covenant, i.e. near the eastern bank of the Jordan (see explanations to Joshua 3:17). The middle of the river could not serve as a place for this monument both because it did not serve as a place for priests to stand, and because this monument, exposed to the continuous action of water, would be very short-lived. And from this it is clear that the Hebrew preposition “betokh” is used here in the meaning not “among”, but “in”, which is the meaning given to it here and in the LXX, in the translation of which it reads: τόπῳ - “in the Jordan itself, in the place where...” The monument, standing on the banks of the Jordan, which is covered with water only when the river floods, was visible during most of the year. The expression of the biblical text “Jesus erected”, in the absence of an indication of this second monument in the divine command, gives some reason to think that the idea of ​​​​its construction belonged to the Israeli leader, who through this expressed the highest feelings that filled his soul, which he wanted to convey to his contemporaries and subsequent generations. At the time when the writer of the book of Joshua lived, that monument still existed, which is not said about the first monument in Gilgal. Joshua 4:10. The priests who carried the Ark [of the Covenant of the Lord] stood in the middle of the Jordan until [Jesus] finished everything that the Lord commanded Jesus to say to the people - just as Moses commanded Jesus; and meanwhile the people hastily crossed. “They stood in the middle of the Jordan”: according to the Greek-Slavic translation ἐν τῷ Ιορδάνῃ - “in the Jordan”. "As Moses commanded Joshua". What can be understood here is not the special instructions of Moses relating to this event, for such instructions are not found in the Pentateuch, but the general instructions that Joshua should have been guided by, as he was placed at the head of the people (for example, Deut. 31: 3,7,23). In this case, however, it is necessary to keep in mind that in the Vatican, Alexandrian and many other copies of the LXX translation the above words are not read and that the corresponding Greek reading ( Ἰησοῦ) is found only in very few lists, and among the editions - in the Complutensian Polyglot, with which the Slavic Bible agrees here. "And the people..." ("meanwhile" added by Russian translators) "...hastily crossed over." Since this is said after indicating that “the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant stood in the Jordan,” the reason for the haste with which the transition was made was, as one must think, this standing of the priests, which required tension of strength, which could weaken over a longer period of time; This haste could also be prompted by the desire to complete the transition before the start of the night. Joshua 4:11. When all the people had crossed over [the Jordan], then the Ark [of the Covenant] of the Lord also crossed over, and the priests before the people; A comparison of what is said here in the biblical text with Joshua 4:16-17 of this chapter shows that the biblical writer in his narration of the crossing of the Jordan did not adhere to the order of time in which the events followed, which is why he mentions the crossing of the Ark of the Lord here before the divine command about it followed. “And the Ark [of the Covenant] of the Lord passed over, and the priests before the people.” By placing the Ark of the Lord in first place ahead of the priests, the biblical writer makes it clear through this the greatness of the Ark as the throne of the Lord, from which the miraculous power of God emanated. Instead of “priests” in the Slavic Bible it reads: “and stone”, according to many of the Greek lists 41; but this reading is not found in all lists of the LXX translation; from the uncials - in Amrosian it is read ἱερεῖς - “priests”; the same word is also read in some later ones - the Greek list and the Camplutensian Polyglot, as well as in the Vulgate. “Stone” appeared here in the Greek list under the influence, probably, of what was said in Joshua 4:5, that the chosen 12 men who had to carry the stones out of the Jordan had to go before the Ark of the Lord. “Before the people”, i.e. in front of the people, before their eyes, in their presence. Joshua 4:12. and the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh went over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses had spoken to them. Joshua 4:13. About forty thousand armed men went over to the plains of Jericho before the Lord to fight. To what is said in Joshua 4:11 about the crossing of “the whole people,” the biblical writer adds an indication of the crossing of the Jordan by armed warriors from the East Jordanian tribes in the amount of approximately 40,000, in accordance with the promise given by these tribes (Joshua 1:12–18) and out of a sense of duty “before the Lord,” who calmed them down and gave them land. The mention of this event following the indication of the passage of the Ark of the Lord does not mean that the warriors from these tribes crossed after the Ark, for after its exit from the Jordan its bed was still filled with water, but again only testifies to the fact that the biblical narrator was guided here not by the order of time in which the events followed, but by their internal relationship with each other. "To the Plains of Jericho". This is the name given to the vast fertile plain surrounding ancient Jericho, which in ancient times was covered with palm trees, from which the city was also called the city of Palms (Deut. 34:3). Joshua 4:14. On that day the Lord glorified Jesus in the sight of all Israel, and they began to fear him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life. As in Joshua 4:11, warning the course of events, the writer pointed to the transfer of the Ark, so here, before presenting the last phenomenon that ended the great event, he draws a conclusion, indicating the significance of the event for Joshua as the leader of the people; This significance lies in his exaltation before all the people, who after this began to fear him as much as they feared Moses (Ex. 14:31). Joshua 4:15. And the Lord spoke to Jesus, saying: Joshua 4:16. command the priests carrying the Ark of the Testimony to come out of the Jordan. Joshua 4:17. Jesus commanded the priests and said, “Get out of the Jordan.” Joshua 4:18. And when the priests, carrying the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, came out of the Jordan, then, as soon as their feet stepped on dry land, the water of the Jordan rushed to its place and went, as yesterday and the day before, above all its banks. The last significant event in the passage of the Israelite people through the Jordan was the carrying of the Ark of the Lord onto dry land, accompanied by the fact that immediately after that the water, held back in its flow, rushed out and filled all the banks of the Jordan as before, from which it was again clearly revealed that the power that kept the usual flow of the river emanated from the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. And the biblical writer begins the narration of this last event with a statement of a special divine command, then it is transmitted to the priests and carried out by the latter. Joshua 4:19. And the people came out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and pitched their camp at Gilgal, on the east side of Jericho. Joshua 4:20. And the twelve stones which they took from the Jordan Jesus set in Gilgal The people left the Jordan on the 10th day of the first month, the same day on which their fathers began to prepare for the celebration of Passover and at the same time for the exit from Egypt (Ex. 12:3). His first stop was in an area called Gilgal and located southeast of Jericho. Joshua's first task here was to build a monument from stones taken from the dried up bottom of the Jordan. Currently, at a short distance from the village of Rihi, which exists on the site of Jericho, three hills are identified, which are called Jeljul, corresponding to the biblical Gilgal 42. Eusebius and Jerome (in Onomastica Sacra, edition de Lagarde, pp. 126 and 233) indicate this Gilgal almost in 2 Romans. miles from Jericho. At this approximately distance, exactly 45 minutes from Riha, there is a hill that is covered with large stones and is called Tel Jeljul by the locals. Near the hill there are traces of a former wall made of rough stones, and about 80 steps from it there is another hill, also with the remains of a wall and fragments of a mosaic. A German scholar (Tschokke) who examined this place recognized it as Gilgal of Joshua, and this opinion is accepted by some of the Western biblical scholars 43 . According to the testimony of travelers of the 6th-7th centuries, on the site of this Gilgal in their time there was a church, in the altar of which Jordan stones were placed 44. Joshua 4:21. And he said to the children of Israel, “When your sons ask their fathers in the time to come, “What do these stones mean?” Joshua 4:22. Tell your sons, “Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry ground.” Joshua 4:23. For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you were over it, just as the Lord your God did with the Red Sea, which [the Lord your God] dried up before us until we were over it, Joshua 4:24. so that all the nations of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is strong, and that you may fear the Lord your God always. They present, in the form of a general conclusion to the narration of a memorable event, an explanation of the significance of the erected monument, which at the same time serves as an explanation of the main purpose with which the Lord showed His omnipotence over the waters of the Jordan. The goal is for “all nations to know” the omnipotence of the Lord and for the Israeli people to forever be imbued with reverence for him (σέβησθε - “let you honor the Lord your God,” according to the Greek-Slavic translation). Παράλαβε – “poimi” is read in some Greek copies only; in most of them, instead it reads παραλαβὼν - “taking”, but σύνταξον - “led” is the usual reading of the most ancient Greek copies of the Vatican, Alexandria, etc. In the Vatican, Alexandria, Lucian and other Greek lists. Of course, the lists are: Vatican, Alexandria, Lucian and others, as well as the Sistine Greek Bible. Prof. A. A. Olesnitsky. Holy Land, vol. 2, p. 33. Riehm. Handworkerbuch., p. 518. Prof. A. A. Olesnitsky. Megalithic monuments of the Holy Land. 1895, p. 88. You might be interested in: