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"And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests were
dipped bapto (LXX) in the brim of the water . . . . . that the waters which came down
from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far off, at the city called Adam
(Massoretic marginal reading), and those that came down toward the sea of the plain,
even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off" (Josh. 3: 15, 16).
Waters cut off "from Adam to the Dead Sea". Who that knows the teaching of
Rom. 5: 12 - 8: 39 can deny the prescience of inspired Scripture, or the fullness of the
O.T. types? The testimony of the twelve stones. Twelve is the number of Israel.
"Now therefore, take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a
man" (Josh. 3: 12, so also 4: 2).
Each of these twelve representative men who passed over before the ark and from the
midst of Jordan took up a stone "according to the number of the children of Israel"
(Josh. 4: 4, 5, 8). These stones were taken "out of the place where the priests' feet stood
firm" (Josh. 4: 3). But the place of these stones was to be occupied by "other twelve
stones" (LXX) in the midst of Jordan where the feet of the priests stood. These were set
up by Joshua himself, and the record says: "they are there unto this day" (Josh. 4: 9).
It is illuminating to observe that what the twelve representative men did, is said to
have been done by "the children of Israel" (Josh. 4: 8). This principle has already met us
in the Passover that preceded the baptism unto Moses "The whole assembly of the
congregation of Israel shall kill IT in the evening" (Exod. 12: 6).
The two sets of twelve stones provide us with an instance of the use of a double type
where death and resurrection have to be indicated. As it is not possible for these
twelve stones to be in two places at the same time, the transfer from the river bed to the
dry land, and the transfer from the dry land to the river bed, does bring before the mind
the truth that they who are "raised with Christ" are also those who were "buried with Him
by baptism".
These stones are said to have been "pitched" in Gilgal (Josh. 4: 20). This word
"pitch" must not be confused with the words that indicate the pitching a camp, for which
chanah and natah are used, the Hebrew word translated "pitch" here is kum "to stand
up", "to arise" which we have already noted in Josh. 1: 2. That these twelve stones had
an important symbolic teaching is evident by the fact that provision is made for the time
when the children should ask "what mean ye be these stones?" Just as Col. 2: links
spiritual circumcision with spiritual baptism, so here at the Jordan, circumcision
immediately follows the crossing of the Jordan, and this in connexion with the teaching
that we are seeking to establish, namely, that the baptism unto Moses and the baptism at
Jordan are intentionally linked together, the interval of human frailty and law being as it
were cancelled. This truth is expressed in the words of Josh. 5: 2 "The second time".
By reading Josh. 5: 4-7 we learn that this circumcision "the second time" referred to the
children that had been born in the wilderness "by the way as they came forth out of
Egypt". This typical resumption is the more enforced by the words of verse seven "their
children, whom He raised up in their stead". The "breach of promise" (Numb. 14: 34)
being healed, Joshua fulfils that which was commenced but never finished by Moses.