Q. What do the 12 stones taken out of the Jordan mean in Joshua 4.5?

A. To get the overall picture, let’s go back to Joshua 3.14-17. Israel is going to cross the Jordan and enter the land. This is symbolic of taking the land spiritually. The Jordan river is a symbol of death. They enter the river at the place where the priests are crossing and they represent the Messiah entering death (Jordan) before us. Now, the waters rose up and rolled back north to a place called Adam, which means “man.” That means sin/physical and spiritual death has been rolled back all the way back to Adam, the first man. Adam is a city near Zarethan, which means “distress.” Now, the Jordan flows down to the Dead Sea, which is symbolic of the Lake of Fire. So, what is being communicated here. There is only one place to cross, one way to enter death safely and that is where Yeshua has crossed (John 14.6, Acts 16.31). Man (Adam, red earth) dwells near distress (Zarethan) and is always close to death (Jordan). One day we will all come to the Jordan and without faith in Messiah, there is no crossing place.

Now with that back-round we come to your question about why did they take 12 stones out of the Jordan. The stones were placed in a heap as a memoral to the later generations, marking the place where Israel crossed over. But, there is a spiritual meaning to this as well. The Jordan symbolizes death, both physical and spiritual. The stones symbolize believers (1Pet 2.5) and raising them out of the Jordan symbolizes our being raised out of death. Now, Gilgal was where they crossed and where these stones were set up. Gilgal eventually was seen as a place of rest to Israel based on Joshua 10.43. It was where the kingdom would be renewed in the time of Saul and David (1 Sam 11.14). Galilee is an allusion to the same concept because of the “gal” in the name but also it was located in the north, which is where God’s throne is located in the Universe (Isaiah 14.13; Psalm 48.2). Gilgal also played a role in the lives of Elijah and Elisha (2 Kings 2.1, 4.38). So Gilgal became a concept associated with Heaven and the eternal kingdom. As a side note, these stones were possibly referred to in Matt 3.9 where John was preaching along the Jordan. It would make sense for John, who came in the spirit of Elijah, to start preaching and preparing the people for the coming Kingdom of God (Matt 3.2) there because it had become the place to “renew the kingdom.”