EVANS The Baptism of John in a Typological Context 51
(^2) Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, (^3) and command
them, 'Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from
the very place where the priests' feet stood, and carry them over with you,
and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight'.^4 Then Joshua
called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a
man from each tribe...^8 And the men of Israel did as Joshua commanded,
and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the
number of the tribes of the people of Israel, as the LORD told Joshua; and
they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged, and laid
them down there.^9 And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the
Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the
covenant had stood; and they are there to this day...^20 And these twelve
stones (TOUS SCOSEKOC Ai6ous TOUTOUS), which they took out of the Jordan,
Joshua set up in Gilgal.^21 And he said to the people of Israel, 'When your
children ask their fathers in time to come, "What do these stones (01 Xi9oi
OUTOI) mean?"^22 then you shall let your children know, "Israel passed over
this Jordan on dry ground".^24 ... so that all the peoples of the earth may
know that the hand of the LORD is mighty (loxupa)...' (Josh. 4.2-4, 8-9,
20-22, 24)
Twelve stones are retrieved from the midst of the Jordan River, 'according
to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel', then they are carried
across the river and placed as a monument to the crossing of the river 'on
dry ground', so that Israel's descendants and 'all peoples' will know that
the Lord is 'mighty'.
The symbolism of 'these stones' (oi Xi0oi OUTOI) may very well be the
point of John's reference when he scolds those who approach him: 'Do not
presume to say to yourselves, "We have Abraham as our father"; for I tell
you, God is able from these stones (TCOV Xi0cov TOUTCOV) to raise up
children to Abraham' (Mt. 3.9 = Lk. 3.8). The proximity of 'these stones'
to the Jordan River and the role they play in Joshua typology, as well as
the comparison to 'children to Abraham', strengthen the likelihood that the
stones to which John makes reference are not simply stones that happen to
be lying about, but a specific group (or monument) of twelve stones that
represent the twelve tribes of the people (lit. ^33, 'sons'^7 ) of Israel.^8 The
- Although Matthew's Greek text reads TEKVCX ('children'), the comparison
between stones and children implies a word-play between p ('son') andpK ('stone') in
John's original Semitic diction. This word-play is attested in various Jewish sources (e.g.
Josephus, War 5.272; Targ. Onq. Gen. 49.24; Targ. Zech. 10.4; Exod. Rab. 37.1 [on
Exod. 27.20]) and underlies Ps. 118.22 in the Aramaic, which speaks of a rejected boy,
instead of a rejected stone. Most of the occurrences of TEKVOV in the LXX translate p.