The Importance of Crossing the Jordan at Gilgal in Israel

Nadene Goldfoot                                     

   Top right, Jericho above Dead Sea, where crossing the Jordan River took place...Exodus started in Egypt...on up to Jericho and crossed Jordan River    

                                                                                  

According to Joshua 4:19, Gilgal is a location "on the eastern border of Jericho" where the Israelites encamped immediately after crossing the Jordan River. There, they erected 12 stones as a memorial to the miraculous stopping of the river when they crossed.                            

                Gilgal near the village of Yafit, (Hebrew: יַפִית, lit. 'Beautiful') is an Israeli settlement organized as a moshav shitufi north of Ma'ale Adumim, probably in Samaria,  Located in the Jordan Valley, it falls under the jurisdiction of Bik'at HaYarden Regional Council. In 2019 it had a population of 202.

                      Joshua leading the 600,000 Israelites

Joshua then ordered the Israelites who had been born during the Exodus to be circumcised at this spot. The Bible refers to this place as Givat Ha'aralot, then says that Joshua called the place Gilgal because, in his words, "today I have removed (galoti) the shame of Egypt from upon you."  

                                         

                          Jordan River today  

 It is also the location where the people kept the Passover for the first time in thirty-nine years since they last observed it in the wilderness of Sinai (Numbers 9:1 - 5).  Before the nation could partake of the Passover, however, more than 600,000 Israelite males had to be circumcised. This rather painful procedure took place, in mass, near Gilgal on "the hill of the foreskins" (Joshua 5:3).l           

"The king of Goyim, of Gilgal" is listed as one of the 31 kings defeated by Joshua. His city is identified by Eusebius with Jaljulia.

      city of Ma'ale Adumim in Judea-(4.3 miles) east of Jerusalem..  

"Gilgal" is mentioned as a location on the border between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, near Ma'ale Adumiman, an urban Israeli settlement and a city in the West Bank, seven kilometers (4.3 miles) east of Jerusalem. Ma'ale Adumim achieved city status .

Since "Gilgal" means a "circle of standing stones", it is quite plausible for there to have been more than one place named Gilgal, and although there are dissenting opinions, it is commonly held to be a different place from the one involved with Joshua; it has been identified with the village Jaljulia, about 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) north of Bethel. It is significant that the Books of Kings treat it as a place of holiness, suggesting that stone circles still had a positive religious value at the time the source text of the passages in question was written, rather than having been condemned as heathen by religious reforms. Another opinion is that it is not different from the Book of Joshua, as it locates it near Bethel as does the Books of Chronicles.

When Joshua and the Israelites were entering the Promised Land, they had to cross the Jordan River. 

God did a miracle by cutting off the river so that the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant stepped forward on dry land. Consequently, the whole people crossed the river without touching water. God instructed Joshua to have a man from each tribe pick up a stone from the middle of the Jordan in order to build a monument at Gilgal. This Hebrew name stands for “circle of standing stones.”

Gilgal was a place of memorial. Gilgal is significant in the Bible as serving as a place of memorial for the Israelites, to remind them of what God had done. After miraculously crossing the Jordan River into the Promised Land, the Israelites set up twelve stones taken from the river, representing the twelve tribes, to serve as a reminder to the children of Israel (Joshua 4:19–20). The stones at Gilgal would remind the Israelites and their descendants of the power of God and how He had dried up the Jordan River so they could walk through it, just as He had done to the Red Sea (Joshua 4:21–24). The stones at Gilgal would serve a teaching purpose to the younger generation, so that they too could remember what the Lord had done for them (Joshua 4:21–22).  The site has not been identified, at least not by 1992.  

    Much of Judea/Samaria has been taken over by Jordan (35,480 sq mi).  The West Bank (Judea-Samaria) 2,183 sq.mi is shown between Israel and Jordan, leaving the small amount for Israel (8,550 sq. mi.) 

Resource:

https://israel-nadene.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-holiest-places-to-jews-in-judea-and.html

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://www.gotquestions.org/Gilgal-in-the-Bible.html

https://www.chosenpeople.com/standing-stones-at-gilgal/