“ Now therefore you, take twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, for every tribe a man.”
Joshua 4:2 where the reason for choosing the men out is explained. This continues verse 11 as one sentence. Joshua is not said at this stage to have explained why the men were to be chosen out but we do not need to doubt that he said enough in order to enable the selection of the right people. The deliberate omission of the information is in order to heighten the interest of the listener. They are kept hanging on, asking themselves, ‘why were the twelve men chosen? What would they have to do?' When the answer comes in Joshua 4:2 it will therefore have the greater impact. For as Joshua 4 demonstrates these twelve stones were an important sign for Israel, both for the present and the future. But they were already being made aware that it was something to do with the crossing of the Jordan. He wanted them to have plenty of time in advance so that they could select suitable men, men of the highest quality, for some important task not yet made clear. Joshua was a wise leader. He knew that such choices must not be rushed. He wanted the decision made early so that there would be no delay once the time came. Thus when the task did have to be done (Joshua 4:2-3) the choices would already have been decided on and there would be no hesitation. This was a wise precaution and demonstrated that Joshua was a wise leader of men, not just a spiritual robot. Levi would not be represented (see Numbers 13:4-15). They had no inheritance in the land except as YHWH's men.