Question
As we were reading in Joshua tonight with our 7 year old, she asked a question that I have wondered myself. Are we able to see any of the stones of remembrance that they talk about laying down after an event? (Example Joshua 4, Joshua 7) It is said several times through the OT and I’ve always wondered if they have found piles of stones in the Holy Land that they think might be stones of remembrance because it says they are there until this day which I assume is talking about when the book was written and not necessarily this day.
Answer
The short answer is no. Geographic features that never change are fixtures like a mountain, a valley, a river, or a stream. But something man-made, like a pile of rocks, will change over time.
Some archeological sites debate the size of the stones. Each tribe would’ve been very proud of its rock. And they would’ve gotten the biggest stone they could have moved. The other thing is that the Jordan River changes with the seasons. So, during the spring, you have more, and in the summer, you have less. When they crossed the river, they wanted to see those rocks. They would’ve had to stack them so that you would be aware they were present when the river was high.
Mount Herman, Mount Moriah, Mount Tabor, Mount Zion, Mount Carmel, and the Mount of Olives are like God’s stones of remembrance. They’re still there. Mount Carmel is the location of Elijah’s conflict with the prophets of Baal. When you look down from Mount Carmel, you see the Valley of Megiddo. This valley is the center point of Revelation 16:16. That’s where a considerable debate exists about the final battle, at the valley of Armageddon. In truth, however, there’s no battle; it’s a gathering. It’s the assembly of the nations against Christ. Jesus won’t sit there for 18 days and fight these people. He will say a word, and it’ll be over. So we don’t have something like the stones of remembrance, but we have archeological evidence.
Finally, we can look at Mount Moriah. This is where Abraham received the command to take his son and sacrifice him to God. After all that, this is where David wanted to build Solomon’s temple. The two events took place 20 yards apart at the most. If you look directly east, toward the Mediterranean Sea, you see where the temple complex will be in the future. That’s where Abraham offered Isaac.
That’s where David wanted to build the temple, but God said no and let him build a house below, which is still there. So there are not 12 stones there, but other archeological things remind us that archaeology doesn’t confirm the Bible; the Bible confirms archeology.
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