Stones

The other day my friend Cheran gave me a stone. It was carefully wrapped in paper, very well taped, and tied up with string. Cheran has a wonderful ability to appreciate the small things in life, things that perhaps others take for granted. Cheran’s interest in stones, and his willingness to share his stones, reminded me of how God shares His thoughts about stones with us in Scripture. God wants us to be aware of what can be done with stones. He also warns us that we could be hurt if we choose to use stones at a time, or in a way, that is not within His will. We have many examples in the record of how stones were used appropriately and inappropriately.

A stone for a pillow

One of my favorite stories about stones is when Jacob fled from the anger of Esau and spent the night at Bethel (“the house of God”); there he used a stone for a pillow. As he slept, he saw angels ascending and descending upon a ladder, or stairway, that extended to heaven. In that dream God made promises to him. Jacob was promised that he would inherit the land, that his descendants would be as numerous as the dust of the earth, that blessings upon all the earth would come through him, and — finally— that God was going to be with him wherever he went and would bring him back to the land. The next morning Jacob took the stone he had used as a pillow, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil upon it. Then he made a covenant with God there (Gen. 28:10-22). Jacob’s grandfather, Abra­ham, had also set up an altar at or very near Bethel; several times he went there to worship (Gen. 12:8; 13:1-4). Could this stone — the one that Jacob used at Bethel — have been one of the stones Abraham had originally used for the altar of worship in “God’s house”?

A watchtower of stones

Later in Jacob’s life, when he left Laban to return to his father’s land, as God had directed, he used stones again (Gen. 31:1-3). Jacob and Laban gathered stones together into “a heap of witness” between the two of them. They used words in both Hebrew and Aramaic to describe the heap of witness. Two languages but the same meaning, so that there could be no misunderstanding as to why that heap was there. Not only that, but the place is called “Mizpah” (“a watchtower, or beacon”). The Lord was brought into that covenant as a third witness, to watch between them, when they were not able to see each other. The word “watch” means “to lean forward”, as if straining to see into the distance. The heap of stones became a memorial for both of them: not only were they to remember their promise to each other, but also that God was in the watchtower (Gen. 31:43-55).

Graves of stones

There are several more heaps of stones in Scripture. Often the graves of con­demned men were heaped with stones. Israel lost a battle at Ai because Achan had stolen some of the spoil from Jericho. Stones were heaped onto the grave of Achan, after he and his family had been stoned and burned. He and his family were remembered by a heap of stones in the valley of trouble. After Achan was buried, Israel defeated and burned Ai. The king of Ai, after being hung, was also buried beneath a heap of stones. Ai (“a ruin, or heap”) was all that Israel left of that city (Josh. 7; 8).

Later in Israel’s history, David’s son Absalom stole the heart of the people of Israel from David. He also tried to steal David’s throne. But he was killed and thrown into a pit, where a great heap of stones was erected over him — all that marked his grave (2 Sam. 18:9-18).

A memorial of stones

In contrast, perhaps, the most profound and important heap of stones mentioned is in Joshua 4:3-9,20,21. This is the stone reminder that God commanded the Isra­elites to build themselves, when they crossed Jordan and came into the Promised Land. Men from each tribe took stones from the center of the river where the feet of the priests had stood and built a memorial at their camp in Gilgal. They would carry those stones in their minds wherever they went, as a memory of a mighty God who could do all things. So Joshua instructed them to tell their children why those stones were there (vv. 22,23).

Altars of stones

Altars were made of stones, but not all altars were used to worship God. God had strict instructions for Israel not to offer their children on the altars of Molech (Lev. 18:21; 20:2-5).

Solomon was led away by his foreign wives to seek after and worship on other altars than the one that he had helped to build, in God’s beautiful temple. God took the kingdom away from Solomon because of it (1 Kings 11:5-13).

On Mount Carmel, the 450 prophets of Baal made an altar and danced around it. They yelled, and cut themselves, but the sacrifice on Baal’s altar was not consumed. In contrast, Elijah repaired the altar on Mount Carmel, which was built out of twelve stones. He built it “in the name of the Lord”. He made a trench around it, arranged the wood on it, and poured twelve jars of water over it until everything was soaking wet and the trench was full. When Elijah called on God, the fire of God completely consumed the offering, the wood, and the altar, and also dried up all the water. When the people saw this they fell on their faces and acknowledged, “The Lord, He is God” (1 Kings 18:22-40).

Death by stones

Execution by stoning was a means of punishment under God’s law. The law com­manded that a person be stoned for gathering wood on the Sabbath, for serving other gods, for promoting the worship of other gods, for disobeying parents and living a useless life, and for some types of sexual immorality. Sometimes stoning was used outside the law, and usually by an angry mob. The people of Israel took up stones to kill Caleb and Joshua when they brought back a good report of the land. Shimei threw stones at David when David was fleeing from Absalom. Na­both was murdered by stoning when Ahab wanted his field and Naboth refused to sell it to him (although the formalities of the Law seem to have been observed). Zechariah son of Jehoiada was murdered by stoning because he openly denounced the idolatry in which Joash was involved after the death of Jehoiada. Jesus himself was almost stoned during his ministry. Stephen was stoned by Saul and the angry mob in Jerusalem, after he defended his faith in Jesus Christ. Paul survived ston­ing three times. Interestingly, Mary the mother of Jesus, when she was found with child outside of wedlock, could have been stoned for that sin.

“A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones together” (Eccl. 3:5)

David, the man after God’s own heart, knew the value of not throwing stones. David’s experience with Goliath is the only place in the Bible where it is recorded that he took up stones against his fellow man. Throwing stones was not part of the way David lived with his fellow Israelites. David’s charisma seems to have been greatly enhanced by his willingness to accept others without throwing stones at them, and this certainly allowed him to do God’s work very effectively. David reflected the kind of acceptance extended to each of us by grace. The discontented and distressed sought him out and lived with him in the caves of the wilderness while he was on the run from Saul. He valued people, and in turn he was respected and his friendship was valued (1 Sam. 22:1-3; 1 Chron.11:17-19). David, himself, was later spared from stoning, even though he was guilty of taking another man’s wife and then murdering her husband. He was covered by the grace of God for the very sin upon which Jesus was later asked to pass judgment…

“The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the midst, they said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do you say?’ And they were saying this, testing him, in order that they might have grounds for accusing him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground.

“But when they persisted in asking him, he straightened up, and said to them, ‘He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.’ And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And when they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and he was left alone and the woman, where she was in the midst.

“And straightening up, Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?’

“And she said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go your way. From now on sin no more.’

“And therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world; he who follows me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life’ ” (John 8:1-12).

Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground near the temple. The temple was thought of as “the house of God”, and presumably they were to come there to worship at the altar of God. Jesus bent down, perhaps just as the God whom they worshiped “leaned forward and looked into the distance” to see His plan of salvation realized through His Son. Jesus wrote on the ground, in the “dust of the earth”. The God whom they worshiped had formed man from the dust of the earth, and later had promised Jacob that his descendants would be as numerous as the dust of the earth. Jesus wrote in that dust with his finger.

The only sinless man there, and therefore the only one truly eligible to cast a stone in punishment, chose instead to use his fingers to write rather than to pick up a stone. He held the woman’s life in his hands and — instead of crushing her life with stones — he gave her life back to her! After all of the accusers had left, he finally looked at the woman. “The Light of the world” (John 8:12) shone upon her in her darkness, and showed her the way of grace. Forgiven and covered by the grace of God, she was asked to reflect the glory of God in the way she lived her life from then on: “From now on sin no more!” She became a light and a continuing message to those who knew the grace extended to her.

A foundation of stone

Jesus built his church upon a rock. That rock was the belief that Peter had first demonstrated by declaring his faith in Jesus Christ. Peter’s name means “the rock or stone”. Even though he declared his faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, he also was rebuked as an adversary to God’s will. Later he cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant; then he forsook his Lord during the trial and crucifix­ion. Later again, he ran to the tomb when the stone had been rolled away, eager to see what had become of his Lord. Finally, by the sea of Galilee, he was asked three times if he loved Jesus, and then was given the commission to care for, tend, and shepherd the sheep of Jesus’ flock. He began the great work of building the household of God with Christ as the chief cornerstone.

A great round stone

“And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his garments as white as snow; and the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men” (Matt. 28:2-4).

After his death Jesus was buried in a grave, with a great stone across its mouth. Soldiers were hired to watch the grave and to prevent the disciples from carry­ing away his body. The angel descended, just like angels had done upon Jacob’s stairway in Bethel, and the stone was rolled away like the reproach of Egypt was rolled away from Israel at Gilgal. If the stone had remained where it was, there would have been reason to doubt that Jesus had risen. That stone, and that grave, could not hold Jesus; the stone was removed so that the glory of God could be revealed.

“He who quarries stones may be hurt by them” (Eccl. 10:9).

Each of us carries stones. Some of these stones have been with us for so long that we don’t even notice that we are still holding them. Like Achan or Absalom, we throw stones for selfish reasons or in order to promote ourselves, although we know that it will only end with a heap of stones in the valley of trouble. We are so good at finding legitimate reasons for throwing stones at others, and we are efficient at gathering more to heap upon them.

What are the stones we are holding? Could they be stones of pride, or jealousy, or refusal to forgive? Could they be bitterness, or unbelief, or a harsh and critical attitude? God’s grace cannot work effectively in our lives unless we drop the stones that we are holding so that our hands are free to grasp His gift of grace.

We need carefully to analyze our reasons for going to the stone quarry, so that we don’t hurt others — or ourselves — by the stones we gather there.

Let us take up stones to build the house of God, not tear down that precious house, stone by stone!

A stone in the pocket

Let us pick up a stone and keep it in our pocket for a memorial. Let it be a reminder to us that the Rock of our salvation is in the watchtower and is a witness in our covenants with one another. Let it be a reminder that He is the one to whom we should build altars.

Every time we reach into our pocket and touch that stone, we can take a moment to worship the God who formed man from the dust of the ground — the same God that extended great and precious promises to those who believe. Let that stone remind us to build our homes and our lives with stones that fit in with the chief cornerstone.

That stone can remind us that the only sinless man never threw a stone at the woman who committed adultery, and does not throw stones at us either.

When our children ask us about the stone in our pocket, we can tell them — like the Israelites did at Gilgal — about all the wonderful things God has done for us in our lives. We can tell them how He brought each one of us personally out of a land of darkness, and how that beacon of light shone into our life. We can tell them about His mighty power, His everlasting love, and His amazing gift of grace. We can share with them the stories about the stones of Gilgal, “the rolling away” of sin from Israel… about the altar that Elijah rebuilt when Israel cried “the Lord, He is God”… about the smooth stones in the pouch of a shepherd boy named David, and the one in his sling that killed the giant that defied the Lord God of Israel.

We can tell them about the stones that killed Stephen because of his great faith, and about Peter the rock, who spent the rest of his life working to tend the sheep and lambs of Jesus. We can tell them about the stone that was rolled away from the tomb when the grave could not hold our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

“I love Thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised and I am saved from my enemies. The cords of death encompassed me, and the torrents of ungodliness terrified me. The cords of Sheol surrounded me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God for help; He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry for help before Him came into His ears” (Psa. 18:1-6, NASV).

Cheran’s gift to me is not polished. It is not very large. It holds no value in most people’s eyes. That stone, however, rests on my desk where I work every day. It reminds me that a small, unpolished stone in God’s eyes has very great value. We are God’s living stones now, possibly rejected by the world around us, but seeking to offer our spiritual sacrifices and build something of substance, that when it is tested and tried will reward us for our work (1 Pet. 2:5; 1 Cor. 3:12).

Like Peter the rock, we have declared our faith in Christ as the Son of the Living God. We must build our lives upon that rock.

We may often fail to do what we should, perhaps denying our Lord, or perhaps running away from him. But ultimately we may come back to that rock that was rolled away from the garden tomb, and on our knees thank our God for the grace extended to us through the sacrifice of His Son.