Thematic Bible: Memorial pillars of


Thematic Bible



So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance at Shechem.

Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and he named it Ebenezer (stone of help), saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”

And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan Joshua set up in Gilgal. And he said to the Israelites, When your children ask their fathers in time to come, What do these stones mean? You shall let your children know, Israel came over this Jordan on dry ground. read more.
For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up for us until we passed over, That all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty and that you may reverence and fear the Lord your God forever.

And Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone he had put under his head, and he set it up for a pillar (a monument to the vision in his dream), and he poured oil on its top [in dedication]. And he named that place Bethel [the house of God]; but the name of that city was Luz at first. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me food to eat and clothing to wear, read more.
So that I may come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God; And this stone which I have set up as a pillar (monument) shall be God's house [a sacred place to me], and of all [the increase of possessions] that You give me I will give the tenth to You.

So Jacob set up a stone for a pillar or monument. And Jacob said to his brethren, Gather stones; and they took stones and made a heap, and they ate [together] there upon the heap. Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha [witness heap, in Aramaic], but Jacob called it Galeed [ witness heap, in Hebrew.] read more.
Laban said, This heap is a witness today between you and me. Therefore it was named Galeed. And [the pillar or monument was called] Mizpah [watchpost], for he [Laban] said, May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent and hidden one from another. If you should afflict, humiliate, or lower [divorce] my daughters, or if you should take other wives beside my daughters, although no man is with us [to witness], see (remember), God is witness between you and me. And Laban said to Jacob, See this heap and this pillar, which I have set up between you and me. This heap is a witness and this pillar is a witness, that I will not pass by this heap to you, and that you will not pass by this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.

Take twelve men from among the people, one man out of every tribe, And command them, Take twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan from the place where the priests' feet stood firm; carry them over with you and leave them at the place where you lodge tonight. Then Joshua called the twelve men of the Israelites whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. read more.
And Joshua said to them, Pass over before the ark of the Lord your God in the midst of the Jordan, and take up every man of you a stone on his shoulder, as is the number of the tribes of the Israelites, That this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, What do these stones mean to you? Then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it passed over the Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the Israelites a memorial forever. And the Israelites 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 Israelites, as the Lord told Joshua, and carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down there. 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.