Joshua's Great Stone

Lanolin said:
Is it still there?
Joshua 24:26-27
How can a stone hear all the words that God spoke to the Israelites? Is the oak still there?
What about all the other stones meant to be memorials in the Bible?
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Hello Lanolin;

Is it still there? Do you mean is the stone and the oak tree still there? I don't believe so after all these centuries because the stone served as God's covenant renewal ceremony at Shechem, and the oak tree (in the ESV the tree was called the terebinth) was merely the place Joshua placed the stone right next to the Sanctuary (Holy Place) of God.

The stone did not hear the words that God spoke to the Israelites. The stone was only meant to commemorate the covenant as Joshua required.
This is why he confirmed the testimony of two witnesses, the people and the stone marking the binding covenant before God.

I don't find anywhere that the stone remains there in Shechem today, (maybe someone picked it up and had it put in a museum,) I don't know.

I feel the oak tree mentioned in this passage of Joshua is important as all of God's Word, but I don't know the entire significance only that the stone was placed under the oak tree.

Joshua 24:26-27, 26 And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone and set it up there under the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. 27 And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.” - ESV

As far as the other stones meant to be memorials in the Bible, I'm sure google will help you.

Thank you for submitting your thread, Joshua's Great Stone.

God bless you, Lanolin.
 
hmm I wonder why people think stones can't hear...when It does actually say in the Bible they DO.

They even speak.

I think the reason why God doesn't want stones carved or chiseled (or made into idols) is that He wants them just as He created them.
1 Peter 2:4 mentions LIVING stones.

It's known that certain stones can vibrate to different frequencies. Scientists have tested them. Clocks can keep time by quartz crystals - so more accurate than people winding them up! The sound of the trumpet or the people shouting round the (stone) walls of Jericho made it fall down.

It's no accident that God specifies twelve different precious stones to make up the foundation of the Kingdom. It's not just because they are hard, or colourful, or sparkly. Its because we are going to walk on those foundations and the stones will hear everything.

Or you could just dismiss these stones and just think they are 'symbolic'. I mean up to you what you believe, but the Bible isn't wrong about stones being living. They aren't dead.
 
No, no, Lanolin, only in this passage that you introduced, did the stone and the tree have a specific significance with God and the verse in Joshua doesn't say otherwise.

Now, throughout the rest of the Bible God does indeed have a purpose for His stones, trees, mountains and the water in their responses to Him.

Isaiah 55:12,12 “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

In Habakkuk 2:11, 11 For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond.

Even in song we sing a verse and praise from Reuben Morgan, Hear Our Praises and in the verse and chorus,
May our light shine in the darkness
As we walk before the cross
May Your glory fill the whole earth
As the water over the seas

From the mountain to the valley
Hear our praises rise to You
From the heavens to the nations
Hear our singing fill the air

There are many things you and I can choose to believe, but ultimately it's God who will teach us to learn as we continue our daily walk with Him.
 
bobinfaith said:
No, no, Lanolin, only in this passage that you introduced, did the stone and the tree have a specific significance with God and the verse in Joshua doesn't say otherwise.

Now, throughout the rest of the Bible God does indeed have a purpose for His stones, trees, mountains and the water in their responses to Him.

Isaiah 55:12,12 “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

In Habakkuk 2:11, 11 For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond.

Even in song we sing a verse and praise from Reuben Morgan, Hear Our Praises and in the verse and chorus,
May our light shine in the darkness
As we walk before the cross
May Your glory fill the whole earth
As the water over the seas

From the mountain to the valley
Hear our praises rise to You
From the heavens to the nations
Hear our singing fill the air

There are many things you and I can choose to believe, but ultimately it's God who will teach us to learn as we continue our daily walk with Him.
Click to expand...
I don't see much of a difference between this stone of Joshua's and all the other stones that God wanted set aside for a memorial...at various times in the Bible.
 
Was chatting with someone who visited Israel on another forum and he said there were stones EVERYWHERE.
I am guessing Joshua's stone was bigger than the rest of the stones around.
 
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