Last week we considered the passage found in Exodus 34, verses 13-14 where God is commanding Israel to break down the altars of idolatry. The second part of that passage is similar. The people are told to smash the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles.
What on earth do you think God was talking about when He commanded this?
Today I want to look at the aspect of “smashing sacred stones.”
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the weekly bible study called COME AS A CHILD held every Thursday in The IN SEASON Lifestyle blog. If you missed last week’s lesson you may find it here: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/breaking-down-altars/.
In today’s lesson we will dig deeper to find the rest of the meaning to that passage mentioned above. We will explore just what God meant when He told His people to “smash sacred stones.”
SMASHING SACRED STONES
Just what was God speaking of when He mentioned the smashing of sacred stones to Moses?
We would have to begin by defining sacred stones.
All through history people seem to have venerated sacred stones. Some of them honored The One True God of Heaven and Earth; and others honored pagan deities.
There are countless examples; not just from the days of the Old Testament and Moses; but also before and after those events.
EXAMPLES OF SACRED STONES
Just to name a few of these “sacred stones” we could mention that The Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem contains a sacred rock called Golgotha.
We could remember the fact that Jesus Christ has been referred to in the scriptures in a metaphor called “The Cheif Cornerstone.”
We could also talk about Mecca where the Ka’ba contains a black stone that is thought by Muslim worshipers to be a pure crystal from Paradise that was turned black by the sins of mankind.
In Tibet there are temples in high mountain passes of the Himalayas where thousands and thousands of stones have been left by pilgrims seeking their gods for millions and millions of years.
There are the stones that the Jewish people often leave at the grave sites of their loved ones. These are said to “honor” the dead.
Some cultures have worshiped mountains and stones have been taken from those mountains as memorials for encounters such people have had with their so-called gods.
There is the stone at Easter Island and there are the stones erected at Stonehedge in England.
There is a stone called “The Stone of Destiny” that is said to have once been in the Temple in Jerusalem which was moved to Scotland from Ireland that is said to have originated from Judah when a King of Judah married into an Irish family. Many kings are said to have sat above this stone on their thrones as they reigned.
If you go WAY back in the history of ancient Japan you will find stories and legends that say that sacred stones are seen as forces penetrating matter and space because animistic beings were thought to reside inside the stones.
The pyramids of Egypt were man-made sacred mountains of stone in which artificial caves were carved and both the man-made mountains and the caves inside were considered to be sacred to their pagan gods by the Egyptians.
Ancient Greek temples contained sacred stones called “ompholos-tes ges” which translates to mean “the navel of the world.” These stones were erected to honor the stories and legends of their mythical pagan gods.
The Jews preserved “The Rock of Formation” in the Temple which is the worship place now of Muslims in the place that is now called “The Dome of the Rock.”
The Hebrews often raised sacred stones that they called “pillars.” Jacob put one of these at the place of Rebecca’s grave. Jacob also placed one of these “pillars” at the place where he made a covenant with Laban. The most noted stone that Jacob erected was the one at Bethel ; where he raised a stone to commemorate his vision of God in that place. He placed the stone and declared that the spot would be called “The House of God.”
Not long after we finish studying the present passage we are studying in Exodus, we will come to another passage where Joshua and the people of Israel who are left cross over the Jordan on dry land, just as they had done at the Red Sea. Joshua had twelve men of God carry twelve stones from the Jordan and he raised these stones as memorials to represent the fact that God had brought the people across the Jordan into the promised land. Joshua got the idea of raising these stones directly from God. It was the same Only True God who had told the people to smash the sacred stones. These stones were to be reminders of the wonders of God to His people for future generations.
MAKING SENSE OF ALL THE STONES
So what exactly are we to make of all the stories of all of these “sacred” stones and what exactly was God telling Moses in this passage?
Are ALL stones pagan?
Should we never touch stones again?
Obviously; not all stones are pagan. Some of them honor God in the highest way possible. Many of them were erected because God had commanded to His chosen leaders that it should be so.
We have to take the passage that we are reading and absorb it into our thinking on the terms of the times and the culture that God was talking to. There were people who had left the pagan land of Egypt. They had been constantly exposed to the pagan gods of Egypt and some of them were assimilated into believing many of the wrong Egyptian pagan practices simply out of ignorance. They may not have truly understood that these things offended God greatly. God wanted Moses to make this plain to the people; so that there could be no question that they would ONLY worship Him and no other gods.
They were also moving into another country that God had promised to them. There were wonderful things in store in this new land of Canaan; but there were also the similar pagan practices of the Canaanites who lived in the same land. This too would be a place where pagan people worshiping pagan gods erected sacred stones to their idols and false gods. God definitely DID NOT want His people joining in with this pagan worship. He wanted them to know if they did this that He would be offended!
PAGAN WORSHIP OFFENDS THE ONE TRUE GOD
What was it exactly about these particular stones that offended God?
It was the PAGAN WORSHIP; not the use of the stones in general. They were not worshiping God with these stones; they were worshiping false gods.
The sacred stones that God wanted smashed were all the stones used to worship pagan idols. There was nothing originally wrong with the stones; God had created them! It was how the pagan people had used these stones in worship other than the worship of The One True God.
In this new land God was establishing the nation that He would use to build His Kingdom on earth. He had chosen the people of Israel for this cause. They were the shadow of the good things that God desired to come into the land and grow into a whole new holy kingdom. There could be nothing pagan among them. They were not to keep these pagan places in the new land. The pagan sacred stones must be destroyed.
If there were stones to be set up and memorials to be remembered; they would only need to come from God and/or honor God from this point forward.
HOW DO WE SMASH SACRED STONES IN THE MODERN WORLD?
The key to smashing sacred stones in our own lives today can be turned by asking that one question: Is God leading me to do this thing?
Is it something that the world has taught me; or something that would honor a pagan god or deity; or is what I am doing in my present life today something that would bring honor and glory to God?
The boy in the featured photo is trying to pull a sword out of a stone. The idea comes from the legendary tales of King Author. Though they are only a type of fantasy story that could even be put into the same classification of “fairy tales,” the fictional stories of King Author presents metaphors of truth for those who worship the One True God.
In the tale only the true king could remove the sword from the stone. In the Gospel message of Jesus Christ, our true King; Jesus is the only one with the knowledge and discernment that can rule a kingdom.
The image of the sword is often used in scripture to depict the truth we gain from knowledge of The Word of God.
So how do you truly smash those pagan sacred stones? You draw the sword of The Word of God. You study and commit yourself to prayer until God shows you where the old idols are and you have completely destroyed them and moved on to the place where new altars that honor God appear in new places.
If you are bringing honor and glory to God in all of your traditions and practices; you are following the instructions of God to Moses; you are smashing sacred stones and erecting new and correct altars that honor God.
You must consider and meditate on the scriptures and derive the true meanings prayerfully in order to accomplish this.
You can’t do it on your own. There IS a rock that is true. That rock is named Jesus Christ. You must be constantly seeking the face of God and placing your faith and courage toward that TRUE rock to do it right.
Wise men still seek Him!