Memorial Stones

Today my prayer journaling took me to Isaiah 43 and as is always my form of study has me looking into the original language and definitions. 

Isaiah 43:10 &12 the Lord says to Israel "You are my witnesses."

In Hebrew thought a word's first occurrence carries that idea forward throughout the rest of Scripture. The first time we see the word for "witness" is in Gen 31:44 Jacob and Laban at Gilead: "Come now, let us cut a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness ('ed*) between me and you."* They erect a heap of stones — Gal'ed — and Jacob says (31:52), "This heap is a witness." 

This made me immediately think of Jesus at the triumphal entry whenever we read in Luke 19 "But some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples!”

“I tell you,” He answered, “if they remain silent, the very stones will cry out.”

And now you might have a deeper understanding of how it was these men faced persecution and death and never recanted what they witnessed. 

In Hebrew the word is עֵד 'ed — witness 

It's spelled with the two Hebrew letters ayin & dalet 

In early days these letters were pictographs. The ayin was the eye and the dalet, a tent door. So, to be a witness you were "the eye that saw what passed through the entrance — one who watched the coming-and-going and can now testify to it."

Another place in Scripture where we see this witnessing and stones and the Pharisees would have known the reference in Jesus' rebuke is in Habakkuk 2:9-11 "Woe to him who builds his house

by unjust gain, to place his nest on high and escape the hand of disaster!

You have plotted shame for your house by cutting off many peoples and *forfeiting your life. (* Literally sinning against your soul)

For the stones will cry out from the wall, and the rafters will echo it from the woodwork.

Now go back to Luke 19 and read what Jesus says AFTER telling them the stones will cry out. 

"As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it and said, “If only you had known on this day what would bring you peace! But now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies barricade you and surround you and hem you in on every side. They will level you to the ground—you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God."

This is why He says the stones will cry out.

Because He wants the witness preserved, even if the people fail.

And this is why He says the stones will be thrown down.

Because even in judgment, the witness remains —

the stones testify through their fall.

Then Luke later records Jesus' words at His ascension in the first chapter of Acts "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

And they were faithful to the death.

Peter later in Acts 2:32; 3:15; 10:39-41; 13:31 speaks of their calling as witnesses. 

And then I think of the rock bench we set up at Patrick 's grave. How it had been present for much of his childhood, as the steppingstone to climb the big red bud in the front yard when he was only 7-8. This bench was a witness to much of his life. He sat on it, rode his bike beside it, and taught his youngest sister to ride hers. He played basketball in the street in front of it. Later when he began driving, he parked his Jeep in front of it and walked past it a million times over the course of the years. It testifies: Patrick lived here. Patrick mattered here. Patrick is loved here.

In the Bible, witness‑stones are always placed at thresholds:

between two lands (Gen 31)

between two eras (Josh 24)

between two battles (1 Sam 7)

between injustice and truth (Hab 2)

His bench sits at a threshold too:

Between Patrick’s childhood and his resting place.

Between our home and his home.

Between memory and presence.

Between unbearable loss and unerasable love.

Between life and death.

Even in moments when I come to sit with him and my words are dammed up inside of me. This bench will say:

Patrick is still held by me.

Patrick is still remembered.

Patrick is still loved.

Patrick was here.

Patrick is mine.

Patrick is remembered.

Forever.