At the high place of Gezer, ten stones stand in tribute to a long-forgotten event. These gigantic stones, some more than twenty feet tall, give a glimpse into a custom that was popular thousands of years ago.
Long before the Israelites entered Canaan, pagans in the Middle East erected sacred stones to honor their gods, to declare covenants and treaties between cities, or to honor an important event that could only be explained by the supernatural. Any traveler who saw these stones would know that something significant had happened in that place.
The Hebrew word translated ?standing stones? is massebah and means ?to set up.? To honor their covenant with God, the Israelites also set up standing stones as a reminder of God?s supernatural acts on their behalf. The Bible records several of these significant events:
- Jacob set up stone pillars at Bethel in order to remember his powerful dream, in which God reaffirmed his covenant with him
(Gen. 28:18—21, 35:14—15).
- After receiving the Ten Commandments and other laws, Moses built twelve standing stones at the foot of Mount Sinai (Ex. 24:2—4).
- The Israelites erected standing stones to remember their miraculous crossing of the Jordan River (Josh. 4:2—3, 8—9).
- Joshua built another standing stone when the covenant was renewed at Shechem (Josh. 24:27).
