1. Stones?

“O Lord, You showed favour to Your land; You restored the captivity of Jacob.  You forgave the iniquity of Your people; You covered all their sin.  You withdrew all Your fury; You turned away from Your burning anger.  Restore us, O God of our salvation, and cause Your indignation toward us to cease. 

“Will You be angry with us forever?  Will You prolong Your anger to all generations?  Will You not Yourself revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?  Show us Your lovingkindness, O Lord, and grant us Your salvation.

“I will hear what God the Lord will say; for He will speak peace to His people, to His godly ones; but let them not turn back to folly.  Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land.  Lovingkindness and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. 

“Truth springs from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven.  Indeed, the Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its produce.  Righteousness will go before Him and will make His footsteps into a way.” Psalm 85

If we were to explore stones as the next series, here are some general details to consider.  There are two main words used to mean stone in Scripture.  One is the Hebrew word ‘eben’ and it occurs 273 times.  The second word for stone is the Greek word ‘lithos’ that occurs 59 times. 

Stones were commonly used for buildings, as memorials to mark important events, like crossing the Red Sea.  They were gathered out of cultivated fields, used to mill grain and press olives for their oil. 

Many ancient stone quarries still exist today in Israel, including quarries from which the Temple itself was built.  What I found interesting when I visited there is a dark grey, rough-hewn stone called ‘Jerusalem stone’ that is used for most buildings all throughout Jerusalem.

Tomorrow, will share some general details about ‘food’ in the Bible and then we will look at the possibility of the animals of the Bible.