Stone’s journey conveys a story

Let me tell you the story of a stone whose influence may have changed the history of the world. It begins with the well-known Genesis tale of Jacob’s night at Bethel, where he rested his head on a stone and dreamed a vision of a ladder to heaven with God’s angels walking up and down. As the Bible tells us:

“And there was Yahweh, standing beside him and saying, ‘I, Yahweh, am the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The ground on which you are lying, I shall give to you and your descendants. Your descendants will be as plentiful as the dust on the ground; you will spread out to west and east, to north and south, and all clans on Earth shall bless themselves by you and your descendants. … Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘How awe-inspiring this place is! This is nothing less than the abode of God, and this is the gate of heaven!’ Early next morning, Jacob took the stone he had used for his pillow, and set it up as a pillar, pouring oil over the top of it … [Jacob said], ‘This stone I have set up as a pillar is to be a house of God.'” (Genesis 28:11-22)

Now, the Bible doesn’t say Jacob took the stone right then, but legend tells us that when Jacob returned to Bethel some 22 years later, he took the stone to his home. After all, why wouldn’t he keep this awesome “house of God” in his possession? Time went on, Jacob grew old, and at last a drought forced Jacob and his children into Egypt. The text gives evidence that Jacob bequeathed the stone to his son Joseph, for in his blessing and prophecy, Jacob relates that Joseph is protected: “by the power of the mighty one of Jacob, by the Name of the Stone of Israel.” (Genesis 49:24)

The Hebrews remained in Egypt for hundreds of years, growing to more than a million people, until Moses led them out with all their possessions, back to their home in Israel. The sacred stone known as “Jacob’s Pillar” traveled with them, and when, about 500 years later, Solomon built the First Temple on Mount Moriah, the stone became the standing place for the coronation of the kings of Israel.

Eventually, hard times came to the land. During the years 745 to 721 B.C., the northern Ten Tribes of the House of Israel, along with a southern portion of the House of Judah, were attacked and taken into captivity by the Assyrians.

In his book, “Jacob’s Pillar,” historian E. Raymond Capt writes: “Archaeological tablets found in the excavations of the Assyrian Royal Library at Nineveh have indicated that a majority of the Israelites escaped. Some traveled around the southern end of the Black Sea into the Danube River Valley and the Carpathian Mountains; others went by way of the Dariel Pass through the Caucasus Mountains, into the Steppes of Southern Russia.” Capt argues that these “lost tribes” joined other westward migrations to become the Celts, and thus came to occupy much of Europe.

Meanwhile, the stone known as Jacob’s Pillar remained safe in Solomon’s Temple – until Jerusalem fell to the Babylonian army in 584 B.C. King Nebuchadnezzar had the Temple destroyed, blinded King Zedekiah, and killed his sons. What the Babylonian king didn’t realize, however, was that under Hebrew law (Numbers 27:8-11), a daughter inherits as if she were a son, and the right of descent can thus pass to her male offspring.

It fell to the prophet Jeremiah to save the royal line and, so the story goes, the Holy Stone, as well. Jeremiah, the royal princesses, and the scribe Baruch retreated to Egypt – a place where God warned them not to settle. The Bible is silent on where they went from there, but ancient Irish legend tells the rest of the story.

Now, there isn’t space here to relate how the lost Tribe of Dan may have merged with other seafaring peoples to create settlements in Ireland, throughout Europe, and perhaps even in the New World. Suffice it to say that Irish legend relates how Jeremiah, Baruch and the royal princesses, along with the Bethel Stone, boarded a ship in Egypt bound first for Spain, and then for the coast of Ireland.

Why Ireland? Well, Jeremiah would have known the House of Israel, in the form of the Celts, had settled that foreign land for a purpose – to fulfill God’s promise to Jacob. In Tara, all the elements came together – the remnant of the House of Israel, the royal bloodline, and the coronation stone, called in Gaelic, Lia-Fail, meaning “stone of fate.”

By now you may have guessed Jacob’s Stone became known as the Stone of Scone, the ancient red sandstone block that kings and queens of Ireland, Scotland and then England sat upon during their coronation ceremonies. This tradition came to an end just a few years ago, when the stone was removed from the Coronation Chair and returned to Scotland.

Of course, it could be argued the tradition became moot when Israel was re-established as a nation in 1948. But before then, (perhaps by the authority of the stone?), the tiny Celtic nation of England commanded the gates of its enemies around the world – even to keeping the Nazis from their shores. And of course, England was vital to the rebirth of Israel, through moves such as the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which took place 90 years ago this month.

In 1995, I had the chance to see the stone before it was removed from the base of the stark, ancient Coronation Chair at Westminster Abbey. It’s a plain-looking block, 26 inches long by 16 inches wide by 101/2 inches deep, with two iron rings in the top and a deep rut worn down where the stone rubbed when it was carried by a pole through the rings. Not much to look at, and yet it served as a symbol to the British that God had blessed their nation.

In Buckingham Palace was hung a chart of royal lineage, reaching from Queen Elizabeth II back all the way to Israel and King David – a line of royalty crowned atop the Bethel Stone, Jacob’s “awesome House of God.” The story covers nearly 4,000 years, and ends, perhaps, with the miraculous rebirth of Israel. The Stone of Fate has been returned to Scotland. Do you suppose we might someday witness its return to Jerusalem?

Lee Witting is a chaplain at Eastern Maine Medical Center and pastor of the Union Street Brick Church in Bangor. He may be reached at leewitting@midmaine.com. Voices is a weekly commentary by Maine people who explore issues affecting spirituality and religious life.