Twelve Stones Cry ‘Historical Theism’

Joshua “said to the sons of Israel, ‘When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ then you shall inform your children saying, ‘Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground.’ For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed, just as the LORD your God had done to the Red Sea, which He dried up before you until we had crossed; that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, so that you may fear the LORD your God forever” (Joshua 4:21-24).

The Lord, the God of Israel had commanded Joshua, the leader of Israel who replaced Moses’ 40 year campaign, to have twelve men, one from each tribe of Israel, “Take up for yourselves twelve stones from here out of the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet are standing firm, and carry them over with you and lay them down in the lodging place where you will lodge tonight” (vv.2-3). These stones were to be a perpetual reminder to each succeeding generation of the children of Israel of the mighty work of their God—specifically to remind them of how He had dried up the Jordan for them to cross over on firm ground, and also to be a reminder to them that He had done the same when they crossed the Red Sea forty years earlier.

So the modern question now arises (and is carried over quite willingly, if not even more so by postmodernism), “Was this event a historical event,” that is, did it actually physically occur in space and time, “or was it a mythological ‘truth’” being true only to the culture of ancient Israel to form them into a people around a common center?

It was in my undergrad that I was exposed to the wide-world of ‘myth.’ Myth, according to secular religion professors, does not carry the connotations generally assigned to it by the common people. Myth actually means something like, ‘A truth to a certain people at a certain time in history that creates their ‘story’.” Myths are always true; even though they may not actually be historically factual. For example, the Greek myths were true to the ancient Greeks during that time, even though we now realize that they were not a historical fact. Sure they were real, but they never had any real reality that could be verified by science. The thing about myths, is that they are all always true to the culture which adopts them—all of them. In other words, Jewish myths, Hindu myths, and Greek myths are all simultaneously true, even though one may be fact or none of them may be fact.

This understanding of ‘myth’ was applied to all events that recorded the miraculous or some kind of interaction between the spiritual and the physical. Because the system of naturalism is accepted and applied, the spiritual and the physical are two separate realms which cannot actually interact—that is, interact in fact—though they can interact in the reality of any individual or community: “What is true for you is not true for me; what is true for me is not true for you.” Now, I’m not going to get into how this stems from Kantian and Hume’s philosophy (you could write volumes on this topic), but I realize it needs to be summed up in a simple sentence: We create our own reality and our own reality creates us. Myths are what we create and myths are what create us.

Now, naturalism as a philosophical worldview (sorry postmodernism, this is what formed you and this is what most postmodernists embrace at the heart of their understanding) does not leave any room for a theistic (transcendent and immanent) God. Naturalism can have deities, though they are ruled by the system (that is, gods who are overruled by laws of cause and effect and all other rules that govern the universe). It can also have a transcendent god—that is, a God who created all things but either does not have any control over the system/does not care/allows the clock to run itself, or the god has actually ceased to exist (a first cause but not a necessary logical cause—a creator, not a sustainer, to make things a little more understandable). In other words, what occurred in Joshua 4 did not historical occur, but rather is a myth to explain the community and its understanding of its reality.

Here we run into a problem. In the Biblical account, the immanent God of historic, theistic Judaism (the Trinitarian God of Christianity) intervened and stopped up the Jordan River as long as the priests carrying the Arc of the Covenant remained in the middle of the riverbed. This allowed the nation of Israel to cross the river on dry land and twelve men to return to the river and pick up twelve stones to place in the first camping spot on the west-side of the river where the nation camped. These twelve stones would be a perpetual reminder as a monument recalling the historic, factual event that occurred that day. Thus, when the children asked their fathers (and they would) what this monument meant, the fathers were to explain what had occurred that day. This event was to be proclaimed because of its faith creating ability. The telling of the event was to remind the older generation and to enlighten the new generation of what the God of Israel had done for them. Thus, the older generation would be reminded of the covenant and faithfulness of the God of Israel, and they would remain faithful to the covenant or return to covenant faithfulness and trust in the LORD, their God, and the new generation would learn of this God’s past actions and faithfulness to His people and would trust whole-heartedly in the LORD and would faithfully follow the stipulations of His covenant. Thus, it was insured (except for the problem of sin, which I will not discuss here) that the nation of Israel would remain faithful to their God and obediently follow Him in faith—this would insure the nations perpetual existence, as God had promised to keep the nation if they obeyed Him and kept covenant (we know the outcome, as they were not obedient, and this is how it was meant to be, so that the problem of sin could be dealt with in the Messiah).

Now, we must conclude that there were twelve stones that had been lain at a certain place not far from the Jordan River (I’d imagine that they are no longer how they were constructed at Gilgal, but at one time they stood erect as Joshua had placed them). Thus, we must choose the conclusion we are going to draw from this. Either, A) the stones were actually set there because of an historical event that actually occurred (the drying up of the Red Sea), B) someone made up the whole story and placed the rocks there to bring unity (deception—and there is no way around saying that this was deception), C) no rocks were ever there and this story was created after the exile to bring the community together, or D) (this is my favorite explanation, though I think it is no less bull-shenanigans then B and C) the rocks were actually placed there after the Israelites had crossed the Jordan River. However, they were placed there not because Israel had factually crossed on dry ground, but because they had waded their way through the river and in their way of seeing things, God had kept the loss of life to a minimum—let’s say, just for mere speculation, that only 73 men, 206 women, and 13 children had died in crossing the river (that’s not bad out of a whole nation!). Or perhaps the river was actually dried up because the rainy season hadn’t come that year. Thus, the part in the story about the river overflowing its banks (cf. v. 18), the loss of no life, the crossing on dry ground, the river backing up into the distant town of Adam (3:16), and so forth, developed over some indeterminate amount of time and was past down until it came to be written. Naturalists, even though B), C), and D) are quite far-fetched and rely upon the deceiving spirit of people who were told not to bear false witness and who seemed to be otherwise moral people, cannot accept answer A), since it demands the work of an immanent, transcendent, theistic God. Perhaps those who do not accept the theistic worldview (a God who can and does actually involve Himself in ‘miraculous’ ways in our world/universe) will have to adjust their system—and there is good reason for them to do so (read something by Alvin Plantinga or Robert Nash and you will see why naturalism does not hold water).

Twelve stones stood to bear witness of the historical event of the God of Israel’s supernatural intervention into the affairs of this world. Those twelve stones will bear witness again anyone who does not accept their testimony. God did not have these stones set up merely for the nation of Israel, but “that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, so that you may fear the LORD your God forever” (4:24). Those stones were set up and this event was recorded to be a witness to the power, wisdom, and love of the one and only true and living God for all peoples everywhere throughout the world for all times—past, present, and future (with 2005 A.D./C.E. being the present date in the mind of this author).

In the same way, an empty tomb sits somewhere in Jerusalem, though the record of that empty tomb sits on the shelves in most people’s houses and in most libraries across the globe. It lays witness to the factual resurrection and accomplished work of the King of Glory, the Lord of Life, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The records will bear witness against those who will not accept their historical testimony. Twelve stones and an empty tomb bear witness to the reality of the Trinitarian/Theistic/Historical God of Christianity…will you accept their testimony and the life that comes through faith in the One to whom they bear witness, or will you reject this testimony and the God behind the event and stand before Him in judgment for calling Him a liar? “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20a), and “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself” (Acts 2:38-39).