Mysterious Standing Stones

Standing stones are still a puzzle. They’re hard to understand. Standing stones have been found in the Near East from as early as 10,000 B.C.E.,^a and they continue through the Biblical period. Massebah (plural masseboth) is the Hebrew word usually translated “standing stone(s).” Massebah and its variants appear 34 times in the Bible.^b Sometimes the stones are mentioned in a positive light, as when Moses set up 12 masseboth at Mt. Sinai at the ratification of the covenant between God and Israel (Exodus 24:4) or when Joshua erected a “great stone” at Shechem (Joshua 24:26–27). Sometimes they are referred to in a neutral context, as when Jacob set up a massebah upon awakening from the dream in which he saw a ladder (or stairs) to heaven (Genesis 28:18). But most of the time the Bible violently condemns masseboth: “You shall not ... erect a massebah, which the Lord your God detests” (Deuteronomy 16:22).