Rocks

When have rocks been mentioned in the Bible? What were they used for?

"... be thou my strong rock." This Psalm was written in a society where rocks were very important. The New Westminster Dictionary of the Bible explains, "Rocks were found nearly everywhere in the hilly and mountainous districts of Palestine." .) Some of the big Palestinian rocks were so important to their communities that they were given names. A large rock could provide shade, protection from enemies and a place of shelter for travelers. The people relied on rocks and often referred to God as a rock because of God's protecting power. Notice how in the first verse of Hymn 33 God is identified with the same useful and comforting qualities one might find in a rock: "Call the Lord thy sure salvation, Rest beneath th'Almighty's shade, In His secret habitation Dwell, nor ever be dismayed.


"That big stick of yours, the one that you’re always carrying around with you? Hit that rock with it."

Moses did as he was told and wonder of wonders, there was water.

It was only one rock and one spring of water from that rock but there was apparently enough for everyone and the sheep and goats and cattle an all, so they stayed put for awhile.

Look at each of these verses that refer to Rocks. What does it tell us about the value and role of rocks. How does this relate to God?

9 For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations

Sam 13:6

When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait, (for the people were distressed,) then the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits.

Job 30:

6 To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.

Isa 2:19

And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.

Isa 7:19

19 And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes.

God always answers

God always answers
Job 33:14

God always answers, one way or another, even when people don't recognize his presence.
15"In a dream, for instance, a vision at night, when men and women are deep in sleep, fast asleep in their beds--
16God opens their ears and impresses them with warnings
17To turn them back from something bad they're planning,
from some reckless choice,And keep them from an early grave,
from the river of no return.

23"But even then an angel could come,
a champion--there are thousands of them!-
to take up your cause,
24A messenger who would mercifully intervene,
canceling the death sentence with the words:
"I've come up with the ransom!' [release from the grip of terror or imprisonment]
25Before you know it, you're healed,
the very picture of health!

29"This is the way God works.
Over and over again
30He pulls our souls back from certain destruction
so we'll see the light--and live in the light!

Old Testament Chronology

10,000 - 8000	The Natufian culture appeared in modern-day Israel - some of the first known human settlements in the world.
8000	Agriculture began in Near East as people started using "digging sticks" to plant the seeds of wild grasses which would eventually become the domesticated wheat we know today.
c. 6750	Pigs are domesticated in modern Iraq.
6500 - 6300	Wheel was invented by Sumerians who lived in the Tigris-Euphrates river basin.
c. 6000	Chickens were domesticated in southern Asia.
5508	Year of Creation, as calculated in seventh-century CE Constantinople and used by Eastern Orthodox Church until 18th century CE.
5490	Year of Creation, as calculated by Syrian Christians.
c. 5000	The earliest known cities were founded as increasing numbers of people began to gather in villages scattered around the Fertile Crescent.
4004 (October 23)	Date of Creation, as calculated by Irish theologian James Ussher in 1650 CE.
c. 4000	Horses were domesticated.
c. 4000	Sumerians in southern Mesopotamia developed the boat for water transportation.
3760	Year of Creation, as calculated by the Hebrews and used since the 15th century CE.
3641 (February 10)	Date of Creation, as calculated by the Mayans.
3500	Sumerian society developed in the Tigris-Euphrates river basin. The Sumerians made use of many agricultural advances, such as domestic animals to pull plows, irrigated desert, drained marshlands and more in order to create a large, cosmopolitan civilization. The increased output of food allowed for the further development of a "leisure class" that did not have to work for food, allowing them to become priests, artists, merchants, scholars, etc. The Sumerians also developed oar-powered ships, animal-drawn wheeled chariots and other, similar vehicles, bronze objects, and the written cuneiform alphabet.
c. 3400	Early form of hieroglyphic writing started being used in Egypt.
3100	The first Egyptian Dynasty united the southern and northern kingdoms under the rule of Menes, founder of the city of Memphis which would become the center of his authority.
c. 3000	First human settlements were established on the site of modern-day Athens.
c. 3000	Stonehenge was built in England.
c. 2980- 2950	Life of Imhotep, famed Egyptian physician. He was worshiped as a medical demigod in ancient Egypt because of his work on medical methods for treating diseases rather than simply religious methods. Imhotep was also responsible for the construction of the pyramid of Zoser (the Step Pyramid at Sakkara), the first large stone structure in the entire world.
c. 2800	Egyptians began wearing wedding rings, believing that the circular bands symbolized eternity.
2613	The Great Pyramid of Cheops at Giza was constructed by Cheops, son of the founder of Egypt's 4th Dynasty, Snefru.
c. 2600	The first recorded seagoing voyage carried Egyptian sailors to Phoenicia in search of cedarwood.
c. 2600	Chinese began cultivation of silkworms.
2560	Great Sphinx at Giza, a 189-foot long monument to King Khafra (Khafre), the third king of the 4th Dynasty, was carved.
2500	Sumerian cuneiform script was simplified from an earlier version consisting of thousands of ideograms.
2350	Sargon I founded the Akkadian empire, which ruled Mesopotamia for the next couple of centuries.
2349	The Great Flood occurred (according to fundamentalist sources).
2247	The Tower of Babel was constructed (according to fundamentalist sources).
2200	Indo-European invaders, speaking the earliest forms of Greek, entered the mainland of Greece, and the Mycenaean Civilization (named after the leading Greek city on the peninsula from 1600-1200 BCE) emerged.
2100	Ziggurat of Ur was built by Sumerian king Ur-Nammu. Sumerians called it temen, from which the later word temple was derived.
2000 - 1500	Minoan Civilization (named after the Cretan ruler Minos) reached its height with its central power in Knossos on the island of Crete. This culture may have been more female-oriented and peaceful than others at the time.
c. 2000-1700	Abraham left Ur in Chaldea (according to traditional sources). This is often called the age of the "patriarchs" (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob).
c. 2000	Domestic bathroom plumbing appeared in Crete.
c. 2000	Babylonians replaced Sumerians as the dominant power in the Middle East, creating a decimal system notation.
c. 1800	Babylonians are believed to have initiated the custom of the handshake. It began with grasping the hand of a statue of the god Marduk in order to receive his power symbolically and it later came to symbolize good will.
c. 1792-1750	Hammurabi ruled Babylon and created his famous legal code.
1750	The Babylonians began using windmills to pump water for irrigation.
1700 - 1500	Possible dates for when Joseph could have been in Egypt.
1660 - 1550	The Hyksos, a Semitic tribe, invaded Egypt and dominated the Nile Delta for about a century. The Hyksos were successful because they were superior archers and rode horses and chariots at the same time.
c. 1650	Cult of Yahweh, earliest form of Judaism, may have been created by Abraham and carried on by his sons.
1568	The Hyksos, a semitic tribe which had dominated the Nile Delta, was finally driven out by Egyptian leader Ahmose I, who then founded the 16th Dynasty.
1523 - 1027	Shang Dynasty in China.
1491	Date of the Exodus of the Hebrews out of Egypt. (according to fundamentalist sources)
1491	Ten Commandments were received. (according to fundamentalist sources)
c. 1479	Egyptian armies under Pharaoh Tuthmosis III defeated a confederation of Palestinian states and captured a fortress on the hill of Meggido. Christian theology predicts a final battle between good and evil on this spot (Armageddon = Hill of Megiddo). The first use of the title "Pharaoh," which means "Great House," is found here applied to Tuthmosis.
1470	A massive volcanic eruption at Thera destroyed the Minoan civilization on Crete. Because of huge waves rising up to 160 feet, the water levels along the eastern shores of the Mediterranean at first dropped, but then the Egyptian cost was flooded by large amounts of seawater, resulting in famine due to the loss of arable farmland.
1451	Hebrews arrive in Canaan (according to traditional sources)
1400	Iron Age began in Asia Minor when methods for smelting iron ore were developed
1400	Mycenaean Civilization replaced Minoan Civilization after the destruction of Knossos. Bronze weapons, war-scenes on art, Cyclopean defense walls, and the fact that male warriors were buried with their weapons provide evidence for the claim that the Mycenaeans were militaristic. The horse-drawn chariot emerged around this time and the Mycenaeans would dominate the Aegean world for about 200 years.
1349-1334	Amenhotep IV, aka Akhenaten, ruled Egypt and developed the first recorded strict monotheism. He was succeeded by his nine-year-old son Tutankhamen, who eliminated his religious reforms
1300	In Babylon they developed a new alphabetic script which was a further simplification of the cuneiform writing.
1305	Accession of Ramses II, the Great, of Egypt to pharaoh.
c. 1250	Possible date of the Exodus of the Hebrews out of Egypt. (according to modern scholars)
1232	Israelites of some sort were definitely in Canaan - Ramses II's son Merneptah defeated them in battle. They were not necessarily the same Israelites as those who left in the Exodus - they might have been from earlier emigrations.
1200-1020	Period of the Judges in Israel.
1200	Gilgamesh epic, recorded in cuneiform script, is the first known such written legend.
1193	Traditional date set for the city of Troy being destroyed by besieging Greek armies.
1146	Nebuchadrezzar I reigned as King of Babylon for 23 years.
1141	According to biblical accounts in Samuel, Israelite armies suffered massive losses to the Philistines.
1050	Philistines conquered Israel.
1027 - 771	Zhou Dynasty in China.
1020 - 922	Period of the United Kingdom of Jews.
1020	Samuel, last of the Israelite Judges, anointed Saul as the first King of Israel. Saul led a successful rebellion against Philistines.
c. 1000	Earliest Old Testament documents were created from older and highly developed oral tradition.
1000	Saul was killed at the Battle of Gilboa and was succeeded by David, first as King of Judah and then later as King of Israel. David later captured Jerusalem and made it his capital.
c. 1000-950	Biography of David may have been composed, eventually becoming a written narrative of David's life later included in I and II Samuel and IKings.
c. 1000	Iberians invaded the region of modern Spain, giving the Iberian Peninsula its name.
961	David died and was succeeded by his son, Solomon.
953	Dedication of the Temple of Jerusalem, built by Solomon.
c. 950 - 900	Composition of the "Yahwistic" (J) document, one of the four major sources believed to have been the basis of the Pentateuch (Books of Moses): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
922	Death of Solomon, who was succeeded by his son, Rehoboam. Rebellion against Rehoboam was led by Jeroboam, leading to a split of the kingdom into two halves: Judah in the south under Rehoboam and Israel in the north under Jeroboam.
c. 900	Assyrian war chariots were equipped with metal tires (copper or bronze) for greater durability.
884	Ashurnasirpal II, Assyrian king, began a 24-year reign during which he defeated Babylon and ensured Assyrian dominance throughout the Near East.
854	Ahab of Israel joined with Ben Hadad of Damascus and Irkhuleni of Hamath in an allied army to halt Shalmaneser III. Egypt and Jehoshaphat of Judah lent support, but the alliance failed to stop the onslaught.
c. 850	Traditional date for the probable composition of Homer's epic poems The Illiad and The Odyssey.
c. 850	Traditional date for when Elijah lived and prophecized.
c. 850 - 800	Composition of the "Elohistic" (E) document, another major source of the Pentateuch.
842	Jehu, an Israelite soldier, led a rebellion against Jehoram, Ahab's son, and founded a new dynasty in Israel. By the next year, however, he was paying tribute to the Assyrian leaders.
814	Phoenicians founded Carthage (literally: "New Town") near their North African colony of Utica.
801	Indians began to venerate cows and dairy products.
800	Increase in trade and the establishment of governmental defense fortifications allowed for the emergence of Greek city-states from tribal communities. These grew up around marketplaces and included Athens, Thebes and Megara on the Greek mainland. The Greek city-states were considered the most famous units of Greek political life to develop in this society.
800 - 500	This period, often referred to as the Archaic period, marked the developments of literature and the arts, politics, philosophy and science. The Peloponnesian city of Corinth, Sparta and cities along the coast of the Aegean Sea flourished. For the most part, the Greek city-states were similar in their political evolution, with the exception of Sparta's elite dictatorship. Most began their political histories as monarchies, evolved to oligarchies, were overthrown during the age of the tyrants (650-500 BCE) and eventually established democracies in the sixth and fifth centuries. Of the Greek city-states, Athens and Sparta were the two most important.