RELIGEOLOGY
People
have always said “Prostitution is the oldest profession in the world” I beg to
differ. Geology was in essence the oldest profession because God was our very 1st
geologist. He even transferred some of this knowledge to our forefathers and
most used rocks to describe Him. "Yahweh is my rock, and my
fortress" (2 Sam 22:2; Ps 18:2; 71:3) "God, the rock
of my salvation" (2 Sam 22:47). The most used and mentioned
precious stone in the bible is obviously gold. From smelting for their idols to
donning it on garments and to making of chalices and chariots gold was used by
the ruling elite to showcase their majestic nature. The
two Testaments have numerous examples of various Rock uses both precious and
ordinary.
THE
OLD TESTAMENT
Our
forefathers had garments to marvel at! Starting with the High priests they wore
“Holy Garments” were full of precious stones 12 to be exact. Now these were
robes but pieces of beauty all the same. Their breastplates were embodied with
gold. It had 12 precious stones sadius (ruby), topaz, carbuncle (garnet), emerald, sapphire,
diamond, jacinth, agate, amethyst, beryl, onyx, and jasper (Exodus 28:10-30). They were to signify
the 12 tribes of Israel.
Later
on in the testament Prophet Ezekiel gave the people a glimpse of our 1st
humans clothes to you who think they walked naked “you were in Eden, the garden
of God; every precious stone was your covering: the sardius (ruby), topaz, and the diamond,
the beryl,
the onyx (agate),
and the jasper,
turquoise,
and emerald
and the carbuncle,
and gold:”
notice that these were the same precious stones described in Exodus so the high
priests were probably just carrying on tradition.
Jacob
was more inventive in his uses of rocks, "How awesome is this place! This
is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." So
Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone which he had put under his
head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called the
name of that place Bethel" (Genesis 28:17-19). Not only did he
use is as a pillow but it was used to name a place. This is the same place
where Jesus was anointed by a woman with very expensive perfume (Mark 14:3)
From
the commandments to religious inscriptions the scribes of old used rocks for a
more permanent preservation of writings. Recent research has been trying to
prove that the 10 commandments were actually written on a blue rock: sapphire.
Rocks were did not necessarily have glamorous uses but served the purpose all
the same.
"Say
to the people of Israel, Any man of the people of Israel, or of the strangers
that sojourn in Israel, who gives any of his children to Molech shall be put to
death; the people of the land shall stone him
with stones." (Leviticus
20:1-2)
"When
the House was built, it was with stone prepared
at the quarry; so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the Temple, while it was
being built." (1 Kings 6:7)
But in my opinion Job takes Geologist of the Old
Testament for this chapter
"Surely there is a mine for silver,
and a place where gold is
refined. Iron is taken from the
earth, and copper is smelted
from the ore. "Man puts an
end to darkness, and searches every recess for ore in
the darkness and shadow of death. He breaks open a shaft away
from people; in places forgotten by feet they hang far away from men; they
swing to and fro. As for the earth, from it comes bread, but underneath it
is turned up as by fire; Its stones are
the source of sapphires, and it
contains gold dust. That path no
bird knows, nor has the falcon's eye seen it. The proud lions have not
trodden it, nor has the fierce lion passed over it. He puts his hand on
the flint; he overturns the
mountains at the roots. He cuts out channels in the rocks, and his eye
sees every precious thing. He dams up streams from trickling; what is
hidden he brings forth to light. But where can wisdom be found? And where
is the place of understanding? Man does not know its value
nor is it found in the land of the living. The deep says 'It is not in me'
and the sea says, 'It is not in me.' It cannot be purchased for gold nor can silver be
weighed for its price. It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in the precious onyx or sapphire. Neither gold nor crystal can
equal it, nor can it be exchanged for jewellery of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral or quartz,
for the price of wisdom is above rubies. The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, nor can it
be valued in pure gold..."
THE
NEW TESTAMENT
The
B.C Christians used their rocks and stones to preserve their history in form of
scriptures but the A.D Christians had even more ‘ingenious’ ways for them. Here
there wasn’t much talk about the precious rocks. Here the stones generation
started to appear.
Most
recognisable was as tomb and of course the most famous tomb of all the tomb of
Joseph of Arimathea, the tomb in which Jesus was buried in.
"When
it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also
was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body, and
wrapped it in a clean linen shroud, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he
had hewn in the rock; and he rolled a great
stone to the door of the tomb, and departed."
Before
all that Judas betrayed Jesus with 30 pieces of silver “when Judas who had betrayed
him, saw that Jesus was condemned he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the Chief priests and the elders “I have sinned ” he said “for I have betrayed
innocent blood” (Mathew 27: 3-4).
Stoning
was still being used in the new testament as in the old as a method of putting
sinners to death with Jesus saving the woman who was caught in adultery from
stoning John 8:7 as they stood there
asking him questions he straightened himself up and said to them “whichever one
of you who has committed no sin may throw the first stone at her” and in some of his
parables too he used silver coins as an example Luke 15: 8-10 The Parable of the Lost Coin.
Finally
but not the least we all want to know how heaven will be well the last book in
the bible gives us a very good mental picture
The
construction of its wall was of jasper: and the city was pure gold like clear glass. The foundations
of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: The
first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire,
the third chalcedony, the
fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the
sixth sardius (ruby), the seventh chrysolyte (peridote), the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz,
the tenth chrysoprasus (quartz), the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst . (Revelation 21:18 – 20) So in
short we will possibly still be geologists in heaven too.
No comments:
Post a Comment