HEAP. The Ancients before the use of writing, and even afterwards, erected very often Heaps of Stone to preserve the memory of certain remarkable events. Jacob in his way to Mesopotamia, having had a vision from heaven at Bethel, set up the stone, which had served him for a pillow, to be a sort of monument, anointed it with oil, vowed that he would offer the tenth part to God of every thing that he should give him, and to look upon this as a consecrated place, and as the house of God. And accordingly, after his return from the other side of the Euphrates, he went to Bethel with all his family; there he offered sacrifices to the Lord, and performed his promises.
The same Patriarch having made a Covenant with Laban his father-in-law, Gen. xxviii. 11, —18. Gen. xxxi. 44, 45, 47.upon the mountains of Gilead, they said hereupon one to the other, Come, let us raise here a Heap of Stones; they did so: and afterwards eat upon it in token of friendship. Laban called it the Heap of Witness; and Jacob, the Heap of Testimony; each according to the propriety of his language. And Laban said to Jacob; This Heap shall be as a witness against thee and me this day: for which reason, Gilead was called, the Mountain where the Monument was erected.
Ex. xx. 25. and xxiv. 4, 5.It is very probable, that the Altar made of turf, or rough stones, at the foot of mount Sinai; and the twelve Monuments, duodecim titulos per duodecim tribus Israel, which were set up at the same place, in order to offer sacrifices there, at the ceremony of ratifying the Covenant which God had made with Israel; were likewise Monuments of this kind, to serve as memorials to posterity, as well as the Altar composed of rough stones, which was to be raised upon Deut. xxvii. 4, 5, 6, 7.mount Ebal, on which burnt-sacrifices were to be offered, and the words of God’s Covenant with his people to be inscribed.
Josh. iv. 3, 5, 6, 7, 9. Josh. xxii. 10, 11.Joshua erected two Monuments of Stone in memory of the miraculous passage of Jordan; one in the midst of the channel of this river, the other on the shore, at a place called Gilgal; That, says he, when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean you by these stones? then ye shall answer them, that the waters of Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, when it passed over Jordan, whereof these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.
After the conquest and distribution of the promised Land; the Israelites of the Tribes of Reuben and Gad, and they of the Half-tribe of Manasseh, who had fought for their brethren, having repassed the Jordan, began to raise a prodigious mass of earth and stones upon the banks thereof, in order to serve as a monument to posterity, and declare to them, that the Hebrews on both sides of this river were but one people, and of the same Religion.