"When your children shall ask you in time to come, saying, what mean these twelve stones, then you shall tell them how you made it over."Joshua 4: 21-22 is the verse inscribed on this stone monument near the Edmund Pettus Bridge. It refers to a miracle of God in the book of Joshua in The Bible. The Israelites erected a monument of 12 stones, representing the 12 tribes of Israel, after they crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land. The monument was placed to remind them of the amazing miracle of how the Lord dried the river until they all had crossed. God had performed a similar miracle 40 years before with the Red Sea.
The verse is used here to remind future generations of how the right to vote was won for all Americans. It is significant that churches were used as meeting places for much of the voting rights and other civil rights activism.
9 comments:
This is pure nonsense..But am not surprised. Expected it
Interesting shot and story. We used to use the town hall to vote in and the people of the village still do. And it was originally a Methodist Church.
I wrote the verse the way it is written on the monument. According to the New King James version of The Bible, the verse reads: "Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What are these stones?' then you shall let your children know, saying, 'Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land.'"
Of course, voting rights marchers did not cross the Alabama River on dry land. They crossed the bridge.
Most excellent.
I tried to find "wore-out" but there's no way on that blog site to ask a question or respond. I wish there had been a more explicit comment, so we could know what part of "this is pure nonsense" As written it sounds a bit aggressive. Need more information.
Thanks for posting. Interesting how a bible verse is related to voting.
Now that's a fine marker with not a bit of nonsense about it.
Thank you for your comments.
Kate, civil rights activists often compared their journey out of segregation and second-class status as citizens to the biblical journey of the Israelites out of bondage to Egypt. The "Moses Generation" began the journey in their pursuit of voting and other civil rights. The "Joshua Generation" actually crossed the river and continued on to find the "Promised Land." Barak Obama, for example, heavily used the Promised Land analogy when he and Hillary Clinton came to Selma for the annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee in March, and both spoke in churches.
(This is in no way an endorsement of Obama!)
Hi Janet -- where are these stones? in Selma? Interesting - I've used this verse often...
Pam, These are on the Selmont side of the Pettus Bridge at the entrance to the park.
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