The Importance of Connecting Memorials to History

By:  Dale Weckbacher

Text:  Joshua 4:1-10

Joshua 4:5-7

And Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, ⁶ that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ ⁷ then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.  So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”

(ESV)

During the height of the Covid19 pandemic in Arizona, the state was under a shelter in place order from the governor.  However, this order did not forbid families from sheltering in their car and taking a drive.  During one weekend of the pandemic, my family and I took a drive to Wickenburg Arizona, my wife’s hometown.  We drove by many of the places that reminded my wife of her childhood like her schools, the old movie theater which is still there, and the burger joint she used to hang out at that is no longer a burger joint.  It was great to see my wife relive some of the nostalgia of her childhood but there was also a memorial we visited that taught me some history of the area that I was unaware of. 

The memorial we visited was a memorial to the Wickenburg Stagecoach Massacre (1).  This is a dark moment in Wickenburg’s history, and one could view the monument as racist towards Native Americans if not considered within the context of the time in history the event occurred.  When considered in context, the event occurred during a time in history where settlers from the eastern United States were moving west.  The Native Americans already living in the west saw these settlers as invaders.  In this context, the memorial serves as a reminder not to just move into someone else’s area but to instead work with them to peaceably settle together.  Memorials representing dark moments in history must maintain their connection to the historical event they represent, or the nation is destined to repeat their dark history once again.

Memorials serve to remind us of history, and serve the purpose of reminding us of,

1)      Momentous events in the formation of the nation (Joshua 4:1-10) – Joshua 4:1-10 describes how the Lord commanded the people of Israel who have just crossed the Jordan to construct a memorial of stones from the bottom of the river as a memorial to the miracle of God that allowed the people to cross on dry land.  In obedience to Deuteronomy 6:4-9, the people of Israel construct the memorial which is to serve as a sign to future generations of how God miraculously stopped the Jordan so their ancestors could cross on dry land (Joshua 4:5-7).    

2)      How mistaken intentions are clarified by the historical context (Joshua 22:10-34) – The Israelite tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had chosen to settle in the land east of the Jordan while the rest of the tribes settled west of the Jordan (Numbers 32).  However, this granting of land east of the Jordan came with the condition that the soldiers of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh would fight with their brothers settling west of the Jordan (Numbers 32:28-32).  After helping their brothers settle in the Land west of the Jordan, Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed the Jordan to return to their families but after crossing, build an altar of imposing size (Joshua 22:10).  The Israelites living west of the Jordan view this as the other tribes intending to rebel against the Lord and follow other gods (Joshua 22:16).  However, this is a mistaken view of the purpose for the alter with the alter instead serving as a reminder to future generations of the connection between the Israelite tribes living on both sides of the Jordan (Joshua 22:21-29). 

3)      Dark times in the nation’s history that must be avoided (1 Kings 12:16-33) – Tourists traveling to Israel usually visit sites like the Western Wall which is the only standing structure remaining of the Temple, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher or Garden Tomb where Jesus tomb may have been located, and Bethlehem, the city of Jesus’ birth.  However, there are other sites in Israel like the high place of Dan in northern Israel that remain as reminders of a dark time of division in Israel’s history referred to in 1 Kings 12:16-33.  The high place of Dan remains standing, not to offend anyone but to serve as a reminder to people living in Israel today not to return to a divided nation engaging in pagan worship. 

Memorials serve as reminders to future generations of historical events.  The stones in Joshua 4:1-10 are something the people could, and can still use to tell their children how the Lord stopped the flow of the Jordan so they could cross over into the Promised Land on dry ground.  Other memorials, like the high place of Dan in northern Israel, serve as reminders of dark moments in history, reminding future generations not to return to the practices of these dark moments.  However, memorials need to be kept in the context of the historical event they commemorate so they do not become issues of contention as occurred in Joshua 22. 

Memorials in nations today like the United States are not in the form of stones piled up or altars, but instead statues and monuments with the purpose of reminding the nation of its history.  Since nations of the world are made up of flawed people, that history will include dark moments like slavery in the United States.  Removing the statue or monument does not change the dark moment in history but only removes the reminder of it.  Without these reminders, the nation could revisit that dark historical moment instead of being reminded not to go there again. 

1. Hall, Allan. The Wickenburg Massacre Site - An Enduring Mystery. www.wickenburg-az.com. [Online] June 21, 2008. [Cited: June 26, 2020.] http://www.wickenburg-az.com/2008/06/the-wickenburg-massacre-site-an-enduring-mystery/.