THE STONE OF DESTINY

by

Pastor Bertrand L. Comparet,A.B., J.D.

T H E  S T O N E  O F   D E S T I N Y

#6  by  Pastor Bertrand L. Comparet, A.B., J.D.

In the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey, in London, is an oblong block of sandstone, upon which all of England's kings have been crowned for several centuries. Before that the kings of Scotland and before that the kings of Ireland were also crowned upon this stone. This is another bit of evidence and piece of the puzzle that proves the identity of the Anglo-Saxon people as the Israel of the Bible and that the House of David still rules over them fulfilling the prophecy that David would never lack a seed to rule over the House of Israel until Jesus the Christ came to take the crown himself.

The history of this stone begins in the 28th chapter of Genesis, where we read that Jacob camped overnight in a field and for his pillow used a stone with his cloak over it. During the night, God appeared to him in a vision and promised to give him the Land of Canaan. When Jacob awoke he said, "This is the house of God," and named the place Beth-el meaning "House of God". Then he took the stone he had used as his pillow and set it up as a monument and dedicated it with an offering of oil.

He promised that if God would help him, "then shall the Lord be my God: and this stone which I have set for a monument shall be God's House. In Genesis 35, God instructs Jacob to go back to Beth-el and set up an altar to God, which Jacob did. It was at this time that God changed Jacob's name to Israel; and Israel again set up and dedicated, as a monument of witness, the stone pillar which he had dedicated as "God's House." Its sacred character was now firmly established.

We next find mention of it in Genesis 49, when the aged Israel, before he dies, tells his 12 sons what will befall their respective descendants in the last days. Speaking of Joseph he says, "From thence is the shepherd of the Stone of Israel." We should therefore expect to find the Stone in the custody of Joseph in the last days. The English are the Tribe of Ephraim, descended from one of Joseph's sons. Its sacred character having been established, the stone would not be thereafter abandoned.

We next hear of it when the Children of Israel, in their exodus from Egypt, were facing death by thirst in the desert. God instructed Moses "I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink;" thus they were saved from death. This miracle was repeated later, but this time Moses was instructed to merely speak to the rock, not strike it; because Moses disobeyed God and hit the rock in a "grandstand play" before the people, he was not allowed to enter the Promised Land. We must not think that this rock was merely the native rock cliffs of these desert places, for in I Corinthians 10:1-4, Paul says, "All our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea and did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual Rock THAT FOLLOWED THEM and that rock was Christ." That is, they were given water to drink from a rock which was carried along with them; and as Israel had said, "This stone that I have set up for a monument shall be God's house", so Christ hallowed it with His presence.

After Joshua had conquered the Promised Land and divided it among the 12 Tribes, he reminded them that they must ever be loyal to God and he set up a stone as a monument of witness to this warning. The Hebrew says he took "the stone of greatness" and what would that be, or what more fitting witness could there be, but the stone which was "God's House"?

Before God ever allowed Israel to have a king, the rebel Abimelech had himself crowned king beside this pillar or monument (Judges 9:6). Later, when the lawful monarchy was established in the House of David, we find it was the custom that the king be crowned standing by the "pillar" or monument, for we read in II Kings 11:12-14, "And he brought forth the king's son and put the crown upon him and gave him the testimony; and they made him king and annoited him; and they clapped their hands and said, 'God save the king.' When Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she came to the people into the Temple of the Lord. And when she looked, behold, the king stood by a pillar, as the manner was and the princes and the trumpeters by the king, and all the people of the land rejoiced.

The Stone had become a sacred relic, a witness of the mutual promises of God and of the Children of Israel. It would be found close to the Temple and the throne. Upon the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar, II Maccabees 2:4-8, says that ancient records stated that Jeremiah had taken the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle and had hidden them in a cave on Mount Nebo. While I Samuel 4-5 records the capture of the Ark by the Philistines, and its return, there is no mention of it being taken by the Babylonians, so the ancient record of the Ark being hidden must be correct. Along with the Ark, we may be sure that Jeremiah would also safely hide the sacred Witness Stone. "God's House", which had twice been used to give water to the people to save them from death and which was now used in the coronation of the kings.

When I spoke to you on "What Jeremiah Planted", I told you how Jeremiah and the daughters of the last King of Judah Zedekiah, were taken to Egypt with the refugees; But in order to fulfill God's prophecy that Jeremiah was also "to build and to plant", Jeremiah had to leave Egypt and take the princess to where another Israelite kingdom was then in existence, in Ireland. We know that with Jeremiah went Baruch, his scribe, and the king's daughter Tea Tephi; and with the princess, he would also certainly take the hidden Stone upon which the kings were crowned.

The ancient Irish records record the coming of "the Great Prophet, Brugh, his scribe, (obviously Baruch) and the daughter of a king, about 583 B.C., which would be the correct date; and that with them they brought the "Wonderful Stone," or "Stone of Destiny."

Tea Tephi, the king's daughter, married Eochaid the Heremon, or Chief King of Ireland. The stone, called "Lia Fail" or "Stone of Destiny" was kept at the capital city of Tara for some three centuries and all the kings, descendants of Eochaid and Tea Tephi, were crowned on it. Then about 350 B.C., it was sent to Scotland for the coronation of Fergus, King of the Scots, who was a descendant of the Milesian kings of Ireland. It remained in Scotland and all Scottish kings were crowned on it until 1297 A.D., when King Edward I of England invaded Scotland and captured the Stone, which he took to England, where it was placed in Westminster Abbey, its home ever since that date. It was built into the Coronation Chair, the oldest piece of furniture in England still serving its original purpose and all English kings have been crowned on it ever since. Its origin was well known during the entire time it has been in the British Isles and from practically the first it was called "Jacob's Stone." William of Rislanger, writing in the 13th century, records the coronation of John de Baliol as King of Scotland in the year 1292 "upon the stone upon which Jacob placed his head.

While the ten-tribed nation of Israel had to "abide many days without a king" as God prophesied in Hosea 3:4, yet there must always be a royal family of David's line on the throne over some Israelite people, for God promised through Jeremiah (33:17) that "David shall never lack a man to sit upon the throne of the House of Israel." We know that Eochaid the Heremon was of the Milesian line of Kings of Ireland and that the Milesians in Ireland were descendants of Zarah, a son of Judah; and that Tea Tephi was a descendant of David, who was also of the Royal Tribe of Judah through Judah's other son, Pharez. So the two royal lines of Judah were united with the marriage of Eochaid and Tea Tephi and a descendant of David was always on the throne over Israelite people, as God had promised.

The Ark of the Covenant belonged in the Temple; and the Temple was not to be a continuous institution like the Throne of David; so it is not surprising that the Ark has disappeared from history, and probably will not be revealed again until Jesus Christ returns to reign upon the Throne of David, as is prophesied in Isaiah 9:7. But the Throne was to be a continuous throne (Jeremiah 33:17); therefore, it is only logical that the Coronation Stone, which the Hebrews had called "The Stone of Majesty" and "The Pillar of Witness", should be found where the Throne of David had its continued existence. After all, it was "The Pillar of Witness" for it had been made witness to both Israel's promise to be God's people and God's promise to be their God. It should be there, as a witness that God always makes good His promises and "David shall never lack a man to sit upon the Throne of the House of Israel."