Case of the purloined Jerusalem rock: Behold thy God O Israel

The Israel antiquities authority has the fascinating story of a 21 KG rock that was returned by a repenant N.Y. clergyman. Here is his story:

 

"I came to Israel on an organized trip. As a student of archaeology, I was very excited when we visited an excavation south of the Temple Mount. I asked how I can purchase a stone from the excavation because I wanted a souvenir with which to pray for Jerusalem and was told it was not possible. On the last day of the trip our Israeli tour guide approached me and took the stone fragment from inside his coat. 'Take it', he said. 'It's a present from me'. I asked him how he obtained the stone and he replied, 'It's okay; don't worry'.

 

With all due respect to the reverend, it is hard to believe that tour guides walk around with 21 kg (about 50 pounds)  rocks routinely kept under their coats, just in case they might be needed. The rock was from an Ummayad era column, which is not necessarily a proper object of veneration for Jews and Christians. In any case, while I know little about religious matters, I thought only Muslims pray to the Kaaba stone. Jews and Christians are not supposed to pray to objects, are they? Is there a political moral here too? You decide.

 

Jerusalem rock: "Behold thy God, O Israel"?

הינה אלוהיך ישראל? 

I Kings 12: 28

"Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt"