Matzevah

A masseba or matzeva^[1] (Biblical Hebrew: מַצֵּבָה, romanized: maṣṣēḇā, lit. 'pillar, stele, baetyl',^[a], plural maṣṣēḇoṯ) is a term used in the Hebrew Bible for a baetyl, a type of sacred column or standing stone. In the Septuagint, it is translated as Koine Greek: στήλη, romanized: stēlē.

Archaeologists have adopted the term for these stones in Canaan and the pre-Islamic Arab state of the Nabataean Kingdom. Massevot can also mark graves.

The Hebrew word is derived from a Semitic root meaning 'to stand', which led to the meaning "pillar".^[2]

In transcription, many spellings are possible.^[3]

Use of the term can be found in Genesis 28:18, 28:22, 31:13, 31:45, 35:14, 35:20, Exodus 24:4, Deuteronomy 16:22 and Hosea 3:4.

The Patriarch Jacob set up four massebot in the Hebrew Bible:

• In Bethel, the origin of the term baetyl. In Genesis 28, "Jacob then made a vow, saying, “If God remains with me, protecting me on this journey that I am making, and giving me bread to eat and clothing to wear, and I return safe to my father’s house— Yahweh shall be my God. And this stone, which I have set up as a pillar, shall be God’s abode; and of all that You give me, I will set aside a tithe for You.”
• Miṣpā (Hebrew: וְהַמִּצְפָּה, romanized: wəhammiṣpā)
• In Bethel a second time. In Genesis| 31:13, Yahweh says to Jacob, "I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to Me."
• At Rachel's grave: "Over her grave Jacob set up a pillar; it is the pillar at Rachel’s grave to this day." (Genesis|35:20|HE) It could also stand as a witness: upon confronting Jacob in Gilead: "And Laban said to Jacob, "Here is this mound and here the pillar which I have set up between you and me: this mound shall be witness and this pillar shall be witness that I am not to cross to you past this mound, and that you are not to cross to me past this mound and this pillar, with hostile intent." (Genesis 31:52)

Moses is mentioned as erecting an altar and 12 massebot, "according [representing?] to the twelve tribes of Israel", before ascending the mountain for 40 days and nights to meet with God.^[4] He also commands the people to set up "large stones" and cover them in plaster upon entering Israel to write the religious law upon.^[5]

Joshua set up a "large stone" to commemorate a covenant at Shechem. Though it is not called a massebot in text, its function is identical to massebot set up to commemorate treaties and events.^[5]

Abimelech was crowned king near a massebah in Shechem, and Joash may have also been crowned near a massebah. Rehoboam erected massebot for the purposes of worship (indicated by their condemnation).^[5]

Leviticus 26:1 may indicate a prohibition on the use of massebot as representations of God. The specific prohibition includes it in a list, prohibiting the creation of idols, graven images, erecting standing "images" (massebot), or any other image of stone with the intention of bowing before it.^[6] Exodus 23:24 indicates that gentiles also erected massebot, which is likely the reason for this prohibition,^[7] alongside consolidation of authorized ritual spaces to center on the Jerusalem Temple.^[8] Deuteronomy 16:21-22 supports this by banning the creation of a particular kind of sacred grove/"asherah" near the creation of altars (given the use of the word asherah, it is referencing a pagan practice) and then bans erecting massebot, likely as a continuation of the previous passage.^[9] However, Isaiah 19:19 mentions the future erection of massebot in a positive context outside of altars, shrines, or temples, indicating this was not a total ban in massebot.^[10][5]

Massebot have been found inside shrines dating to the 8th century CE, indicating an aniconic usage of these as representations of the divine.^[8] In Canaanite/Israelite contexts, they are usually undecorated, whereas similar standing stones in West Asia are not. ^[5]

• Asherah pole, Canaanite object honouring Asherah
• Bema and high place
• Ceremonial pole
• Lingam, abstract representation of the Hindu god Shiva
• Menhir, orthostat, or standing stone: upright stone, typically from the Bronze Age.
• Baetyl

• "matzeva" at Encyclopædia Britannica online