Thomas, I have been studying these things for quite some time and what I find terribly interesting about Matthew 3:9 (and Luke 3:8) is that Jesus was likely baptised in the Jordan River, in the very place where Joshua and the 12 Tribes crossed into the Promised Land. It was the door into the Promised Land, just as it was the door into Jesus ministry, and Jesus being the door unto our salvation (John 10:9). There are no coincidences in scripture. In Joshua 4 the Israelites were instructed to take one stone per tribe out of the Jordan, from the exact place where the priests had stood, and then roll their burdens off their backs as an altar to God in the place where they camped that night (4:3), which was Gilgal (which name means “rolling”), then Joshua set up 12 stones in the very place of the river where the altar stones had been taken (4:9), where the priests had stood, and it was a ford that remained to the day of the writing of the book of Joshua, and likely remained to the time of Christ. So when John the Baptist made reference to “these stones,” I believe he was pointing to the ford of stones made by Joshua. So we believers, which are members of the Christian/Messianic/Jewish church, are referred to by Peter (whose name means “stone” or “rock”) as “living stones” being built up as a “spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:5) upon the foundations of the Apostles (Revelation 21:12-14), with Christ as our Chief Cornerstone, I believe connects back to the very picture of those stones from the Jordan River and what John the Baptist was alluding to.

And as far as Luke 19:40 is concerned, archeology has unearthed so much in the last 50 years to prove the infallability of the Bible – the ROCKS are crying out!!!!!! They are crying out of the silence of the last 2000 years. The real Mount Sinai has been discovered in Midian (Saudi Arabia), the rocks that Jeremiah hid in the mortar at the doorstep of Pharaoh’s dwelling in Egypt have been discovered, the foundations of the City of David has been unearthed rather miraculously, the foundation stone under the Dome of the Rock – which has stripes all across it and a hole pierced in it, the altars of the patriarchs (Jacob’s well, Joseph’s bones, Rachel’s tomb, Mount Ebal altar, etc.) have all been discovered. Archeology is testifying of the events and the places in the Bible – and that was the purpose of those altars to begin with. It’s pretty exciting stuff if you ask me. Praise Jesus!!!!!!!!