 | Corner | |
The angle of a house (Job 1:19) or a street (Proverbs 7:8). "Corners" in Nehemiah 9:22 denotes the various districts of the promised land allotted to the Israelites. In Numbers 24:17, the "corners of Moab" denotes the whole land of Moab. The "corner of a field" (Leviticus 19:9; 23:22) is its extreme part, which was not to be reaped. The Jews were prohibited from cutting the "corners," i.e., the extremities, of the hair and whiskers running round the ears (Leviticus 19:27; 21:5). The "four corners of the earth" in Isaiah 11:12 and Ezek. 7:2 denotes the whole land. The "corners of the streets" mentioned in Matthew 6:5 means the angles where streets meet so as to form a square or place of public resort.
The corner gate of Jerusalem (2 Kings 14:13; 2 Chronicles 26:9) was on the north-west side of the city.
Corner-stone (Job 38:6; Isaiah 28:16), a block of great importance in binding together the sides of a building. The "head of the corner" (Psalm 118:22, 23) denotes the coping, the "coign of vantage", i.e., the topstone of a building. But the word "corner stone" is sometimes used to denote some person of rank and importance (Isaiah 28:16). It is applied to our Lord, who was set in highest honour (Matthew 21:42). He is also styled "the chief corner stone" (Ephesians 2:20; 1 Peter 2:6-8). When Zechariah (10:4), speaking of Judah, says, "Out of him came forth the corner," he is probably to be understood as ultimately referring to the Messiah as the "corner stone." (see TEMPLE, SOLOMON'S.)
