 | Stone | |
Stones were commonly used for buildings, also as memorials of important events (Genesis 28:18; Joshua 24:26, 27; 1 Samuel 7:12, etc.). They were gathered out of cultivated fields (Isaiah 5:2; Comp. 2 Kings 3:19). This word is also used figuratively of believers (1 Peter 2:4, 5), and of the Messiah (Psalm 118:22; Isaiah 28:16; Matthew 21:42; Acts 4:11, etc.). In Dan. 2:45 it refers also to the Messiah. He is there described as "cut out of the mountain." (see ROCK.)
A "heart of stone" denotes great insensibility (1 Samuel 25:37).
Stones were set up to commemorate remarkable events, as by Jacob at Bethel (Genesis 28:18), at Padan-aram (35:4), and on the occasion of parting with Laban (31:45-47); by Joshua at the place on the banks of the Jordan where the people first "lodged" after crossing the river (Joshua 6:8), and also in "the midst of Jordan," where he erected another set of twelve stones (4:1-9); and by Samuel at "Ebenezer" (1 Samuel 7:12).
