stone Summary and Overview

Stones were commonly used for buildings, also as memorials of important events (Gen. 28:18; Josh. 24:26, 27; 1 Sam. 7:12, etc.). They were gathered out of cultivated fields (Isa. 5:2; compare 2 Kings 3:19). This word is also used figuratively of believers (1 Pet. 2:4, 5), and of the Messiah (Ps. 118:22; Isa. 28:16; Matt. 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 T0003148.) A "heart of stone" denotes great insensibility (1 Sam. 25:37). Stones were set up to commemorate remarkable events, as by Jacob at Bethel (Gen. 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 (Josh. 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 Sam. 7:12).

STONE . Gen 35:14. Houses of stone were common among the Hebrews, as they are now in Palestine. The more elegant structures were built of hewn and squared stones. Amos says to the luxurious Israelites, "Ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them." Am 5:11. When Solomon was about to raise the temple, he "commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house." 1 Kgs 5:17. Stones were often used as we use knives, Ex 4:25; Josh 5:2, and we are told that stone knives were used by the Egyptians in preparing dead bodies for the process of embalming. The disciples of Christ are called stones, or lively (living) stones, 1 Pet 2:5, in allusion to their connection with Christ, upon whom they are built up compactly together, as upon the one only foundation which God has laid, the living Stone, 1 Pet 2:4, or the Source of life. A "heart of stone" is a figurative expression, importing great hardness and impenitency. A stone is sometimes put for an idol. Hab 2:19, Heaps of stones were raised to mark some signal providence of God in the way of either deliverance or punishment. Josh 4:4-7. The weights of the Hebrews were also called stones.