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STONE
I. In OT.—1. Several different words are rendered ‘stone,’ but the one of by far the most frequent occurrence is ’ebhen, which has the same wide range of application as its English equivalent. Palestine is a stony country, arid the uses to which stone was put were numerous and varied. In its natural state a stone served for a pillow (Gen_28:18) or a seat (Exo_17:12), for covering the mouth of a well (Gen_29:2 ff.) or closing the entrance to a cave (Jos_10:18; cf. Mat_27:30 etc.). Out of it, again, might be constructed a knife (Exo_4:25, Heb. tsûr. RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘flint’), a vessel (Exo_7:19; cf. Joh_2:6), a mill (Deu_24:8). Above all, stone was employed in architecture. Houses (Lev_14:42 etc.), walls (Neh_4:8, Hab_2:11), towers (by implication in Gen_11:3), and especially the Temple (1Ki_5:17 f. etc.), are referred to as built of stone. We read of foundation-stones (1Ki_5:17), of a corner-stone (Psa_118:22), of a head-stone or finial (Zec_4:7); and in 2Ki_16:17 mention is made of a pavement of stone. Masonry was a regular trade (2Sa_5:11 etc.), and stone-hewing is frequently referred to (2Ki_12:12 etc.). Belonging to the aesthetic and luxurious side of life are precious stones and the arts of cutting and graving and setting them (Exo_28:9; Exo_28:11; Exo_31:5 etc.); see, further, Jewels and Precious Stones. The profusion of stones made it natural to use them as missiles. Stone-throwing might be a mark of hatred and contempt (2Sa_16:6; 2Sa_16:13), or the expedient of murderous intentions against which provision had to be made in legislation (Exo_21:18, Num_35:17). In war, stones were regular weapons of offence. Usually they were hurled with slings (1Sa_17:49, 1Ch_12:2), but, later, great stones were discharged by means of ‘engines’ (2Ch_26:15, 1Ma_6:51). Stoning to death was a natural and convenient method of execution. At first an expression of popular fury (Jos_7:25), it was afterwards regulated by law as an appointed means of capital punishment (Deu_17:5-7; cf. Act_7:58 f.). See, further, Crimes and Punishments, § 10. The use of stones as memorials was common. Sometimes a single large stone, at other times a heap of stones, was raised (Gen_31:45 f., Jos_8:29; Jos_24:26). Akin to this was their employment to mark a boundary (Jos_15:6 etc.). Stones would be the ordinary landmarks between the fields of one person and another, the removal of which was strictly forbidden (Deu_19:14 etc.). In religious worship stones were employed in the forms of the pillar (Gen_28:18; Gen_28:22; Gen_31:45; Gen_35:14) and the altar. The latter was at first a single great stone (1Sa_6:14 f.), but afterwards was built of several stones, which must be unhewn (Exo_20:25, Deu_27:5-6). See, further. Pillar and Altar. The use of stone for literary purposes (cf. the Moabite Stone) is illustrated by the tables of stone on which the Decalogue was written (Exo_24:12 etc.) and the inscribed stones of the altar on Mt. Ebal (Deu_27:2 ff., Jos_8:30 ff.).
2. Stones = testicles (Lev_21:20, Deu_23:1, Job_40:17).
II. In NT.—Here tithos is the ordinary word, and is found in most of the connexions already referred to. Noteworthy is the fact that Jesus, after quoting Psa_118:22, took the rejected and exalted stone as a symbol of Himself (Mat_21:42 ff., Luk_20:17 f.). St. Peter adopts the symbol in his address to the Sanhedrin (Act_4:11), and enlarges it, with further reference to Isa_8:14; Isa_28:13, in his figure of the ‘living stone,’ which is at once the foundation of God’s spiritual house and a stone of stumbling to the disobedient (1Pe_2:4-8). The stone (petros) of Joh_1:42 should be ‘rock,’ or still better ‘Peter’ (RV [Note: Revised Version.] ); ‘stony’ (petrôdçs) in Mat_13:5, Mar_4:5; Mar_4:16 should be ‘rocky.’ The ‘white stone’ of Rev_2:17 represents Gr. psçphos, ‘a pebble,’ and the ref. perhaps is to the tessara gladiatoria bestowed on the victorious young gladiator.
J. C. Lambert.