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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadMcClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Stone
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(usually àֶáֶï , eben; but occasionally ñֵìֵò , sela, or öåּø , tsur, both of which are rather a rock; ëßèïò , sometimes ðÝôñïò or øῆöïò ). In such rocky countries as Mount Sinai and Syria, stones were naturally of very frequent reference in Biblical language. SEE ROCK.
The kinds of ordinary stone mentioned by ancient and modern writers as found in Palestine (q.v.) are chiefly limestone (Isa_27:9) [especially marble (q.v.)] and sandstone; occasionally basalt (Josephus, Ant. 8, 7, 4), flint, and firestone (2Ma_10:3). (See Wagner, De Lapidibus Judaicis [Hal. 1724]). SEE MINERAL.
The uses to which stones were applied in ancient Palestine were very various.
1. They were used for the ordinary purposes of building, and in this respect the most noticeable point is the very large size to which they occasionally run (Mar_13:1). Robinson gives the dimensions of one as 24 feet long by 6 feet broad and 3 feet high (Res. 1, 233; see also p. 284, note). SEE QUARRY. For most public edifices hewn stones were used. An exception was made in regard to altars, which were to be built of unhewn stone (Exo_20:25; Deu_27:5; Jos_8:31), probably as being in a more natural state. The Phoenicians were particularly famous for their skill in hewing stone (2Sa_5:11; 1Ki_5:18). Stones were selected of certain colors in order to form ornamental string courses. In 1Ch_29:2 we find enumerated onyx stones and stones to be set, glistening stones (lit. stones of eye-paint), and of divers colors (i.e. streaked with veins), and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones” (comp. 2Ch_3:6). They were also employed for pavements (2Ki_16:17; comp Est_1:6)
2. Large stones were used for closing the entrances of caves (Jos_10:18; Dan_6:17), sepulchres (Mat_27:60; Joh_11:38; Joh_20:1), and springs (Gen_29:2).
3. Flint stones ( öåּø or öֹø ) occasionally served the purpose of a knife, particularly for circumcision and similar objects (Exo_4:25; Jos_5:2-3; comp. Herod. 2, 86; Plutarch, Nicias, 13; Catull. Carm. 62, 5). SEE KNIFE.
4. Stones were further used as a munition of war for slings (1Sa_17:40; 1Sa_17:49), catapults (2 Chronicle 26:14), and bows (Wis_5:22; comp. 1Ma_6:51). Also as boundary marks (Deu_19:14; Deu_27:17; Job_24:12; Pro_22:28; Pro_23:10) such were probably the stone of Bohan (Jos_15:6; Jos_18:17), the stone of Abel (1Sa_6:15; 1Sa_6:18), the stone Ezel (20:19), the great stone by Gibeon (2Sa_20:8), and the stone Zoheleth (1Ki_1:9). Finally as weights for scales (Deu_25:13; Pro_16:11); and for mills (2Sa_11:21).
5. Large stones were set up to commemorate any remarkable events, as by Jacob, at Bethel after his interview with Jehovah (Gen_28:18; Gen_35:14), and again when he made the covenant with Laban (Gen_31:45) by Joshua after the passage of the Jordan (Jos_4:9); and by Samuel in token of his victory over the Philistines (1Sa_7:12). SEE PILLAR. Similarly the Egyptian monarchs erected their steloe at the farthest point they reached (Herod. 2, 106). Such stones were occasionally consecrated by anointing, as instanced in the stone erected at Bethel (Gen_28:18). A similar practice existed in heathen countries, both in Asia and in Europe (see De Saulcy, Dead Sea, 2, 51, 52; Hackett, Illustra. of Script. p. 102 More, Pillar Stones of Scotland [Edinb. 1865]). SEE ALTAR. By a singular coincidence these stones were described in Phoenicia by a name very similar to Bethel, viz. boetylia ( âáéôýëéá ), whence it has been surmised that the heathen name was derived from the scriptural one, or vice versa (Kalisch, Comm. in Gen. loc. cit.). But neither are the names actually identical, nor are the associations of a kindred nature; the boetylia were meteoric stones, and derived their sanctity from the belief that they had fallen from heaven, whereas the stone at Bethel was simply commemorative. SEE BETHEL. The only point of resemblance between the two consists in the custom of anointing-- the anointed stones ( ëßèïé ëéðáñïß , Clem. Alex. Strom. 7, 302), which are frequently mentioned by ancient writers as objects of divine honor (Arnob. Adv. Gent. 1, 39; Euseb. Proep. Evang. 1, 10, 18; Pliny, 37, 51; Theophr. Char. 17; Pausan. 10, 24, 5,; see Bellermann, Steine zu salben [Erf. 1793]), being probably aerolites.
6. That the worship of stones prevailed among the heathen nations surrounding Palestine (see Biedermann, De Lapidum Cultu [Frib. 1749]; Hölling, De Boetylli. Vett. [Gron. 1715]; Falcconet, in the Memoires. de l'Acad. des Inscr. 6, 513 sq., SEE STONE WORSHIP ), and was borrowed from them by apostate Israelites, appears from Isa_57:6, according to the ordinary rendering of the passage; but the original ( áְּçִìְּ÷ֵéàּðִçִì çֵìְ÷ֵêְ ) admits of another sense “ in the smooth (clear of wood) places of the valley” and no reliance can be placed on a peculiar term introduced partly for the sake of alliteration. The eben maskith ( îִùְׁëַּéú
àֶáֶï ), noticed in Lev_26:1 (An “image of stone”), has again been identified with the boetylia, the doubtful term maskith (comp. Num_33:52, “picture; “ Eze_3:12, “imagery”) being supposed to refer to devices engraven on the stone. SEE IDOL. The statue (matstsebah, îִöֵּáָä ) of Baal is said to have been of stone and of a conical shape (Movers, Phon. 1, 673), but this is hardly reconcilable with the statement of its being burned in 2Ki_10:26 (the correct reading of which would be matstsebah, and not matstseboth). SEE STONEHENGE.
7. Heaps of stones were piled up on various occasions as in token of a treaty (Gen_31:46), in which case a certain amount of sanctity probably attached to them (Homer, Od. 16, 471); or over the grave of some notorious offender (Jos_7:26; Jos_8:29; 2Sa_18:17; see Propert. 4, 5, 75, for a similar custom among the Romans). SEE GALEED. The size of some of these heaps becomes very great from the custom prevalent among the Arabs that each passer by adds a stone. Burckhardt mentions one near Damascus 20 feet long, 2 feet high and 3 feet broad (Syria, p. 46). A reference to this practice is supposed by Gesenius to be contained in Pro_26:8, which he renders “as a bag of gems in a heap of stones” (Thes. p. 1263). The Vulgate has a curious version of this passage: (Sicut qui mittit lapidem in acervum Mercurii.”
8. The “white stone” (q.v.) noticed in Rev_2:17 has been variously regarded as referring to the pebble of acquittal used in the Greek courts (Ovid, Met. 15, 41); to the lot cast in elections in Greece; to both these combined, the white conveying the notion of acquittal, the stone that of election (Bengel, Gnom.); to the stones in the high priest's breastplate (Züllig); to the tickets presented to the victors at the public games, securing them maintenance at the public expense (Hammond); or, lastly, to the custom of writing on stones (Alford, ad loc.). (See the monographs on this subject, in Latin, by Majus [Giss. 1706] and Dresig [Lips. 1731].)
9. The use of stones for tablets is alluded to in Exo_24:12 and Jos_8:32; and to this we may add the guide stones to the cities of refuge (see Schöttgen, De Lapidibus Vialibus [Lips. 1716]), and the milestones of the Roman period (comp. Otho, Lex. Rab. p. 362). SEE CITY.10. Stones for striking fire are mentioned in 2Ma_10:3.
11. Stones were prejudicial to the operations of husbandry; hence the custom of spoiling an enemy's field by throwing quantities of stones upon it (2Ki_3:19; 2Ki_3:25), and, again, the necessity of gathering stones previous to cultivation (Isa_5:2). Allusion is made to both these practices in Ecc_3:5 (“a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones”).
12. The notice in Zec_12:3 of the “burdensome stone” is referred by Jerome to the custom of lifting stones as an exercise of strength, which he describes as being practiced in Judaea in his day (comp. Ecclesiastes 6:21); but it may equally well be explained of a large corner stone as a symbol of strength (Isa_28:16).
Stones are used metaphorically to denote hardness or insensibility (1Sa_25:37; Eze_11:19; Eze_36:26), as well as firmness or strength, as in Gen_49:24, where the stone of Israel” is equivalent to “the rock of Israel” (2Sa_23:3; Isa_30:29). The members of the Church are called “living stones,” as contributing to rear that living temple in which Christ, himself “a living stone,” is the chief or head of the corner (Eph_2:20-22; 1Pe_2:4-8). SEE CORNER STONE.