Stone

Stone in the biblical world served as the primary material for construction, memorialization, and the marking of covenantal events. Jacob set up a stone pillar at Bethel to mark his encounter with God (Gen. 28:18), and Joshua erected a great stone at Shechem as a witness to Israel's covenant renewal (Josh. 24:26–27). Samuel set up the stone he called Ebenezer — "stone of help" — to commemorate God's deliverance from the Philistines (1 Sam. 7:12). Stones were gathered from fields for cultivation (Isa. 5:2), cut for building (1 Kings 5:17), and used for sealing caves and tombs.

In biblical theology stone becomes a rich metaphor. Christ is the stone the builders rejected that became the cornerstone (Ps. 118:22; Matt. 21:42), the stone cut without human hands that fills the whole earth (Dan. 2:34–35), and the living stone on which the church is built as living stones (1 Pet. 2:4–8). The New Testament's "stone" Christology draws on multiple OT threads — stumbling stone (Isa. 8:14), foundation stone (Isa. 28:16), and cornerstone (Ps. 118:22) — unified in Jesus Christ.