Bible Dictionaries
Stone

Easton's Bible Dictionary

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; Compare 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 Daniel 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 ).