Isaiah 28:16

Hebrew Bible

14 Therefore, listen to the Lord’s message, you who mock, you rulers of these people who reside in Jerusalem. 15 For you say, “We have made a treaty with death, with Sheol we have made an agreement. When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by it will not reach us. For we have made a lie our refuge, we have hidden ourselves in a deceitful word.” 16 Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord, says: “Look, I am laying a stone in Zion, an approved stone, set in place as a precious cornerstone for the foundation. The one who maintains his faith will not panic. 17 I will make justice the measuring line, fairness the plumb line; hail will sweep away the unreliable refuge, the floodwaters will overwhelm the hiding place. 18 Your treaty with death will be dissolved; your agreement with Sheol will not last. When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by, you will be overrun by it.

Psalm 118:22

Hebrew Bible

20 This is the Lord’s gate—the godly enter through it. 21 I will give you thanks, for you answered me, and have become my deliverer. 22 The stone that the builders discarded has become the cornerstone. 23 This is the Lord’s work. We consider it amazing! 24 This is the day the Lord has brought about. We will be happy and rejoice in it.

 Notes and References

"... The Targum to Psalm 118:22 (the verse cited in Matthew 21:42) interprets the rejected stone as the youngest of the sons of Jesse, who was not summoned when Samuel came to anoint the new king. Pseudo-Philo is another early witness to the passing over by men of the stripling David. Matthew Black gives grounds for thinking the author of Daniel 2:34, 44-45, was speaking figuratively of the son of David who would rule the world, or at least of the son of Man of Daniel 7, who may be an alias for the royal Messiah. Therefore, for Matthew's audience the allusion in 21:43-44 to Daniel 2:44 and 7:27 would impregnate the passage with a Davidic tincture. A second metaphor is that of the foundation stone of Isaiah 28:16 and Zechariah 3:8-9 and 4:7-10 ... Here the foundation stone is clearly related to the Temple and the Davidic king. The same combination occurs in Zechariah 4:6-10, where Zerubbabel lays the "first stone" of the post-Exilic Temple ..."

Nolan, Brian M. The Royal Son of God: The Christology of Matthew 1-2 in the Setting of the Gospel (pp. 190-191) Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1979

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