The Hebrew word even refers to a stone, ranging from small pebbles to great boulders. It appears over 270 times in the Old Testament, covering a wide range of uses: memorial stones (Genesis 31:45), altar stones (Exodus 20:25), stones of judgment (Leviticus 20:2), cornerstone (Psalm 118:22), and the divine metaphor of God as a rock of salvation. The word carries both literal weight and enormous symbolic power throughout Scripture.
Stones mark sacred moments in the Bible — Jacob anointed a pillar at Bethel (Genesis 28:18), Joshua set up twelve stones at the Jordan (Joshua 4), and David felled Goliath with a stone (1 Samuel 17). The cornerstone metaphor reaches its fullest meaning in Christ: The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone (Psalm 118:22; cf. Matthew 21:42, 1 Peter 2:6–7). Peter, whose very name means stone (Petros), was named on this same theology. The Church is built on Christ the living cornerstone.