Musings from Israel, part Eight

Cornerstones and Capstones

Israel is a great place to look at ancient architecture. Because each subsequent civilization built directly on top of the ruins of the old, Israel is an archeologist's dream come true. In Jerusalem, the "Old City" is built on top of an even older city, and we had the privilege of exploring some of those older sections. I snapped the following picture of two arches in one of these "older" areas, underneath the Jewish quarter of the Old City. Yoni brought our attention to the top stone of the arch, called the cap stone. The cap stone is the most important stone in the arch. Without it, the entire arch would collapse.



In another section of Jerusalem, just oustide the walls of the Old City, we visited the Southern Wall excavation area. Here, we saw Herodian era pavement and walls. Herod's builders would use enormous blocks of stone, like the one in the picture below, and cut them so straight and true that no mortar was necessary when the walls were constructed.



Either of these pictures could illustrate the Messianic Psalm 118:22, depending on which translation you use.
"The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone." NKJV
"The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone." NIV

In Acts 4:10-12, Peter confirmed that the cornerstone or capstone referred to none other than Jesus. In all my previous Bible study, I had always read the "cornerstone" translation, and imagined Jesus as a weighty foundation stone, like in the Herodian wall, cut so straight and true that anything laid upon that foundation would stand strong.

But Yoni offered us an alternate picture of Christ as the central capstone in the arch of our faith. He is the central, most important element of our salvation, and without Him, all would crumble.

Both metaphors work very well, I think, and that is one of the greatest things about studying the Bible. Just like in Israel, where you can peel back layer upon layer of archeology; when you study God's Word, you can uncover layers of meaning the deeper you dig.