And whosoever shall fall on this stone
This is not to be understood of believing in Christ, or of a
soul's casting itself on Christ, the foundation stone; relying on
him, and building all its hopes of happiness and salvation on
him; which is attended with contrition and brokenness of heart,
or repentance unto life, which needed not to be repented of nor
of a believer's offending Christ by evil works, whereby his
conscience is wounded, his soul is grieved, and his faith shaken;
and though he is hereby in great danger, he shall not be utterly
destroyed, but being recovered by repentance, shall be preserved
unto salvation; but of such to whom Christ is a stone of
stumbling, and a rock of offence: for as he is the foundation and
corner stone to some, and is set for the rising of them, and to
whom he is precious; so he is a stone set for the fall of others,
and at which they stumble and fall, and fall upon it: and such
are they who are offended at Christ's state of humiliation on
earth; at the manner of his birth, the meanness of his parentage,
and education; the despicable figure he made in his person,
disciples, and audience; and at his sufferings and death: and
these "shall be broken": as a man that stumbles at a stone, and
falls upon it, breaks his head or his bones, at least bruises
himself, does not hurt the stone, but the stone hurts him; so all
such as are offended at Christ, injure their own souls, being
filled with prejudices against him, and contempt and disbelief of
him, which if grace prevents not will issue in their everlasting
destruction: but whilst there is life, the means of grace
continue, the kingdom of God is not taken away; there is hope
that such may be recovered from their impenitence and unbelief:
"but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder".
Just as if a millstone, or any stone of such like weight and
bulk, was to fall upon an earthen vessel; or, as the stone cut
out of the mountain without hands, by which the Messiah and his
kingdom, are designed, brake in pieces the image in
Nebuchadnezzar's dream, so that it became like the chaff of the
summer threshing floor. As the former part of this verse
expresses the sin of unbelievers, and the danger they are exposed
unto by it, this sets forth their punishment; and has respect
both to the vengeance of Christ, on the Jewish nation, at their
destruction, which would fall heavy from him in his state of
exaltation, for their evil treatment of him in his state of
humiliation; and to his severe wrath, which will be executed at
the day of judgment on all unbelievers, impenitent Christless
sinners, who have both offended him, and been offended at him;
when their destruction will be inevitable, their salvation
irretrievable, and their souls irrecoverably lost, and ruined.
Some have thought, that there is an allusion in these words to
the manner of stoning among the Jews, which was this F5:
``the place of stoning was two men's heights; one of the witnesses struck him on his loins, to throw him down from thence, to the ground: if he died, it was well; if not, they took a stone, which lay there, and was as much as two men could carry, and cast it, with all their might, upon his breast: if he died, it was well; if not, he was stoned by all Israel.''Maimonides observes F6, that
``stoning, or throwing down from the high place, was that he might fall upon the stone, or that the stone might fall upon him; and which of them either it was, the pain was the same.''