First Stone, Head Stone

In his comments on Zechariah 4:7, Stead notes that the adjective connected with stone is unique in the Hebrew Bible.  It looks like a feminine of the common word ro’sh (head) but might also be linked to ri’shon (first, beginning).  Stead opts for “topstone” as a translation, and says that the prophecy is about Zerubbabel’s completion of the temple.

He also notes the connection with Psalm 118:22, which describes a “stone” that becomes “head of the corner,” an event that is “marvelous” in the eyes of Israel.  But he doesn’t fill out the consequences of this intertextual linkage.  The stone in Psalm 118 is the rejected stone that becomes head; the last shall be first, the rejected becomes chosen and precious.  With Psalm 118 in the background, and given the semantic ambiguity of the word in Zechariah 4:7, it seems best to let the ambiguity alone.  Verse 7 is spelled out in the sequence of verse 9 – his hands establish, his hands complete.  But in verse 7, we seem to have a stone which is both cornerstone and topstone, both alpha-stone and omega-stone.

This stone “comes forth” from Zerubbabel, and of course – again with Psalm 118 ringing in our ears – we know that this is the chief cornerstone of the new temple, the topstone too.  For that stone, Jesus, also “comes forth” from Zerubbabel, hewn from the Davidic rock.