the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Stumbling Block
Morrish Bible Dictionary
or mikshol, πρόσκομμα.Anything placed in the way of another over which he might stumble and fall. It was forbidden in the law, and such things were to be removed out of the way of Israel. Leviticus 19:14; Isaiah 57:14 . Their iniquity, however, became a stumbling block to them. Ezekiel 7:19; Ezekiel 14:3-7 . In the church there should be care that nothing is practised by one that might cause another to stumble. Romans 14:13; 1 Corinthians 8:9 .
Jehovah of hosts was to be a sanctuary for the believing remnant, but He would be "for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel," that is, He would become such through their unbelief in Jehovah's intervention through the virgin's child. Isaiah 8:14 (where the word is negeph, 'the act of stumbling'). When the Lord was on earth He became this stone of stumbling to the Jews, and remains the same to them and to the house of Israel where, through disobedient unbelief, He is still rejected. Romans 9:32,33; 1 Peter 2:8 . Any who through grace receive the gospel become Christians and are merged in the church. In connection with the same, the word σκάνδαλον is employed: this is literally 'the catch of a trap,' which being touched ensnares. Romans 9:33 (offence); Romans 11:9; 1 Corinthians 1:23; 1 Peter 2:8 (offence).
The same word is used for the snare that Balaam taught Balak to lay for the Israelites. Revelation 2:14 . It is also the word employed for the 'offences,' or snares, that must, by the nature of things, exist in the world for the feet of the saints. Matthew 18:7; Luke 17:1; and in the remarkable instance when the Lord said to Peter, "Thou art an 'offence' unto me." Matthew 16:23 .
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Morrish, George. Entry for 'Stumbling Block'. Morrish Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/mbd/s/stumbling-block.html. 1897.
