Matthew 21:42

ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς. Psalms 118:22 (Matthew 21:25-26 of the same psalm are quoted above, Matthew 21:9, where see note); the psalm ‘was probably composed for the first celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles after the completion of the Second Temple’ (Nehemiah 8:13-18). (Dean Perowne.) The original reference was to a stone used in the erection of the second Temple. The ‘corner stone’ is the Jewish nation rejected at first, afterwards restored from captivity. Christ transfers this image to His Church, formed of Jew and Gentile alike (see Meyer), which, though despised at first, was destined to succeed to the spiritual supremacy of Israel.

In Acts 4:11; Ephesians 2:20; 1 Peter 2:6, Christ Himself is the head-corner-stone; but the two applications are not inconsistent, for Christ was the Representative first of the Jewish Nation (ch. Matthew 4:15; Matthew 2:1-11 (3)), then of the Church. Cp. also Isaiah 28:16, ‘I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation.’

λίθον. A stone rather than the stone. The builders probably rejected many stones.

κεφαλὴν γωνίας. The stone that connects the two walls at the top and supports the roof.

αὕτη. Either (1) agreeing with κεφαλή, or (2) a Hebraism. In Hebrew there is no neuter form, and it is possible that αὕτη of the LXX. may be due to the influence of Hebrew grammar. This corruption is found in some passages of the LXX., Psalms 26:4, μίαν ᾐτησάμην παρὰ Κυρίου, ταύτην ἐκζητήσω τοῦ κατοικεῖν κ.τ.λ., where the Vulgate has ‘unam petii a domino hanc requiram.’ See Maldonatus ad loc.