Corner

The angle of a house (Job 1:19) or a street (Prov 7:8). “Corners” in Neh 9:22 denotes the various districts of the promised land allotted to the Israelites. In Num 24:17, the “corners of Moab” denotes the whole land of Moab. The “corner of a field” (Lev 19:9; 23:22) is its extreme part, which was not to be reaped. The Jews were prohibited from cutting the “corners,” i.e., the extremities, of the hair and whiskers running round the ears (Lev 19:27; 21:5). The “four corners of the earth” in Isa 11:12 and Ezek 7:2 denotes the whole land. The “corners of the streets” mentioned in Matt 6:5 means the angles where streets meet so as to form a square or place of public resort.

The corner gate of Jerusalem (2 Kgs 14:13; 2 Chr 26:9) was on the north-west side of the city.

Corner-stone (Job 38:6; Isa 28:16), a block of great importance in binding together the sides of a building. The “head of the corner” (Ps 118:22, 23) denotes the coping, the “coign of vantage”, i.e., the topstone of a building. But the word “corner stone” is sometimes used to denote some person of rank and importance (Isa 28:16). It is applied to our Lord, who was set in highest honour (Matt 21:42). He is also styled “the chief corner stone” (Eph 2:20; 1 Pet 2:6-8). When Zechariah (10:4), speaking of Judah, says, “Out of him came forth the corner,” he is probably to be understood as ultimately referring to the Messiah as the “corner stone.” (See TEMPLE, SOLOMON’S.)