Bible Dictionary
Corner
A corner is an angle, boundary, extremity, or district. The corner of a field was to be left for the poor, while the cornerstone became a biblical image of an important person and ultimately of Christ.
Definition
A corner is an angle, extremity, boundary, side, district, or prominent point. It may refer to the corner of a house or street, the edge of a field, the limits of a land, or the corner of a building. A cornerstone is a principal stone that binds the sides of a structure together.
Biblical Usage
The corners of fields were left for the poor. The phrase “four corners of the earth” denotes the whole land, while the “corners of the streets” are places where streets meet. The cornerstone image is applied to Christ, the chief cornerstone honored by God.
Historical Background
The law concerning field corners formed part of the poor’s provision from the land. Later scribal legislation specified a proportion for the corner. Biblical terms translated corner can also mean side, shoulder, wing, foot, front, or chief.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
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 Kings 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.)
Smith's Bible Dictionary
The “corner” of the field was not allowed, (Leviticus 19:9) to be wholly reaped. It formed a right of the poor to carry off what was so left, and this was a part of the maintenance from the soil to which that class were entitled. Under the scribes, minute legislation fixed one-sixtieth as the portion of a field which was to be left for the legal “corner.” The proportion being thus fixed, all the grain might be reaped, and enough to satisfy the regulation subsequently separated from the whole crop. This “corner” was, like the gleaning, tithe-free.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>kor'-ner (miqtsoa`, pe'ah, pinnah; arche, gonia, akrogoniaios): In Ex 26:24; Eze 41:22; 46:21,22, miqtsoa`, "angle" is translated "corner"; pe'ah, "side," "quarter" and pinnah "corner," "front," "chief," are more frequently so translated, e.g. Ex 25:26; Le 19:9; Jer 9:26; 25:23; and Ex 27:2; 1Ki 7:34; Ps 118:22; Isa 28:16 ("corner-stone"); Jer 51:26. Other words are kanaph, "wing" (Isa 11:12; Eze 7:2); katheph, "shoulder" (2Ki 11:11 the King James Version, twice); pa`am, "foot" (Ex 25:12 the King James Version); zawiyoth, "corner-stones" (Ps 144:12; Zec 9:15, translated "corners"). For "corner" the Revised Version (British and American) has "side" (Ex 36:25), "corner-stone" (Zec 10:4), also for "stay" (Isa 19:13); instead of "teacher removed into a corner" (Isa 30:20), "be hidden," "hide themselves"; for "corners" we have "feet" (Ex 25:12; 1Ki 7:30); "ribs" (Ex 30:4; 37:27); for "divide into corners" (Ne 9:22), "allot after their portions"; for "into corners" (De 32:26), "afar"; the words to Israel (Isa 41:9) "called thee from the chief men 'atsilim thereof" are rendered by the Revised Version (British and American) "called thee from the corners thereof" (of the earth).</p><p>In the New Testament we have gonia ("angle," "corner"), "in the corners of the streets" (Mt 6:5), "the head of the corner" (Mt 21:42), "the four corners of the earth" (Re 7:1; 20:8); arche ("a beginning") (Ac 10:11; 11:5); "chief corner stone" (Eph 2:20; 1Pe 2:6), is a translation of akrogoniaios ("at the extreme angle").</p><p>W. L. Walker</p>