As I studied the repeated elements included in people rejecting prophets (see this post), I also read some interesting, related content in the Gospel of Matthew. As explained in my linked post, the Book of Mormon repeatedly describes wicked people casting out, stoning and slaying prophets. In Matthew 21, Jesus tells a parable about this
33 another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to , and went into a far country:
34 And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.
35 And the husbandmen took his , and one, and killed another, and stoned another.
36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.
37 But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.
38 But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the ; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.
39 And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.
40 When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?
41 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The which the builders , the same is become the head of the : this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
The vineyard is usually symbol of the earth, but Jesus seems to narrow it down to the part of the world where the people lived that he was addressing. According to verse 45, "when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them." They were the husbandmen, who cast out, stoned and slew the prophets. After the servants (prophets), the householder (God) sent his son. He was cast out and slain. Stoning is not being mentioned there. We read in fact that the people occasionally attempted to stone Jesus, but never did (see John 8:59 and John 10:31).
It turns out that Jesus is the stone. He quotes Psalm 118:22 when he says that he is "the stone which the builders rejected". Perhaps there is some sort of symbolism in the Jews casting stones at the prophets in this context of Jesus as stone, like a sign of rejecting Jesus who the prophets testify of. In any case, Psalm 118:22 is a popular quote. We also find it in Acts 4:11 and 1 Peter 2:7. In Jacob 4:15-16 we read
15 And now I, Jacob, am led on by the Spirit unto prophesying; for I perceive by the workings of the Spirit which is in me, that by the of the they will the upon which they might build and have safe foundation.
16 But behold, according to the scriptures, this shall become the great, and the last, and the only sure , upon which the Jews can build.
This is also based on Psalm 118:22 and implies that the stone which the Jews rejected (perhaps manifested by throwing it at prophets) is something they could have built on to get a sure foundation. I will not go deeper into this as I have posted about it before (here. here and here). But after finishing the parable of the householder and his vineyard, Jesus adds
whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. (Matthew 21:44)
The tables are turned when instead of throwing stones at the prophets who testify of Jesus, the people will instead fall on the stone, which is Jesus, and be broken. This describes the Jews who "looked beyond the mark" as Jacob explains in Jacob 4. But the verse in Matthew goes on to add that there also will be some on whom the stone will fall and grind them to powder. Sounds dramatic. I consider falling on the stone and become broken a description of those who rejected Jesus at his first coming. The stone falling on people to grind them to powder is something I think describes the time of his second coming and the judgment. Elliot's Bible commentary explains:
Whosoever shall fall on this stone.—In the immediate application of the words, those who “fell” were those who were “offended” at the outward lowliness of Him who came as the carpenter’s son, and died a malefactor’s death. That “fall” brought with it pain and humiliation. High hopes had to be given up, the proud heart to be bruised and broken. But there the fall was not irretrievable. The bruise might be healed; it was the work of the Christ to heal it. But when it fell on him who was thus offended (here there is a rapid transition to the imagery and the thoughts, even to the very words, of Daniel 2:35; Daniel 2:44), when Christ, or that Church which He identifies with Himself, shall come into collision with the powers that oppose Him, then it shall “grind them to powder.” The primary meaning of the word so rendered is that of winnowing by threshing the grain, and so separating it from the chaff, and its use was probably suggested by the imagery of Daniel 2:35, where the gold and silver and baser materials that made up the image of Nebuchadnezzar’s vision were “broken in pieces together, and became as the chaff of the summer threshing-floor.” In its wider meaning it includes the destruction of all that resists Christ’s kingdom, and so represents the positive side of the truth which has its negative expression in the promise that “the gates of hell shall not prevail” against His Church (Matthew 16:18).
Other Bible commentaries make similar references to Daniel 2 and the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream.
The Jews rejected the stone, Jesus Christ. The prophets proclaimed Him, but the people threw it back at the prophets to stone them instead. They stumbled and fell on it and became broken as a result instead of building upon it as a sure foundation. Still, the sure foundation offers healing and a second chance until it is cut loose from the mountain without hands and comes rolling down to establish the millenial kingdom and crush all other kingdoms.
There is generally not a time stamp on Christ's teachings in the gospels, but it may seem that his lament in Matthew 23 may have been spoken at the same day as the parable of the houseman in Matthew 21, or at least shortly after
37 O , Jerusalem, thou that the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often I have thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye !
38 Behold, your house is left unto you .
39 I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
The killing and stoning of prophets mentioned here, may therefore refer to the parable he had spoken of just before. Interestingly, he continues quoting Psalm 118 too. The latter part of verse 39 is quoting this Psalm, just a few verses after the verse about the stone.
Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord (Psalm 118:26)
These words had just been spoken by the crowd when Jesus entered Jerusalem. But because Jerusalem stoned the prophets and even rejected the stone, Jesus Christ, the next time people will repeat that statement at the time of his second coming, it will be very unpleasant for some.
