STUMBLING BLOCK
(Heb. “mikshol”; Gr. “proskomma”).
Anything that, placed in another’s path, could make them stumble and fall. It was prohibited by the Law, and such things had to be eliminated from Israel (Lev. 19:14; Is. 57:14).
However, their own iniquity became a stumbling block to them (Ez. 7:19; 14:3-7). In the Church care must be exercised, so that nothing causes another to stumble (Rom. 14:13; 1 Cor. 8:9).
Jehovah of hosts was to be a sanctuary for the believing remnant, but he would be a stone to stumble, and a stumbling block to fall, to both houses of Israel (Isa. 8:14; here the term used is “negeph,” which defines the act of stumbling).
When the Lord was on the earth he became this stumbling block to the Jews, and continues to be so, because of his rebellious unbelief (Rom. 9:32, 33; 1 Pet. 2:8).
Among them, those who receive the gospel become Christians, and are incorporated into the Church. In relation to this, the term used is “skandalon”, lit.: “the stocks of a trap” that, if touched, traps (Rom. 9:33; 11:9; 1 Cor. 1:23; 1 Pet. 2:8).
This same term is used of the stumbling block that Balaam taught Balak to cause the Israelites (Rev. 2:14); of the “scandals,” or snares, which by the very nature of things in this fallen world, threaten the saints in their walk (Mt. 18:7; Luke 17:1).
Mention should be made of the occasion when the Lord told Peter that it was a “stumble” to him, when Peter attempted to divert the Lord from his path of obedience that should lead him to the cross (Mt. 16:23).