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The Rejected Stone Rose From Mud to Foundation

Nebuchadnezzar looked down from his boat, saw the kings of Judah walking the riverbank with nothing on their backs, and ordered loads put on them.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. Mud to the Elbow
  2. The Son the Builders Passed Over
  3. Faces Like the Bottom of a Pot
  4. Why Do These Walk Empty
  5. Harps in the Willows
The Rejected Stone Rose From Mud to Foundation Click for full size

Mud to the Elbow

For generations Israel had stood in Egyptian courtyards with clay drying on their arms, and every Egyptian who walked past knew exactly what they were for. Then they walked out of the country under clouds of glory, and the people who had owned their labor could not stop staring.

"Until yesterday you were slaves at every kind of hard work," the Egyptians said. "Now look at you."

"You are amazed at us," Israel answered. "We are more amazed than you are. I did not know my own soul had made me chariots of a noble people." And a third voice closed it: this was the Lord's doing, and it was a wonder in our eyes.

The Son the Builders Passed Over

Builders sort stone. They keep what will bear weight and roll the rest down the slope. Abraham produced Ishmael and the sons of Keturah. Isaac produced Esau and all his chiefs. Jacob, the least promising of the three, produced twelve sons and not one of them was discarded. "We are all the sons of one man," they said in Egypt, "we are honest men" (Genesis 42:11).

Jacob himself refused to take credit for it. Crossing back over the ford, terrified of his brother, he called himself unworthy of the smallest kindness God had shown him. Asked how many kindnesses there had been, he would not put a number on it. They have no measure, he said. God has shepherded me my whole life to this day.

The stone the builders rejected turned out to be the foundation the whole wall came to rest on.

Faces Like the Bottom of a Pot

Centuries later the same people came up the road out of their own country in chains, and the villagers who ran out to look at them flinched. The faces were burned black as the underside of a cooking pot. "This is the city they used to call perfect in beauty, the joy of the whole earth?"

She answered them herself. "Do not stare at me because I am dark. The sun scorched me." My own doing, she said. I let go of the Holy One and went walking after the sun and the moon. My mother's sons burned me, and my mother's sons were my prophets, Zedekiah son of Chenaanah and his friends, who told me what I wanted to hear until this happened. They set me to keep vineyards. At Sinai I was given one festival day to keep, and now I sit here keeping two of them and still cannot discharge the debt. My own vineyard I never kept at all.

Why Do These Walk Empty

They had not sat down once between the border and the river. Their captors drove them on purpose. Their God is merciful, the guards told each other; if we show these people a kind face he will turn around and pity them, and we will have carried them all this way for nothing. So they ran them until their necks were raw.

The Euphrates killed more of them than Nebuchadnezzar's soldiers did. At home they had drunk rain and spring water and running streams. Now they drank river water and it emptied the column.

Nebuchadnezzar sailed alongside in a boat with his nobles and every instrument in Babylon playing, while the kings of Judah walked the bank in iron chains with nothing on. He looked over the rail and frowned. "Why do these walk with no load?" His servants went down and put burdens on their shoulders, and the backs of the kings of Judah bent under them.

Then the whole column broke and roared, and the sound went up past the clouds. God moved to return the world to formlessness. Everything I made, He said, I made only for these. I laid the earth with my own two hands. I will pull it down.

The ministering angels came in and stood in front of Him. "Master of the world. The world and everything in it is yours. Was it not enough to wreck your house below, that you would wreck your house above too?"

"Do I need comforting? Am I flesh and blood, that I need your comfort? I know how this ends. Look away from me. I will weep bitterly. Do not hurry to comfort me. Your comforts are an insult to me. Go down and get the load off my children."

They went down. Not the angels alone. He carried it with them, and were it not written in the prophet nobody would dare say it: for your sake I was sent to Babylon.

Harps in the Willows

At Be'eri the townspeople came out to meet the column, saw men in iron lying in the dust, and wept over them. These are the people of the Lord, they said, and they have gone out of his land.

Then they did a strange thing. They stripped their own slaves and servants bare and presented them to Nebuchadnezzar as a gift. He stared at them. "Why would you do this?"

"We thought perhaps the king is fond of naked people."

"It is nothing but a disgrace," he said. "Go and put clothes on Israel." For that trick God spread more beauty over the men of Be'eri than over anyone else in the Land.

In their own country Jeremiah had begged them to turn back before the sentence was sealed, and they had not listened. In Babylon they became scrupulous. They took the harps down off their shoulders and hung them in the willows by the water.

Their captors wanted a concert. "Stand up and sing to our gods the way you sang in your Temple."

"If we had sung in our own place, we would still be standing in it. Now you want us to sing to an idol?"

They stood. The bodies went down in heaps along the bank, and the survivors were glad, because not one of them had opened his mouth. Then God swore an oath on Himself. If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget. He took that hand and put it behind his back when the exile began, and He has never brought it forward again. The first house was built by human hands and an enemy pulled it down. The last one He builds Himself, and it will stand on the rejected stone.

JacobIsraelEgyptPsalm 118FoundationRedemptionMidrash TehillimTribesExodusStone
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From the tradition

Sources

3 sources

The texts behind this telling. Some cards carry a translation of the source; others are our own retelling of it, and each card says which. Every card links out to the original.

Midrash Tehillim 118:20Midrash Tehillim

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology · CC-BY

Where do we find this idea? It springs from Midrash Tehillim, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Psalms. Specifically, it's Psalm 118 that sparks this particular midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) fire. "The stone that the builders rejected has become the foundation" – a verse that resonates deeply with themes of unexpected redemption and divine choice.

What does it really mean? The midrash goes on to illustrate this concept through the patriarchs. Abraham, for example. He had Ishmael, and the sons of Keturah. Isaac had Esau and all his princes. But it was Jacob, the seemingly less favored son, who fathered the twelve tribes of Israel. And these twelve tribes, the midrash emphasizes, were "complete for God," as we see in (Genesis 42:11), "We are all sons of one man, we are sincere." There's a sense of wholeness, of perfection, that comes specifically through Jacob's lineage. The verse from (Song of Songs 4:7), "You are altogether beautiful, my love," further emphasizes this idea of completeness and divine favor.

So, what's the connection? The rejected stone, in this interpretation, represents those who might be initially overlooked or considered less significant. Yet, they ultimately become the very foundation upon which something great is built.

The midrash doesn’t stop there. It continues, "By the Lord, this was wondrous in our eyes." Imagine the scene: The Knesset Yisrael, the congregation of Israel, is enslaved in mud and bricks in Egypt. They're at their lowest point. Then, they're liberated! They rise up "in clouds of glory." The Egyptians, who had oppressed them, are astonished. "Until now you were enslaved in all kinds of hard labor," they say, "and now you are rising in all glory!"

And how does Israel respond? "You are amazed at us, but we are more amazed than you!" They echo the sentiment of (Song of Songs 6:12), "I did not know my soul had made me chariots of my people, a noble steed." It's as if they're saying, "We didn't even realize the potential within us!" The Holy Spirit then seals the moment, declaring, "By the Lord, this was wondrous in our eyes." The people who were once enslaved, the people who were once building with mud and bricks, they become something glorious, something awe-inspiring. The transformation is so profound, so unexpected, that everyone – even the Israelites themselves – are filled with wonder.

Maybe you feel like that rejected stone. Maybe you feel like you’re stuck in the mud and bricks. The Midrash Tehillim reminds us that even from the most unlikely places, greatness can emerge. Redemption is always possible. And sometimes, the very qualities that make us feel overlooked are the very qualities that make us essential. It’s a message of hope, resilience, and the ever-present possibility of transformation.

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Midrash Tehillim 118:4Midrash Tehillim

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology · CC-BY

In fact, it teaches us that it's really not fitting to sing your own praises… unless someone else steps up to vouch for you. But then, who vouches for God?

That's the question posed in Midrash Tehillim, a collection of interpretations on the Book of Psalms. Specifically, here, So, who does testify to God's goodness?

Well, think about Jacob. He says, "The kindness you have shown me is not for a day or a year, but for eternity." He even says, as we find in (Genesis 32:11), "I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant." Now that's humility! The Rabbis ask: Just how many kindnesses has God done for you, Jacob? His answer? "They have no measure," pointing to (Genesis 48:15) where he says, "God has shepherded me."

The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) doesn't stop there. It has Israel itself speak up, reflecting on the Exodus story. "What did I do to them in Egypt? And what did I pay them in the desert?" Remember God's constant protection? As (Exodus 13:21) reminds us, "And the Lord goes before them by day."

And what about at Sinai? Midrash Tehillim continues: "And what did they do to me at Sinai?" The people answered, as recorded in (Exodus 24:7), "All that the Lord has spoken, we will do and obey." It was at that very moment, the midrash suggests, that God proclaimed, "I remember the kindness of your youth," as we find in (Jeremiah 2:2).

It's a powerful moment. It highlights the reciprocal relationship between God and the Jewish people.

Then Midrash Tehillim takes another turn, urging, "Let the house of Aaron say, 'God is good, for His kindness is eternal.'" This is compared to a generous homeowner who treats his workers well, providing the best wine at threshing time, without nitpicking their work. They might not even realize all that's going on behind the scenes to make it happen!

The Midrash asks: Who really knows a master's servants and palace attendants? Well, in this case, it's the sons of Aaron, the kohanim, the priests, who offer sacrifices to God at all times. They are the ones constantly in service, constantly aware of the divine presence.

So, what does it all mean? It seems Midrash Tehillim is teaching us that recognizing God's goodness isn't just about reciting a formula. It's about looking back at our history, at our relationship with the Divine, and seeing the countless ways in which we've been cared for. It's about recognizing the dedication of those who serve, and appreciating the unseen efforts that sustain us.

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Pesikta Rabbati 20:3, 28:1Pesikta Rabbati

Translation of the source text.Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology · CC0

"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. Upon the willows in the midst thereof we hanged up our harps," and so forth (Psalms 137:1-2). This is what was said through Jeremiah the prophet: "My tent is despoiled, and all my cords are broken" (Jeremiah 10:20). Concerning whom did they say this verse? Jeremiah said it only concerning Israel. Even though they said it concerning Israel, they returned and said it concerning the Holy One, blessed be He. At the hour that Israel went into exile and the Temple was destroyed and its Sanhedrin uprooted, the Holy One, blessed be He, was weeping over them in bitterness of soul, and He took up a lament over them and was astonished over them. He said concerning them: My tent is despoiled, and the enemies entered and plundered My sanctuary, and I sit and keep silent. And "tent" means nothing other than the Temple, as it is said: "the tent which He had set among men" (Psalms 78:60). But what can I do? It is the attribute of justice before Me. "And all my cords are broken": this is the Sanhedrin, which is to the world like cords to a tent. Just as a tent cannot stand except by means of cords, so were it not for the elders who sit in the Great Sanhedrin and fix the festivals and intercalate the years and the months and permit the permitted and forbid the forbidden and set the world in order, the world could not endure even one hour. "My children are gone forth from me, and they are not" (Jeremiah, ibid.). And are Israel not in existence in the world? Do you not find that Israel exists from one end of the world to the other? Rather, what is the meaning of "my children are gone forth from me, and they are not"? That My children do not observe the festivals according to their fixed order, as they were commanded at Sinai.

Thus the Congregation of Israel would say to the nations of the world at the hour that they went into exile, when they were astonished, when they saw them, that their faces had blackened like the bottom of a pot, and would say: Is this the city of which they said, "The perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth" (Lamentations 2:15)? Are these they of whom it is said: "And your renown went forth among the nations for your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendor," and so forth (Ezekiel 16:14)? At that hour they justified the judgment upon themselves and said: Far be it from the Holy One, blessed be He, to render judgment without justice, to fulfill what is said: "Even all the nations shall say, Wherefore has the LORD done thus unto this land?" and so forth, "and they shall say, Because they forsook the covenant of the LORD," and so forth (Deuteronomy 29:23-24). She said to them: "Look not upon me, that I am swarthy, that the sun has scorched me" (Song of Songs 1:6). What do you see, that my face has blackened like the bottom of a pot? "The sun has scorched me"; my deeds caused it for me, that I forsook the Holy One, blessed be He, and went after the sun and the moon. And who caused me to do all these deeds? "My mother's sons were incensed against me" (ibid.); my mother's sons, my false prophets that I had, such as Zedekiah son of Chenaanah and his companions; they caused me to come to the hand of this sorrow. "They made me keeper of the vineyards" (ibid.): when I was commanded from Sinai, I was commanded to keep but one day; and now they have made me keeper of the vineyards, sitting and keeping two festival days, and I do not fulfill my obligation on them. "But my own vineyard I have not kept" (ibid.). "There is none to stretch forth my tent any more, nor to set up my curtains" (Jeremiah, ibid.). What is this? And is the Temple not destined to be built? Rather, "there is none to stretch forth my tent" away from you, "nor to set up my curtains" away from you. Rather, the first Temple, which flesh and blood built, fell into the hand of the enemy; but the last Temple, which the Holy One, blessed be He, builds, as it is said: "The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He gathers together the dispersed of Israel" (Psalms 147:2), will never again be destroyed. Therefore it is said: "My tent is despoiled," and so forth.

Another interpretation: "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept." What does "there we sat down" teach? It teaches that they had no settling from the time they went out of the land of Israel until they reached the Euphrates; they had no rest to settle. Therefore the Babylonians fell upon them with intercourse. They said: The God of these is merciful, and once they appease Him, He turns again and has mercy upon them; perhaps they will repent and all join together and call to their God and return, and we will have gained nothing. Therefore they pressed them and drove them on against their will, as it is said: "On our necks are we pursued," and so forth (Lamentations 5:5); "Our pursuers were swifter," and so forth (Lamentations 4:19). What did Israel see, to weep by the rivers of Babylon? Rabbi Yochanan said: The Euphrates killed more of Israel than the wicked Nebuchadnezzar killed of them. When they dwelt in the land of Israel, they would drink only rainwater and flowing waters and waters of springs; and when they were exiled to Babylon, they drank the waters of the Euphrates, and many of them died from them. Therefore they wept over those slain whom their enemies killed among them, and over those of them who died on the road and were not allowed to be buried, and over those slain whom the waters of the Euphrates killed among them. And not only this, but the wicked Nebuchadnezzar sat in a ship, he and all his nobles and all his princes, and with them all kinds of music, as it is said: "the Chaldeans, in the ships of their shouting" (Isaiah 43:14); and all the kings of Judah were cast in chains of iron and went naked along the bank of the river. The wicked Nebuchadnezzar lifted up his eyes and saw them. He said to his servants: Why do these go without a burden? Immediately they took a burden and placed it upon their shoulders, until their stature was bowed because of the burden, as they said concerning themselves: "On our necks are we pursued" (Lamentations 5:5).

At that hour all Israel cried out in weeping until their weeping went up on high. Rabbi Aha bar Abba said: At that hour the Holy One, blessed be He, sought to return the entire world to formlessness and void. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: All that I created, I created only for the sake of these, as it is said: "I will also smite My hands together, and I will satisfy My fury" (Ezekiel 21:22); the world that I created, I created only with My two hands, as it is said: "My hand also has laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand," and so forth (Isaiah 48:13); I will destroy it. Rabbi Tachalifa bar Keruya said: At that hour all the ministering angels entered and stood before the Holy One, blessed be He, and said before Him: Master of the universe, the world and its fullness are Yours; is it not enough for You that You destroyed Your dwelling below, that You would destroy Your dwelling-house above? He said to them: Do I need comfort, or am I flesh and blood, that I should need your comfort? Behold, I recognize the end, as it is said: "Even to old age I am He; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you; I have made, and I will bear" (Isaiah 46:4). Therefore I said: "Look away from Me; I will weep bitterly; labor not to comfort me" (Isaiah 22:4). It does not say "do not add," but "labor not." He said to them: These comforts of yours with which you comfort Me are revilings before Me; descend from before Me and place the burden off of My children. Immediately there descended not the ministering angels alone, but the Holy One, blessed be He, also bore with them. Were the verse not written, it would be impossible to say it: "For your sake I have sent to Babylon" (Isaiah 43:14).

And as all Israel came into the exile, the sons of Beeri and the sons of other provinces went out to meet them, and they saw them flung in chains of iron; they were astonished and wept over them and said: "These are the people of the LORD, and they are gone forth out of His land" (Ezekiel 36:20), for surely these are they. What did the sons of Beeri do at that hour? They stripped their menservants and their maidservants and offered them as a gift to Nebuchadnezzar. He said to them: Why do you do this? They said to him: We say that perhaps you are a king who loves the naked. He said to them: Since it is only a manner of disgrace, go and clothe them with what belongs to Israel. What was the reward of the sons of Beeri? The Holy One, blessed be He, extended kindness to them above all the land of Israel; and there were none in the land of Israel more beautiful than the sons of Beeri. They said: Any man who enters there does not wish to leave without transgression. What is the meaning of "yea, we wept"? That the Holy One, blessed be He, weeps with them.

Rabbi Isaac expounded: "Upon the willows in the midst thereof we hanged up our harps" (Psalms, ibid.). Come and see the dust of the land of Israel as to repentance: while they were in the land of Israel, Jeremiah would say to them, Repent before the decree of judgment is sealed upon you, and they did not accept it; once they were exiled, they conducted themselves with holiness in the commandments; they took their harps and hanged them upon the willows. "For there they that led us captive asked of us words of song," and so forth (Psalms, ibid.). At that hour the nations of the world said to them: Stand up and sing before the idolatry as you used to sing in the Temple. They said to them: Had we sung the song in our own place, we would not have been exiled from our land; and now how shall we sing a song before idolatry? Rabbi Isaac ben Tablai would say a parable: To what is the matter likened? To a king of flesh and blood who married a king's daughter. He said to her: Stand and pour me a cup; and she did not wish to pour for him. He was angry with her and expelled her from his house. She went and married a man stricken with boils. He said to her: Stand and pour me a cup. She said to him: Worthless one, I was a king's daughter and was married to a king, and because he said, Pour me a cup, and I did not wish to pour for him, he was angry with me and expelled me from his house; whereas had I poured for him, I would have added honor to my honor and I would have remained in my place; and now you say to me, Stand and pour for me? So too Israel say to the nations of the world: Had we sung the song before the Holy One, blessed be He, in our own place for all the miracles He did for us, we would have dwelt in our place and not been exiled from our land; and now shall we sing a song before idolatry? Immediately they stood up and flung from among themselves heaps upon heaps of slain. And even though they killed many of them, they had joy that they had not sung a song before idolaters, as it is said: "and our tormentors asked of us mirth" (ibid.).

At that hour the Holy One, blessed be He, swore to Israel a complete oath, as it were He brought it forth upon Himself: If I do not fulfill My oath, as it is said: "If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning" (Psalms, ibid.). The Holy One, blessed be He, took His hand and turned it backward at the hour that Israel was exiled, as in the matter that is said: "He has drawn back His right hand from before the enemy" (Lamentations 2:3). As it were, the Holy One, blessed be He, did not return it to its place. And so the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel: Let My right hand, which I have turned backward, be forgotten, if I do not establish for you this oath, and if I do not remember you among the nations of the world. "Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I remember you not; if I set not Jerusalem above my chief joy" (Psalms, ibid.); for the Holy One, blessed be He, is destined to return to Jerusalem all her joy, as in the matter that is said: "And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing, and everlasting joy upon their heads" (Isaiah 35:10). And everyone who mourns over Jerusalem in this world shall rejoice with her in the time to come, as it is said: "Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all that love her; rejoice for joy with her, all that mourn over her" (Isaiah 66:10). They said in the name of Abaye: Joy comes only on the Ninth of Av, because they fixed it as mourning at this time, and the Holy One, blessed be He, is destined to make it a festival day, as it is said: "And I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow" (Jeremiah 31:13).

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