"Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way” (Rom 14:13 NASB). It is significant that Paul uses the Greek word skandalon for “stumbling block.” This is the same word that appears four times in Matthew 18:6–7:

If any of you put a stumbling block [skandalizo = verbal form of skandalon] before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world be- cause of stumbling blocks [skandalon]! Occasions for stumbling [skandalon] are bound to come, but woe to the one by whom the stumbling block [skandalon] comes!

Matthew draws attention to the word skandalon like someone drawing a bullseye around a target. I suspect this is because Matthew views skandalon as a kind of Jewish code word that points his Jewish readers back to a foundational commandment at the center of the Torah. Notably, the metaphorical use of skandalon (as in Matt 18:6–7 and Rom 14:13) is limited exclusively to biblical Jewish literature, and the verbal form of skandalon does not appear outside of the Greek translation of Israel’s Scriptures and the New Testament. The only use of skandalon in the Greek Pentateuch (Torah) is Leviticus 19:14.¹ Here the Lord commands Israel, “You shall not . . . put a stumbling block (skandalon) before the blind.”