Gemstones often play a vital and fascinating role in the Bible, as they are seen as a slowdown in wealth for kings and rulers, as well as a sign of divine creation. Gemstones such as topaz, emerald, pearls and sapphires are listed in the Bible and have meanings of their own. In the Old Testament, the 12 different gemstones were used to symbolize the 12 tribes of Israel. In the New Testament, these stones are symbolically used to describe how the new city of Jerusalem will be built.
Some say that the 12 gemstones also represent each of the 12 apostles or each of the 12 signs of the zodiac, although these interpretations may be debatable. Topaz also appears in the three important biblical references to gemstones. Called “the king of gems” in some ancient cultures, rubies are considered to be the rarest and most precious gemstone in the world. and English versions of the biblical descriptions of the ornaments, only 9 of the 12 stones of the cuirass are mentioned; they are not in the same order as the corresponding stones in the cuirass as described in those VSS, silver is not mentioned at all, while gold is placed, not in the middle, but at the end of the list.
However, although diamond is used to engrave hard substances, other stones can serve the same purpose. From the first foundation to the twelfth, the stones used were jasper, sapphire, chalcedony, emerald, sardinyx, sardium, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, chrysoprase, hyacinth and amethyst, respectively. Professor Maskelyne and Professor Sayce, accepting green as the color of shoham, have expressed the opinion that the stone known by that name in early times was the stone called 'siamu by the Assyrians, and therefore green turquoise; Professor Maskelyne gives Amazonian stone as an alternative representation of the word. The twelve stones, except the chaledon, are mentioned by Pliny; the few important stones described by him, but not mentioned by John as foundations, are crystalline and adamas, both colorless; onyx, notable more for its structure than for its color; electrum (amber), a soft material; carbunculus, fiery red; callaina, pale green, probably turquoise; cyanus, dark blue; and opalus (opal); classified in the time of Pliny immediately after smaragdus in value.
And if the meaning of the Hebrew names of stones had not been carefully passed down from one generation to the next while the cuirass no longer existed (for example, during Babylonian captivity), or if stones such as those of the original shell were not available when a new armor was being manufactured, there would inevitably be differences in the armor at different times. There are several places in the Old Testament where ruby is the term used in the translation of several stones. Because of the similarity of the words bareqeth and baraq (lightning), it has been suggested that possibly the stone of the shell was not green but bluish red, in which case it may have been an almandine (garnet). The onyx of the Roman era was an opaque stone with black and white layers, like the onyx of our day.
The fact that the translators of the Septuagint were not sure of the correct translation of the Hebrew names used for precious stones to the Greek names used in their time, and that they translated the Hebrew name from a stone in more than one way, can be shown as follows:. Sometimes, later in the context of Scripture, the exact meaning of the symbol is explained or clarified, and other times it is left to deduction. Pliny the Elder (23 - 6 A.D.) describes the imitation sardonyx made of a triple strip of quality white, red and black stone, cemented. The Greek names of stones and their verbal equivalents in Latin presumably had the same meaning for both writers; therefore, it is possible, at least in some cases, to determine what name is now assigned to a stone mentioned in the New Testament if the name and description are recorded in Pliny's treatise ; the results are shown in the following alphabetical list.
the versions were correct, yasheh, which had as its Greek equivalent iaspis, must have been the last stone of the second row; moreover, onuchion (Septuagint) and beryllus (Vulgate) must be equivalent, not to yashef, but to some other stones of the shell. Beryl is a stone composed of silica, alumina and glucine, being beryl and emerald of the same species. . .
