APPENDIX 2. 



GEMS MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE. 



The Bible contains three lists of gems. The first of these is an 

 account of the jewels on the ephod of Aaron. The eyliod is described 

 as having a front part and a back part fastened at each shoulder with 

 an onyx mounted in gold and engraved with the names ot the children 

 of Israel, six on each stone, to memorialize the Lord of the promise 

 made to them. (Exodus xxviii, 6, 12, 29.) The breastplate was made 

 of the same material as the epliod, and folded so as to form a kind of a 

 pouch in which the Urim and Thummin were placed. (Exodus xxxix, 

 9.) The external part of this gorget, or " breastplate of judgment," 

 was set with four rows of gems, three in each row, each stone set in a 

 golden socket and having engraved upon it the name of one of the 

 twelve tribes of Israel. (Exodus, xxviii, 17-20.) 



The following lists taken from Biblical antiquities by Adler and 

 Casanowicz 1 give the names of these stone in the original and in the 

 Septuagint, together with the meaning adopted by most authorities, 

 the rendering of the Revised Version, both in text and margin being 

 added in parentheses: 



In many instances the equivalent of the Biblical names of gems is 

 uncertain in the nomenclature of modern mineralogy, and as a conse- 

 quence there are several distinct lists of names given for the stones in 

 the breastplate. In the Section of Comparative Religions in the United 

 States National Museum is a very old silver breastplate employed as an 

 ornament for the manuscript copy of the Torah, or Pentateuch, used in 

 an ancient synagogue. The twelve stones, with the names of the 



1 Report of the U. S. National Museum, 1896, p. 913. A collection of these stones is on exhibition in the 

 division of Old World Archaeology. Department of Anthropology. 



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