Exodus 28:17

a sardius. Heb. "ôdem, -redness," LXX. σάρδιον, Vulg. sardius: Ezekiel 28:13; Revelation 21:20. The sardius is described by the ancients as -blood-red": it is either what we call the cornelian (Kn. Di., Myres altern.), or the opaque red jasper (Petrie, Myres altern.). The ruby(RVm.) is improbable, because (1) it is found only in countries as distant from the Hebrews as Ceylon and Burmah, and (2) because it is so hard that it was scarcely ever engraved in antiquity.

a topaz. Heb. p̣iṭdâh, τοπάζιον, topazius(Ezekiel 28:13; Revelation 21:20); spoken of in Job 28:19 as coming from Ethiopia. The modern -topaz" was hardly known before Greek times. -The τοπάζιον of the Greeks was a translucent, golden-coloured (διαφανὴς χρυσοειδὲς ἀποστίλβων φέγγος, Strabo xvi. 770), or yellow-green (e virenti genere, Plin. H. N.xxxvii. 8) stone, probably the modern chrysolite (or peridot); and this was in common use for scarabs and cylinders of all dates" (Myres). The ancient topaz was obtained chiefly from an island (τοπάζιος νῆσος) in the Red Sea (Strabo, p. 770). The identification with the Ass. ḥipindu[EB.iv. 4803) depends upon an alteration in the Heb. text (ibid.5140).

a carbuncle. Heb. bâréḳeth, σμάραγδος, smaragdus: Ezekiel 28:13; Revelation 4:3; Revelation 21:20. Probably, if these renderings are right, a rock-crystal, a colourlessstone, used for engraving in Egypt at all periods: or (Petrie) only a colourless stone would shew a rainbow of prismatic colours (Revelation 4:3), or could have been used by Nero for an eye-glass (Pliny, H. N.xxxvii. 64). So also Myres, who compares carefully the rival claims of beryl.