Revelation 4:3

Jasper stone. The last of the twelve stones in the High Priest's breastplate (Exodus 28:20; Exodus 39:13), and the first of the twelve enumerated in the foundation of the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:19). Also the stone employed in the superstructure of the wall of the Heavenly City (chapter Revelation 21:18). The stone itself was of different colors, the best being purple. According to chapter Revelation 21:11, it represents a crystalline brightness. Sardine. Rev., Sardius. The sixth foundation - stone of the Heavenly Jerusalem in chapter Revelation 21:20. A red stone, supposed to answer to our cornelian. Pliny derives its name from Sardis where it was discovered. Others from the Persian sered, yellowish red. The exact meaning of the symbolism must remain uncertain, owing to our ignorance of the precise meaning of "jasper," a name which seems to have covered a variety of stones now known under other classifications. Some interpreters, assuming the jasper to be sparkling white, find in it a representation of the holiness of God, and in the fiery sardius a representation of His wrath. Rainbow [ι ρ ι ς]. Only here and chapter Revelation 10:1. The word is identical, and seems to have had some original connection with Iris, the deity known as the messenger - goddess of Olympus. In Homer the word is used in both senses.

"And if thou wishest now to ask of me, No dream I am, but lovely and divine : Whereof let this be unto thee a sign, That when thou wak'st, the many - colored bow Across the world the morning sun shall throw. But me indeed thine eyes shall not behold. Then he, awaking in the morning cold, A sprinkle of fine rain felt on his face, And leaping to his feet, in that wild place, Looked round, and saw the morning sunlight throw Across the world the many - colored bow; And trembling knew that the high gods indeed Had sent the messenger unto their need." William Morris, "Jason," 11, 190 - 200.

In classical Greek the word is used of any bright halo surrounding another body; of the circle round the eyes of a peacock's tail, and of the iris of the eye.

"And I beheld the flamelets onward go, Leaving behind themselves the air depicted, And they of trailing pennons had the semblance, So that it overhead remained distinct With sevenfold lists, all of them of the colors Whence the sun's bow is made, and Delia's girdle." 80 Dante, "Purgatorio," xxix, 73 - 78.

"Within the deep and luminous subsistence Of the High Light appeared to me three circles, Of threefold color and of one dimension, And by the second seemed the first reflected As Iris is by Iris, and the third Seemed fire that equally from both is breathed." " Paradiso, " 33, 115 - 120.

On this passage, which belongs to the description of Dante's vision of the Eternal Trinity, Dean Plumptre remarks : "One notes, not without satisfaction, that Dante shrinks from the anthropomorphism of Byzantine and early Western art, in which the Ancient of Days was represented in the form of venerable age. For him, as for the more primitive artists, the rainbow reflecting rainbow is the only adequate symbol of the" God of God, Light of Light "of the Nicene Creed, while the fire of love that breathes from both is that of the Holy Spirit," proceeding from the Father and the Son. "

Round about the throne. Compare Ezekiel 1:26; Ezekiel 1:28.

Emerald [σ μ α ρ α γ δ ι ν ω]. The stone is first mentioned by Herodotus, who describes a temple of Hercules which he visited at Tyre. He says : "I found it richly adorned with a number of offerings, among which were two pillars, one of pure gold, the other of emerald [σ μ α ρ α γ δ ο υ λ ι θ ο υ], shining with great brilliancy at night" (ii., 44). Also in his story of Polycrates of Samos, the signet - ring which Polycrates cast into the sea, was an emerald set in gold (iii., 41). It is claimed, however, that the real emerald was unknown to the ancients. Rawlinson thinks that the pillar in the Tyrian temple was of glass. The bow was not wanting in the other colors, but the emerald was predominant.