The Hebrews obtained their precious stones from the Middle East, India, and Egypt. At the time of the Exodus Egypt was flooded with riches, and theIsraelites on leaving the land possessed themselves of many precious stones, according to the commandment of God (Ex., iii, 22; xii, 35-36). Later when they were settled in Palestine they could easily obtain stones from the merchant caravans travelling from Babylonia or Persia to Egypt and those from Saba andReema to Tyre (Ezech., xxvii, 22) King Solomon even equipped a fleet which returned from Ophir laden with precious stones (III Kings, x, 11).
The precious stones of the Bible are chiefly of interest in connection with the breastplate of the high-priest (Ex., xxviii, 17-20; xxxix, 10-13), the treasure of the King of Tyre (Ezech., xxviii, 13), and the foundations of the New Jerusalem (Tob., xiii, 16-17, in the Greek text, and more fully, Apoc., xxi, 18-21). The twelve stones of the breastplate and the two stones of the shoulder-ornaments were considered by the Jews to be the most precious. Both Ezech., xxviii, 13, and Apoc., xxi, 18-21, are patterned after the model of the rational and further allude to the twelve tribes of Israel.
The stones composition were the objects of a considerable amount of literature from the fourth century. That such a literature should have arisen is of itself convincing proof that the identification of the stones was no easy problem to solve. At the time of the Septuagint translation the stones to which the Hebrew names apply could no longer be identified, and the translators rendered the same Hebrew name by different Greek words. So also did Josephus who, however, claimed he had seen the actual stones. This, coupled with the fact that the late Biblical lists, although visibly depending on that of Exodus, exhibit here and there notable changes, makes the task of identifying the stones a difficult one.
