High Priest Breastplate
In Exodus chapters 28 and 39, a number of precious stones are mentioned to be placed in the High Priest's Breastplate, representing the different tribes of Israel. This is generally considered to be (one of) the origin(s) of our present day tradition of birthstones.
According to Rebbenu Bachya, and the King James Version, the Hebrew word Nofech in Exodus 28:18 means Emerald, and was the stone on the Hoshen representing the tribe of Judah. However, the Septuagint translates the word as Anthrax, meaning coal, probably in reference to the colour of burning coal, and therefore many rabbinical sources, and most scholars, consider Nofech to mean a red garnet – traditionally called a carbuncle, which happens to be the Vulgate's translation of the word. There is a wide range of views among traditional sources about which tribe the stone refers to.
There are many complexities to identifying the Emerald as being the third stone or perhaps another stone on the breast plate. Multiple translations of the bible have created confusion about the nomenclature of the different stones. Another important fact is that in actuality there are two different breastplates made within a period of 800 years, and where it is assumed the first breastplate did not carry an emerald but a green felspar, and a real emerald in the second breastplate. Finally the twelfth stone in the Breastplate (which in the original text was actually listed as the 6th stone) has more generally been identified as beryl which was already included in the group of stones generally referred to as Smaragdus by Theophrastus in the Greek era.Further unreferenced claims regarding the possibility of what gemstone the Emerald could really have been include jasper, and even rubies.
In some cultures, the emerald is the traditional gift for the 55th wedding anniversary. It is also used as a 20th and 35th wedding anniversary stone.
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