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Bible Dictionaries
Carbuncle
Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary
or ברקת , Exodus 28:17; Exodus 39:10; Ezekiel 28:13; and ανθρεξ , Ecclesiastes 32:5; Tob_13:17; a very elegant and rare gem, known to the ancients by the name ανθραξ , or coal, because, when held up before the sun, it appears like a piece of bright burning charcoal: the name carbunculus has the same meaning. It was the third stone in the first row of the pectoral; and is mentioned among the glorious stones of which the new Jerusalem is figuratively said to be built. Bishop Lowth observes that the precious stones, mentioned Isaiah 54:11-12 , and Revelation 21:18 , seem to be general images to express beauty, magnificence, purity, strength, and solidity, agreeably to the ideas of the eastern nations; and to have never been intended to be strictly scrutinized, and minutely and particularly explained, as if they had some precise moral or spiritual meaning. Tobit, in his prophecy of the final restoration of Israel, Tob_12:16-17 , describes the new Jerusalem in the same oriental manner.
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Watson, Richard. Entry for 'Carbuncle'. Richard Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/wtd/c/carbuncle.html. 1831-2.
