the Third Week of Advent
Click here to learn more!
Bible Encyclopedias
Sapphire
The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia
or A highly prized sky-blue precious stone, frequently mentioned in the Old Testament and Apocrypha (Exodus 24:10, 28:18, 39:11; Job 28:6,16; Song of Solomon 5:14; Lamentations 4:7; Isaiah 54:11; Ezekiel 1:26, 10:1, 28:13; Tobit 13:20). It is doubtful whether Job 28:6 is correctly translated "it hath dust of gold." The ancients, in any case, did not mean by "sapphire" the stone which is now known under that name, but the so-called lapis lazuli, in which are interspersed many pyrites that glitter like gold against the blue background. The sapphire was highly prized by the Babylonians and Egyptians also. It was found in the mines of Upper Egypt (comp. Job c.). In the Old Testament the sapphire is enumerated among the stones on the breastplate of the high priest (Exodus 28:18, 39:11). In the prophetic description of the New Jerusalem sapphire is mentioned as forming the foundations of the city (Isaiah 54:11), also as the material of which the gates are to be built (Tobit 13:20).
It is difficult to say with what meaning the sapphire is used figuratively in the description of the human body in Song of Solomon 5:14 and Lamentations 4:7: the allusions have been referred both to the blue veins and to blue garments; but both passages cited may be corrupt. In the description of the theophany in Exodus and Ezekiel the foundation on which God's throne restsâthe dark-blue firmament with its golden starsâis compared to a floor inlaid with sapphires (Exodus 24:10; Ezekiel 1:26, 10:7).
These files are public domain.
Singer, Isidore, Ph.D, Projector and Managing Editor. Entry for 'Sapphire'. 1901 The Jewish Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tje/s/sapphire.html. 1901.
