the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
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Bible Encyclopedias
Adamant
The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia
or This term occurs three times in the Old Testament (Ezekiel 3:9, Zechariah 6:12, Jeremiah 17:1), and is used as a translation for shamir. Although no definite idea can be gathered concerning the identity of the substance intended from these passages, it is possible to determine its nature and the uses to which it was put. A very hard substance is clearly indicated in all the passages, and in Jeremiah 17:1 it is compared with the engraver's tool of iron. In the two other passages it is used figuratively to express an unyielding, stubborn, and defiant spirit. The diamond can not be meant by Jeremiah 17:1, for the diamond was not used for engraving by the ancients, and indeed it is doubtful whether the diamond in its polished form was known to them. The substance used for engraving was corundum (Petrie, "Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh," p. 173), and this is probably intended by the "adamant" of the Bible. The reading "adamant" in Ecclus. 16:16 is evidently wrong. It does not give any intelligible meaning, and in the manuscript discovered by Schechter, the Hebrew reads "for the sons of man" ("Wisdom of Ben Sira," ed. Schechter and Taylor, 1899, p. 10, text). The Talmud, explains SHAMIR as a miraculous worm that was used in engraving the stones on the breastplate of the high priest, and according to a widespread legend which became known to the Arabs, Solomon was assisted by this worm in the building of the Temple (Soá¹ah, 24b, 48b).
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Singer, Isidore, Ph.D, Projector and Managing Editor. Entry for 'Adamant'. 1901 The Jewish Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tje/a/adamant.html. 1901.
