cheenc03a.pdf

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STONES (PRECIOUS)
or, amber') : hut there ir no evidence that the jacinlh
was either iourzd in Lipria, or war known rt all rill
1hkou).' and (b) an opaque banded stone
(Kuut, rnrdonyr ? odpb~~v), the rendering adopted in
EV. Between thew t\ro renderings we must decide
according to (I) the evidence as to i;horn itself, (2) the
evidence as to yalrdLbm (MT y-h) in xii. (g ~9).
which likewise share3 pllpiiXX~ov and bv6pw in B, and
has probably contributed to the confusion.
r. The word faam ha noclear meaning. It may he
a loan-word (n) from Ars. shrnlu, the 'dark' or 'cloudy'
stone, (b) from Ar. 'pale' (Ger.), which suits 'onyx'
(see 5 19. below) or *beryl' (the commoner vnriefies.
and the 'aquamarine,' not the derp green 'emerald.'
cfidpayb,) almost equally well, (i) from Ar. mu,nhhom,
'striped garment' (see b463). which, if it were
established, would be dcclrlve in favour of a handed
stone; or it may be, (n) a place-name (cp Ar. Sohcim
in Yemen), which would not be inconslrtent with the
indication in Gen. 211 that Ghnm (hiOor 6 rrpdmvo,)
came from Hav1r.n~ (p.~.). It is dear, however (from
passage Like Job 28 16 and I Ch. 292, cp Ex. 257 359
35.7). either that the word had a wide generic senre
(rg. .variegated stones '), or that some form of fkkamstone
was important enough to deserve separate ~ncntion
apt from ordinary 'stones to be set.' Moreover, in
I Ch. 291 fohom is coupled with nbni p9b. 'stones of
pigment,' which is likewice generic, arid here idham
might well mean 'variegated' or 'striped' stones.
Now there is one such stone, not yet accormted for in
our list oiidentifieations. It war common in Emot ",.
in all
period=, obtained from the Sinaitic mine-country, and
used throughout, both solid and as a 'stone of pigment.'
It was known to Babvlonie and Assvria. . ~iohblv . from
the copiuur Siberian source. At the wme time it is
green ;nough (though only rarely and partially tmns-
Lucent] to be compared with o@dpcydo, (which we hare
seen wan regarded by Theophrarms as the 'noble'
offspring of the opaque green lomr~) and still more
with the cloudv ~, 'krvl': and aim oaaouc and il~ibrd
~ . '.
enough to be described as a variety of .onyx.' ihin
stone is the 'malachite' (green copper carbonate) with
its wavy or concentric bands and cloudy (rdrnlu) patches
of light, vivid, and dark green, and its occarionul
crystalline varieties. 11 is soft enough, like 'lapis
lazuli,' to k easily
and occurs in lnrge
enough pieces to serve as a tablet for a six-line inscription
like that of the high priest's shouldrr~stonc%. If
Ghan (h. 6 tipd~~ua, par cxreiimrr; cp the Inter Gk.
paAa~irrr, 'marsh-n,allow stone') be identified with
'malachite' (the Eg. rn-f-Lt, according to W M.
Muller) the arsociation of itham with sappir in Job
2816 (66 uql VL++! xal cor@ripp) would find a close
paallel in the 'pyramids of green and blue stows '
1 Whence Petlie(Harting~, DB, 'P+our Ston-') concluder
in iavour of (I) 'ren felrpnr,' pmring larcr into (3) 'beryl':
cp the agummc in favour the litter r.u. Bmvr. (y.~.).
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