GARNET JANUARYPerseverance and Constancy |
FEBRUARY PEARLFaith and Innocence |
[PINK]
HYACINTH  MARCHMoral Beauty and Moral Goodness |
APRIL DIAMONDPurity and Fortitude |
EMERALD  MAYFaith in God and Faithful in Friendship |
JUNE  AMETHYSTPeace of Mind and Sincerity |
RUBY  JULYSuccess and Devotedness to Duty |
AUGUST  SARDONYX [ONYX]Felicity and Conformity to the Will of God |
SAPPHIRE  SEPTEMBERDivine Love and Mercy Love and Repentance in Man |
OCTOBER  [BLUE] OPALHappiness of a Pure Life and Hope |
TOPAZ  NOVEMBERDivine Providence; Resignation and Fidelity |
DECEMBER  TURQUOISEPiety; Fervor in God's Service and Prosperity |
A FEW EXAMPLES OF GEMS IN THE BIBLE
Exodus Chapter 28
The holy vestments for Aaron and his sons.
Note: the rational vestment referred to is also called the rational of judgment because this vestment reminded the priest and the people of their duty of God and it was a warning not to violate this. The gem named ligurious was an ancient precious stone of Israel.
TAKE unto thee also Aaron thy brother with his sons, from among the children of Israel, that they may minister to Me in the priest's office: Aaron, Nadab, and Abiu, Eleazar, and lthamar.
2 And thou shalt make a holy vesture for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty.
3 And thou shalt speak to all the wise of heart, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's vestments, in which he being consecrated may minister to Me.
4 And these shall be the vestments that they shall make: A rational and an ephod, a tunick and a strait linen garment,a mitre and a girdle. They shall make the holy vestments for thy brother Aaron and his sons, that they may do the office of priesthood unto Me.
5 And they shall take gold, and violet, and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and fine linen.
6 And they shall make the ephod of gold, and violet, and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and fine twisted linen, embroidered with divers colours.
7 It shall have the two edges joined in the top on both sides, that they may be closed together.
8 The very workmanship also and all the variety of the work shall be of gold, and violet, and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and fine twisted linen.
9 And thou shalt take two onyx stones, and shalt grave on them the names of the children of Israel:
10 Six names on one stone, and the other six on the other, according to the order of their birth.
11 With the work of an engraver and the graving of a jeweller, thou shalt engrave them with the names of the children of Israel, set in gold and compassed about:
12 And thou shalt put them in both sides of the ephod, a memorial for the children of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord upon both shoulders, for a remembrance.
13 Thou shalt make also hooks of gold.
14 And two little chains of the purest gold linked one to another, which thou shalt put into the hooks.
15 And thou shalt make the rational of judgment with embroidered work of divers colours, according to the workmanship of the ephod, of gold, violet, and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and fine twisted linen.
16 It shall be foursquare and doubled: it shall be the measure of a span both in length and in breadth.
17 And thou shalt set in it four rows of stones: in the first row shall be a sardius stone, and a topaz, and an emerald:
18 In the second a carbuncle, a sapphire and a jasper.
19 In the third a ligurius, an agate, and an amethyst:
20 In the fourth a chrysolite, an onyx, and a beryl. They shall be set in gold by their rows.
21 And they shall have the names of the children of Israel: with twelve names shall they be engraved, each stone with the name of one according to the twelve tribes.
22 And thou shalt make on the rational chains linked one to another of the purest gold:
23 And two rings of gold, which thou shalt put in the two ends at the top of the rational.
24 And the golden chains thou shalt join to the rings, that are in the ends thereof:
25 And the ends of the chains themselves thou shalt join together with two hooks on both sides of the ephod, which is towards the rational.
26 Thou shalt make also two rings of gold which thou shalt put in the top parts of the rational, in the borders that are over against the ephod, and look towards the back parts thereof.
27 Moreover also other two rings of gold, which are to beset on each side of the ephod beneath, that looketh towards the nether joining, that the rational may be fitted with the ephod,
28 And may be fastened by the rings thereof unto the rings of the ephod with a violet fillet, that the joining artificially wrought may continue, and the rational and the ephod may not be loosed one from the other.
29 And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the rational of judgment upon his breast, when he shall enter into the sanctuary, a memorial before the Lord for ever.
30 And thou shalt put in the rational of judgment doctrine and truth, which shall be on Aaron's breast, when he shall go in before the Lord: and he shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel on his breast, in the sight of the Lord always.
31 And thou shalt make the tunick of the ephod all of violet,
32 In the midst whereof above shall be a hole for the head, and a border round about it woven, as is wont to be made in the outmost parts of garments, that it may not easily be broken.
33 And beneath at the feet of the same tunick round about, thou shalt make as it were pomegranates, of violet, and purple, and scarlet twice dyed; with little bells set between:
34 So that there shall be a golden bell and a pomegranate, and again another golden bell and a pomegranate.
35 And Aaron shall be vested with it in the office of his ministry, that the sound may be heard, when he goeth in and cometh out of the sanctuary, in the sight of the Lord, and that he may not die.
36 Thou shalt make also a plate of the purest gold: wherein thou shalt grave with engraver's work, Holy to the Lord. . . .
Job: CHAPTER 28
Man's industry searcheth out many things; true wisdom is taught by God alone.
SILVER hath beginnings of its veins, and gold hath a place wherein it is melted.
2 Iron is taken out of the earth; and stone melted with heat is turned into brass.
3 He hath set a time for darkness, and the end of all things he considereth, the stone also that is in the dark and the shadow of death.
4 The flood divideth from the people that are on their journey, those whom the food of the needy man hath forgotten, and who cannot be come at.
5 The land, out of which bread grew in its place, hath been overturned with fire.
6 The stones of it are the place of sapphires, and the clods of it are gold.
7 The bird hath not known the path, neither hath the eye of the vulture beheld it.
8 The children of the merchants have not trodden it, neither hath the lioness passed by it.
9 He hath stretched forth his hand to the flint, he hath overturned mountains from the roots.
10 In the rocks he bath cut out rivers, and his eye hath seen every precious thing.
11 The depths also of rivers he hath searched, and hidden things he hath brought forth to light.
12 But where is wisdom to be found, and where is the place of understanding?
13 Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it found in the land of them that live in delights.
14 The depth saith: It is not in me: and the sea saith: It is not with me.
15 The finest gold shall not purchase it, neither shall silver be weighed in exchange for it.
16 It shall not be compared with the s dyed colours of India, or with the most precious stone sardonyx; or the sapphire.
17 Gold or crystal cannot equal it, neither shall any vessels of gold be changed for it.
18 High and eminent things shall not be mentioned in comparison of it: but wisdom is drawn out of secret places.
19 The topaz of Ethiopia shall not be equal to it, neither shall it be compared to the cleanest dyeing.
20 Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?
21 It is hid from the eyes of all living, and the fowls of the air know it not.
22 Destruction and death have said: With our ears we have heard the fame thereof.
23 God understandeth the way of it, and He knoweth the place thereof.
24 For he beholdeth the ends of the world: and looketh on all things that are under Heaven.
25 Who made a weight for the winds, and weighed the waters by measure.
26 When he gave a law for the rain, and a way for the sounding storms.
27 Then he saw it, and declared, and prepared, and searched it.
28 And he said to man: Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom: and to depart from evil, is understanding.
Ezechiel CHAPTER 28:13
Note: the gem named sardius is the ruby; jasper is a multi-hewed gem from rock: its green form resembles an emerald and its gold tones, the topaz; chrysolite is a variant of topaz and or peridot, a light, translucent green gemstone; beryl is a cystal-like small gemstone of varying colors, and the carbuncle is a gemstone of reddish-gold hue.
Thou wast in the pleasures of the paradise of God: every precious stone was thy covering: the sardius, the topaz and the jasper, the chrysolite, and the onyx, and the beryl, the sapphire, and the carbuncle, and the emerald: gold the work of thy beauty . . .
Pearls: Matthew 13: 45, 46
Sapphire: Lamentations 4: 7
Diamond: Jeremiah 17:1
Hyacinth: Apocalypse 9:17
Apocalypse CHAPTER 21:18 ff.
18 And the building of the wall thereof was of jasper stone: but the city itself of pure gold, like to clear glass.
19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper: the second, sapphire: the third, a chalcedony: the fourth, an emerald:
20 The fifth, sardonyx: the sixth, sardius: the seventh, chrysolite: the eighth, beryl: the ninth, a topaz: the tenth, a chrysoprasus: the eleventh, a jacinth: the twelfth, an amethyst.
21 And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, one to each: and every several gate was of one several pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
22 And I saw no temple therein. For the Lord God Almighty is the temple thereof, and the Lamb.
23 And the city hath no need of the sun, nor of the moon, to shine in it. For the glory of God hath enlightened it, and the Lamb is the lamp thereof.
24 And the nations shall walk, in the light of it: and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honour into it.
25 And the gates thereof shall not be shut by day: for there shall be no night there.
26 And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.
27 There shall not enter into it any thing defiled, or that worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they that are written in the book of life of the Lamb.
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