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Ch. 12: Urim and Thummin

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THE URIM AND THUMMIM.                     329
inclosing proper names in Egyptian hieroglyphics—the identical form we should have expected in a piece of jewelry executed under similar historical circumstances. As to their arrangement according to their species, no better authority can be adduced than that of Josephus, a writer who from his position had frequent opportunities of inspect­ing the original, both when in use and when deposited in the Temple of Peace in Borne, and whose description more­over could, for three centuries at least after, be verified by any of his readers who was inquisitive upon the subject. His list, too, is confirmed by that given in the Vulgate, an authority also of weight in such a matter, being written at a time, the fifth century, when the knowledge of precious stones, and of the true meaning of their Hebrew appella­tions, may be supposed to have been still maintained.
1st Row.—Sardius, red; Topazius, yellowish green ; Sma-ragdus, bright green.
2nd Row.—Carbunculus, red ; Sapphirus, blue ; Jaspis, green.
3rd Row.—Ligurius (lyncurium), yellow ; Achates, black and white ; Amethystus, purple.
4th Row.—Chrysolithus, yellow ; Onyx, blue and black ; Beryllus, pale green, or pale blue.
Our version gives a different arrangement,* but the stones the same with one exception ; it substitutes the Diamond for the Chrysolithus, a most absurd exchange, for besides its being totally beyond the power of any ancient engraver to bave inscribed the tribe upon this invincible substance, a Diamond to correspond in dimensions with the rest of the stones in the Breastplate must have exceeded the Koh-i-noor
Ch. 12: Urim and Thummin Page of 377 Ch. 12: Urim and Thummin
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