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The High Priest's Breastplate 251
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they
were in the nature of lettered dice, possibly two or more, which had
engraved upon them the words "yea" or "nay" or all the letters of the
Hebrew alphabet.
Lapis
lazuli is a stone that had a good deal of importance in early
Scriptural times. It is supposed to have been an engraved stone of
lapis which the Pharaoh set upon Joseph's hand when giving him
authority. In very early times the lapidaries thought that lapis was a
glorified form of sapphire, and indeed, when in ancient writings there
is reference to sapphire, we cannot with any degree of certainty make
sure which of the two stones is meant.
A
Rabbinical legend is responsible for the traditional belief that the
Tables of the Law were made of sapphire, but as obviously there can
never have existed a large enough slab of sapphire upon which to
engrave the Ten Commandments, the legend clearly points to the use of
lapis, and this is strengthened by the esteem in which lapis was
universally held in the land the Hebrews had just left—Egypt.
Thinking
thus of the ancient lineage of gems, the fame of which has existed
since the earliest times, when occasionally some knowing person tells
me that I am engaged in a commerce which at no far distant date will
have no customers, because the world of men will by then have become so
enlightened that it will lay no store by such baubles—why, then I smile
to myself and think neither my livelihood nor my son's livelihood need
be in jeopardy from such a cause. Humankind will have need to rid
itself of many other follies before it can be said that the seven
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