The
passage in Revelation xxi, 19, 20, is not the only one in that book
treating of precious stones, for we read in chapter iv, 2, 3 :
And immediately I was in the Spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone : and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
The
commentators, both ancient and modern, have given many different
explanations of the symbolic meaning of the similes employed here.
Some have seen in the two stones a type of the two judgments of the
world, by fire and by water ; others find that they signify the
holiness of God and his justice. Of the rainbow "like unto an
emerald," Alford says we should not think it strange that the bow is
green, instead of prismatic: "the form is that of the covenant bow, the color even more refreshing and more directly symbolizing grace and mercy." 1β
