SPECIAL TOPIC: SAPPHIRE

The MT has a NOUN CONSTRUCT (BDB 6 "stone" and BDB 705 "sapphire") in Ezek. 10:1. This jewel appears several times.

1. a pavement under YHWH's feet at Mt. Sinai — Exod. 24:10
2. a jewel in the ephod of the High Priest — Exod. 28:18; 39:11
3. foundation of the restored people of God to the Promised Land — Isa. 54:11
4. YHWH's throne in the midst of His portable throne chariot — Ezek. 1:26; 10:1
5. the covering of a cherub in Eden, used as imagery of the King of Tyre — Ezek. 28:13

This jewel's name comes into Hebrew as a loan word from Sanskrit. It is a bluish (i.e. the color of the sky), brittle, composite stone from Afghanistan. In Akkadian texts, it is mentioned as part of the temple structure dedicated to "the high god."

Since Pliny it has been identified as lapis lazuli (i.e. Persian loan word).

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