Carbuncle

The carbuncle is a precious stone that surfaces in the UPDV at four points: twice among the gems set into the high priest's breastplate, once among the stones that covered the figure in Eden, and once among the materials envisioned for the gates of restored Jerusalem. The texts present it without describing the stone itself; what they do show is its company — always alongside other precious stones, always in settings of consecration, glory, or future splendor.

In the High Priest's Breastplate

The carbuncle is named in the first row of stones on the breastplate of judgment. The instruction to Moses places it third in that opening row: "And you will set in it settings of stones, four rows of stones: a row of sardius, topaz, and carbuncle will be the first row" (Ex 28:17). When the work is carried out, the same arrangement is reported back: "And they set in it four rows of stones. A row of sardius, topaz, and carbuncle was the first row" (Ex 39:10). The stone is positioned among the twelve that represent the tribes before Yahweh, fixed in gold and worn over the heart.

Among the Stones of Eden

In the lament over the king of Tyre, the carbuncle appears in a list of stones that formed a covering in "Eden, the garden of God." The figure addressed there is described as adorned with nine named stones together with gold: "the sardius, the topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of your tabrets and of your pipes was in you; in the day that you were created they were prepared" (Eze 28:13). The carbuncle stands at the end of the list, just before the gold that closes it.

In the Gates of Restored Jerusalem

In Isaiah's vision of the city to be rebuilt, the carbuncle is named as the material of the gates. The promise sets it inside a wider catalogue of brilliant stones: "And I will make your pinnacles of rubies, and your gates of carbuncles, and all your border of precious stones" (Isa 54:12). Here the stone moves from ornament worn by a person — priest or Eden-figure — to architecture, the threshold of the restored city.