Diamond

The diamond appears in scripture as one of the twelve gemstones set in the high priest's breastplate, and as a figurative point of hardness used both for engraving and for the unyielding stone of human guilt.

A Stone in the Breastplate

The diamond is named in the second of the four rows of stones set in the breastplate of judgment. In the original instructions for Aaron's vesture, the rows are laid out by name: "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; and the second row an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond; and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; and the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper: they will be enclosed in gold in their settings" (Ex 28:17-20). When Bezalel and his craftsmen carry out the instructions, the same arrangement is reproduced verbatim, with the diamond again standing as the third stone of the second row: "And they set in it four rows of stones. A row of sardius, topaz, and carbuncle was the first row; and the second row, an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond; and the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; and the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jaspar: they were enclosed in enclosings of gold in their settings" (Ex 39:10-13).

A Point for Engraving

A second use is figurative — the diamond as the hardest available cutting tip. In the indictment of Judah's idolatry, the prophet describes guilt as etched permanently into the heart and altar by such an instrument: "The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, [and] with the point of a diamond: it is graven on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of your⁺ altars" (Jer 17:1). The image is permanence — a record cut so deep it cannot be effaced.

Among the Stones of Eden

In the lament over the king of Tyre, the diamond reappears in a catalogue of gems that form the covering of the figure who once dwelt in Eden's garden. Several of the breastplate stones are named together, the diamond among them: "You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, 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 arrangement differs from the breastplate, but the cluster — sardius, topaz, diamond, beryl, onyx, jasper, sapphire, emerald, carbuncle — overlaps with it almost entirely.