Emerald

The emerald is named in the UPDV in five settings: the second row of the high priest's breastplate, the cargo manifest of Tyre's trade with Syria, the gem-covering of the king of Tyre in the garden of God, the rainbow around the throne in heaven, and the fourth foundation of the New Jerusalem. A sixth occurrence is the gold-set emerald signet to which Ben Sira likens the melody of music at a banquet of wine. Across these passages the stone is consistently a green gem of high worth, named in close company with sapphire, jasper, and the other breastplate stones.

Set in the Breastplate

The high priest's breastplate of judgment is built of twelve named stones in four rows. The emerald opens the second row. The construction instruction places it first: "And you will make a breastplate of judgment, the work of the skillful workman; like the work of an ephod you will make it; of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, you will make it" (Ex 28:15). The stones are gathered from the freewill offering of the people: "onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate" (Ex 25:7). When the second row is named, the emerald stands at its head: "and the second row an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond" (Ex 28:18). The gathering of the offering is repeated when the work begins: "and onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate" (Ex 35:9). The execution-record then sets the stones in their rows, and the emerald again leads the second row: "and the second row, an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond" (Ex 39:11). The breastplate is fastened to Aaron at his consecration: "And he placed the breastplate on him: and in the breastplate he put the Urim and the Thummim" (Lev 8:8). The emerald is therefore named twice in the priestly garments: once in the planned design and once in the executed work.

In the Trade of Tyre

When Ezekiel laments the trading-house of Tyre, he records the goods that came in from her partners. Syria is the merchant who supplies the emerald: "Syria was your merchant by reason of the multitude of your handiworks: they traded for your wares with emeralds, purple, and embroidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and rubies" (Ezek 27:16). Emeralds open the six-item Syria-cargo list and rubies close it; between the bracketing gems run purple, embroidered work, fine linen, and coral. The stone is exhibited here as one of the high-luxury imports moving into the Tyrian market.

A Covering in Eden

The next chapter turns from the city's market to the garden, and lists the stones that adorned the king of Tyre at his creation: "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" (Ezek 28:13). The emerald stands eighth in a nine-stone roster that overlaps the breastplate stones, with gold appended at the close. The gem-covering is described as already prepared on the day of the figure's creation, drawing the high-priestly stone-list back into the primal garden.

The Rainbow Around the Throne

In John's throne-vision the emerald is no longer a jewel set in metal but the visible color of a rainbow. The throne-sitter's appearance is described first by two stones — jasper and sardius — and then the throne is encircled by a single-stone bow: "and he who sat [was] to look at like a jasper stone and a sardius: and [there was] a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald to look at" (Rev 4:3). The bow itself is the older sign — "I have set my bow in the cloud, and it will be for a token of a covenant between [my Speech] and the earth" (Gen 9:13) — but here it is graded by a single named gem, so that the green of the emerald is the color the visionary fastens to the rainbow encircling God's seat.

A Foundation of the City

The closing vision of Revelation builds the emerald into the wall of the descending city. The city's light is first described against the gem-class as a whole: "having the glory of God: her light was like a most precious stone, as it were a jasper stone, clear as crystal" (Rev 21:11). The wall then receives twelve named foundations: "The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst" (Rev 21:19-20). The emerald takes the fourth foundation. The same stone that had stood in the priestly breastplate, in the Eden-covering, and in the throne-rainbow is built here into the architecture of the city where God dwells with humanity.

A Signet in Gold

Outside the priestly service and the visionary cycle, the emerald appears once in Ben Sira as an image for fitting beauty. The sage pairs a ruby-signet figure with an emerald-signet figure to grade the rightness of music at a banquet of wine: "A setting of gold with an emerald signet Is the melody of music at pleasant wine-drinking" (Sir 32:6). The gem-and-gold pairing — emerald set within a gold frame — supplies the figure for music's ornamental fit at the meal.