Pearl

The pearl of great price, mentioned, (Matt. 13. 46.) being a figurative expression to denote the preciousness of Jesus and his salvation, may serve, to explain wherefore it is that the glories of Christ’s person, and the beauty of his church in him, are so often set forth in Scripture under the similitude of pearls, and rubies, and precious stones. The Hebrews called pearls peninim, (Job 28. 18. and Prov. l2: 15.) the same word is translated rubies. Some have considered them therefore as one and the same; but certainly they are very distinct twhole compass of creation, both in the kingdoms of nature, providence, grace, and glory. All that is lovely, or beautiful, or useful, or orme; (saith Christ) yea, durable riches and righteousness. My frur than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice si

a hard, white, shining body, usually roundish, found in a shell fish resembling an oyster. The oriental pearls have a fine polished gloss, and are tinged with an elegant blush of red. They are esteemed in the east beyond all other jewels.

Pearl. (Hebrew, gabish). The Hebrew word in Job 28:18, probably means "crystal". Pearls, however, are frequently mentioned in the New Testament, Mat 13:45; 1Ti 2:9; Rev 17:4; Rev 21:21, and were considered by the ancients among the most precious of gems, and were highly esteemed as ornaments. The kingdom of heaven is compared to a "pearl of great price." In Mat 7:6, pearls are used metaphorically for anything of value, or perhaps, more especially, for "wise sayings."

(The finest specimens of the pearl are yielded by the pearl oyster, (Avicula margaritifera), still found in abundance in the Persian Gulf, and near the coasts of Ceylon, Java and Sumatra. The oysters grow in clusters on rocks in deep water, and the pearl is found inside the shell, and is the result of a diseased secretion caused by the introduction of foreign bodies, as sand, etc., between the mantle and the shell.

They are obtained by divers trained to the business. March or April is the time for pearl fishing. A single shell sometimes yields eight to twelve pearls. The size of a good Oriental pearl varies from that of a pea to about three times that size. A handsome necklace of pearls, the size of peas is worth $15,000. Pearls have been valued as high as $200,000 or $300,000 apiece. -- Editor).

gabish. Job 28:18. Literally, "ice"; "what is frozen", as in Eze 13:11; Eze 13:13; Eze 38:22 with "stones." So translated "crystal." In Eze 38:17, zekukit translated "glass" for "crystal." The orientals anciently valued the rock crystal for its beauty and pure luster. In the New Testament margaritoee mean "pearls" (Mat 13:45-46; 1Ti 2:9; Rev 17:4; Rev 18:12; Rev 18:16; Rev 21:21). In Mat 7:16, "neither cast your pearls before swine," the pearls resemble peas or acorns, their natural food; so the swine, finding them not so, turn against the giver and rend him. Saving counsels offered to the swinish sensualist only provoke his filthiness and profanity (Pro 23:9; Pro 9:8).

The godly love even the sharp rebuke which heals their souls (Pro 15:31; Psa 141:5; Job 13:23; Isa 39:8, Hezekiah; the Virgin, Joh 2:4-5; Gal 2:14; 2Pe 3:16. Peter). He that is filthy must be filthy still. Pearls are accidental concretions within certain molluscs, especially the Avicula margaritifera found in the Indian ocean and Persian gulf and Pacific. Some foreign substance, introduced naturally or artificially, as a sandgrain, an egg, a parasite, or minute shell, forms the nucleus round which the surface of the mantle deposits nacreous or calcareous matter in thin layers, which hardening forms a shelly coat on the inner side of the valves. A pearl is an abnormal shell, reversed, i.e. the lustrous nacreous coat is external.

In Job 28:18 the word is gabish, which signifies ’ice’ and hence ’crystal.’ In the N.T. παργαρίτης is from ’to glisten, shine,’ and perhaps refers to pearls, such as are discovered in shells of various species. They are mentioned three times as distinct from precious stones. Rev 17:4; Rev 18:12; Rev 18:16. They were worn as an ornament by women. 1Ti 2:9. Metaphorically the term applies to anything costly: things which should not be cast before swine. Mat 7:6. The gates of the heavenly Jerusalem were each of one pearl. Rev 21:21. In the parable of the one Pearl of Great Price the Lord is represented as selling all that He had (as man and Messiah) in order to become its possessor. Mat 13:45-46. It implies the unique character of the church in the eyes of Christ.

PEARL.—This jewel, specially esteemed and familiar in the East, is twice used by our Lord as an image of the preciousness of the Christian religion: once in the saying, ‘Cast not your pearls before swine’ (Mat 7:6), and again in the parable of the Pearl of Great Price (Mat 13:46). A distinction should be observed in the choice of this jewel as a metaphorical expression. In the case of coined money such as talents or pounds, the side of religion emphasized is the active life of good works, and the lesson conveyed is that of duty. The value of the pearl is not primarily a commercial value; it is something which appeals to its possessor as a unique and priceless possession, precious for its own inherent qualities of beauty and rarity, something for which all that a man has may be sold, itself to be jealously treasured, not to be cast at the feet of those to whom it has no meaning. The pearl is not, from the purchaser’s point of view, merely a counter of commerce, it has a beauty which is its own, and which can be appreciated only by him who knows. It stands not for any utilitarian aspect of religion, but for the secret shared between the soul and God, which loses its beauty and its value if it is paraded before those who do not understand its sanctity. The main points of the two passages would seem to be the transcendent beauty and preciousness of personal religion, and the need of reticent reverence to guard it.

M. R. Newbolt.

By: Emil G. Hirsch, Wilhelm Nowack, Executive Committee of the Editorial Board., M. Seligsohn

—Biblical Data:

Since ancient times the precious product of the pearl-oyster (Mytilus margaritifer Linn.) has been known and has been an article of commerce (comp. Pliny, ix. 35, 54 et seq.; Ælian, x. 13, xv. 18). The ancients, however, knew only of pearls from the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea. In the last-named waters is found a kind of oyster, red on the outside, a lustrous red mother-of-pearl on the inside, and producing red pearls. It is possible that Semitic peoples valued the red pearls very highly, since the Arabic form—"marjan"—of the Sanskrit word for pearl, "mangara" (from which latter the Greek μαρ γαρίτης is derived), designates both little pearls and red coral.

The Israelites, also, were probably acquainted with pearls; but it is doubtful if pearls are mentioned in the Bible. Usually, one of the two words "peninim" and "ra'mot" is taken to mean pearls. Both are objects of great costliness (comp. Job xxviii. 18). In Lam. iv. 7 "peninim" is supposed by some authorities to indicate objects whose color is red—probably red pearls. Others, however, take these two words to mean corals. A decisive conclusion is not possible. In any case the "neṭifot" mentioned in Judges viii. 26 and Isa. iii. 19 have nothing to do with pearls; and still less has the word used in Esth. i. 6, which is so translated in some versions because the corresponding Arabic is a word denoting pearls.

—In Rabbinical Literature:

Among the different Aramaic terms for pearl, alone seems to be restricted to the pearl, while , and the Hebrew are sometimes used to designate precious stones in general. Thus (Ex. xxviii. 17) is rendered by the Jerusalem Targum; and (Gen. vi. 16), which denotes something to illuminate Noah's ark, is explained in Gen. R. xxxi. 11 as being a , by which term a brilliantgem is to be understood. The Rabbis had the notion that pearls are found in the interior of fish; hence the story of the tailor who observed the Sabbath and was rewarded by finding a pearl in a fish which he had bought (ib. xi. 5). The Persians were considered to be the best pearl-fishers (R. H. 23a).

The pearl was regarded as very costly; e.g., "a pearl that is worth thousands of zuzim" (B. B. 146a); "a pearl that has no price" (Yer. Ber. ix. 12d). Its beauty is proverbial. The coats which God had made for Adam and Eve were as beautiful as pearls (Gen. R. xx. 12); the manna was as white as a pearl (Yoma 75a). The pearl is one of the things the purchase of which is not subject to the laws of Ona'ah, for the reason that the buyer of a pearl looks for a second one to match it (B. M. iv. 8; ib. Gemara, 58b). One reference, however, 'Ab. Zarah 8b, declares the pearl to be inferior to a precious stone, unless denotes in that passage a diamond of inferior quality (see above). Pearls are designated also as drops: oil remained on Aaron's beard like two pearl-drops (Hor. 12a; comp. Earring).

The pearl and its shell are used parabolically; e.g., "If I had not taken off the shell [lit. "the potsherd"], thou wouldest not have found the pearl" (Yeb. 72b). The term "pearl" is used metaphorically to denote any valuable thing; e.g., a good slave (Ḳid. 18a), or a halakah, or any reasonable interpretation (Ḥag. 3a and elsewhere). Sometimes it designates a prayer: "Rab and Samuel instituted a pearl in Babylon" (Ber. 32b), referring to the prayer beginning "Wa-todi'enu." The soul is in several passages termed "margalit" (Yer. Kil. ix. 32c; Yer. 'Ab. Zarah ii. 41a), which word may denote "pearl" as well as "precious stone." As a betrothal ring should be devoid of gems, there is a discussion concerning one containing a pearl, the opinion of most of the rabbis being that the betrothal in the case of which such a ring is used is binding (see Shulḥan 'Aruk, Eben ha-'Ezer, 31, 2).

Bibliography:

Krauss, Lehnwörter, ii. 350 et seq.;

Kohut, Aruch Completum, s.v. and ;

Lampronti, Paḥad Yiẓḥaḳ, s.v. ;

Levy, Neuhebr. Wörterb. s.v. and .

PEARL.—References in OT are uncertain. In Job 28:10 gâbîsh is in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘pearls,’ but in RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘crystal,’ while pĕnînîm in same verse is in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘rubies,’ hut in RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘pearls.’ In Est 1:6 dar should perhaps he rendered ‘pearl’ or ‘mother-of-pearl.’ In NT pearls (Gr. margaritai) are mentioned in Mat 7:8; Mat 13:45 f., 1Ti 2:9, Rev 21:21. The last ref. must be to mother-of-pearl. Pearls are a pathological production of the mollusc Avicula. margaritifera.

E. W. G. Masterman.

purl. See STONES, PRECIOUS.

(ìáñãáñßôçò, Lat. margarita or -um)

In ancient as in modern times women adorned themselves with pearls (1Ti_2:9); the ‘woman arrayed in scarlet and purple’ was decked with them (Rev_17:4; Rev_18:16); and they are included in the merchandise of the apocalyptic Babylon-Imperial Rome (Rev_18:12). The pearl itself is a lusus naturae.

‘The cause of pearl-formation is in most cases, perhaps in all, the dead body of a minute parasite within the tissues of a mollusc, around which nacreous deposit is secreted … so that, as a French writer has said, the ornament associated in all ages with beauty and riches is nothing but the brilliant sarcophagus of a worm’ (EBr_11 xxi. 26, 27).

The ancient world obtained its pearls chiefly from the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. For fine specimens fabulous prices were paid. The single pearl which Cleopatra is said to have dissolved and swallowed was valued at £80,000. The twelve gates of the New Jerusalem are figured as twelve pearls, each gate one pearl (Rev_21:21).

James Strahan.

Mat 7:6 (b) This represents the precious truths of GOD and the beautiful revelations of His Word which should not be presented to militant atheists nor to hostile, ungodly men.

Mat 13:45 (b) This gem is a type of the church which is hidden in the world, and sought out by our Lord JESUS CHRIST who paid the great price at Calvary to purchase us with His own Blood.

Rev 21:21 (b) These gems are probably descriptive of the life experience of the twelve patriarchs. Their names appear on these twelve pearls. (See vvs. 12, 21). In the Old Testament (Exo 28:21), the names of these same men were on stones. Having lived their lives, and the twelve tribes having gone through the terrible experiences of the centuries, these stones were changed into pearls, for pearls are the product of long suffering. The tiny stone in the shell becomes covered with the pearl substance by the oyster because of suffering.