Sapphire

ספיר , Exo 24:10; Exo 28:18; Job 28:6; Job 28:16; Son 5:14; Isa 54:11; Eze 1:26; Eze 10:1; Eze 28:13, σαπφειρος, Rev 21:19, only. That this is the sapphire, there can be no doubt. The Septuagint, the Vulgate, and the general run of commentators, ancient and modern, agree in this. The sapphire is a pellucid gem. In its finest state it is extremely beautiful and valuable, and second only to the diamond in lustre, hardness, and value. Its proper colour is pure blue; in the choicest specimens it is of the deepest azure; and in others varies into paleness, in shades of all degrees between that and a pure crystal brightness, without the least tinge of colour, but with a lustre much superior to the crystal. The oriental sapphire is the most beautiful and valuable. It is transparent, of a fine sky colour, sometimes variegated with veins of a white sparry substance, and distinct separate spots of a gold colour. Whence it is that the prophets describe the throne of God like unto sapphire, Eze 1:26; Eze 10:1. Isa 54:11-12, prophesying the future grandeur of Jerusalem, says,

“Behold, I lay thy stones in cement of vermilion, And thy foundations with sapphires:

And I will make thy battlements of rubies, And tiny gates of carbuncles;

And the whole circuit of thy walls shall be of precious stones.”

“These seem,” says Bishop Lowth, “to be general images to express beauty, magnificence, purity, strength, and solidity, agreeably to the ideas of the eastern nations; and to have never been intended to be strictly scrutinized, or minutely and particularly explained, as if they had each of them some precise moral or spiritual meaning.” Tob 13:16-17, in his prophecy of the final restoration of Israel, describes the New Jerusalem in the same oriental manner: “For Jerusalem shall be built up with sapphires, and emeralds, and precious stones; thy walls, and towers, and battlements, with pure gold. And the streets of Jerusalem shall be paved with the beryl and carbuncle, and with stones of Ophir,” Rev 21:18-21.

Sapphire, a precious stone, mentioned in Exo 24:10; Exo 28:18; Job 28:16; Eze 28:13; Rev 21:19. It is next in hardness and value to the diamond, and is mostly of a blue color of various shades. It is often found in collections of ancient gems.

A gem next in hardness and value to the diamond, and comprising, as varieties, all those precious stones known by the name of oriental gems, namely, the oriental ruby, oriental topaz, and oriental emerald, Joh 21:25 . In general the name of sapphire is given to the blue variety, which is either of deep indigo blue, or of various lighter tints, Exo 24:10, and sometimes gradually passes into perfectly white or colorless, which, when cut, may also pass for a diamond, Exo 28:18 ; 39:11; Jer 21:19 .\par

Sapphire. (Hebrew, sappir). A precious stone, apparently of a bright-blue color, Exo 24:10; set as the second stone, in the second row, of the high priest’s breastplate, Exo 28:18; extremely precious, Job 28:16. It was one of the precious stones, that ornamented the king of Tyre. Eze 28:13. The sapphire of the ancients was not our gem of that name, namely, the azure or indigo-blue, crystalline variety of corundum, but our lapis lazuli (ultra-marine).

One of the hyaline corundums; deep blue, hard, brilliant, and costly. Representing the hue of the divine throne. On the high-priest’s breast-plate (Exo 28:18); some think the lapis lazuli is meant (Exo 24:10). Eze 1:26; Eze 10:1; Job 28:6; Job 28:16; Son 5:14, sapphire, sparkling in the girdle round Him; Isa 54:11; Lam 4:7, "their polishing was of sapphire," they were like beautifully cut and polished sapphires. The sapphires represent the blue veins of a beautiful person (Eze 28:13). The best sapphires came from Persia. Our sapphire is the azure or indigo blue, crystalline corundum; but the Latin and Greek sapphire was "refulgent with spots of gold, azure, never transparent, not suited for engraving when intersected with hard crystalline particles" (Pliny, H. N. 37:9); i.e. the lapis lazuli. The Hebrew lapis lazuli is transparent and suited for engraving; probably our sapphire.

sappir , σάπφειρος. When Moses, and the elders, etc., went up into the mount to God "there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone." Exo 24:10. In Ezekiel’s vision, above the firmament, was seen the "likeness of a throne as the appearance of a sapphire stone." Eze 1:26. It was one of the stones in the breastplate, and one that garnished the foundation of the holy Jerusalem. It is symbolical of heavenly glory. Exo 28:18; Rev 21:19. The word occurs in Job 28:6; Job 28:16; Son 5:14; Isa 54:11; Lam 4:7; Eze 10:1; Eze 28:13. Probably an azure or sky-blue stone. Some suppose it was the Lapis-lazuli, others identify it with the modern sapphire.

(Hebrew, ):

By: Joseph Jacobs, Immanuel Benzinger

A highly prized sky-blue precious stone, frequently mentioned in the Old Testament and Apocrypha (Ex. xxiv. 10, xxviii. 18, xxxix. 11; Job xxviii. 6, 16; Cant. v. 14; Lam. iv. 7; Isa. liv. 11; Ezek. i. 26, x. 1, xxviii. 13; Tobit xiii. 20). It is doubtful whether Job xxviii. 6 is correctly translated "it hath dust of gold." The ancients, in any case, did not mean by "sapphire" the stone which is now known under that name, but the so-called lapis lazuli, in which are interspersed many pyrites that glitter like gold against the blue background. The sapphire was highly prized by the Babylonians and Egyptians also. It was found in the mines of Upper Egypt (comp. Job l.c.). In the Old Testament the sapphire is enumerated among the stones on the breastplate of the high priest (Ex. xxviii. 18, xxxix. 11). In the prophetic description of the New Jerusalem sapphire is mentioned as forming the foundations of the city (Isa. liv. 11), also as the material of which the gates are to be built (Tobit xiii. 20).

It is difficult to say with what meaning the sapphire is used figuratively in the description of the human body in Cant. v. 14 and Lam. iv. 7: the allusions have been referred both to the blue veins and to blue garments; but both passages cited may be corrupt. In the description of the theophany in Exodus and Ezekiel the foundation on which God's throne rests—the dark-blue firmament with its golden stars—is compared to a floor inlaid with sapphires (Ex. xxiv. 10; Ezek. i. 26, x. 7).

SAPPHIRE.—See Jewels and Precious Stones.

saf´ı̄r. See STONES, PRECIOUS.

(óÜðöåéñïò, from îַôéø)

Sapphire is the second foundation stone of the New Jerusalem (Rev_21:19), an idea probably suggested by Isa_54:11. Doubtless the lapis lazuli is meant (so Rev_21:19 Revised Version margin). According to Theophrastus (Lap. 23) the sapphire is ‘as it were spotted with gold dust.’ (ὥóðåñ ÷ñõóüðáóôïò), and Pliny (Historia Naturalis (Pliny) xxxvii. 38) alludes to its ‘aureus pulvis,’ and again (39), ‘in iis [sapphiris] enim aurum punctis conlucet caeruleis.’ This description does not suit the stone now called sapphire, but is fully applicable to the lapis lazuli, which ‘frequently contains disseminated particles of iron-pyrites of gold-like appearance’ (Encyclopaedia Britannica 11 xvi. 199). In Exo_24:10 the Septuagint says that under God’s feet is ὡóåὶ ἔñãïí ðëßíèïõ óáðöåßñïõ-a fine simile for the star-gemmed azure sky (cf. Eze_1:26.). The modern sapphire is probably the ancient ὑÜêéíèïò, or ‘jacinth’ (q.v. [Note: .v. quod vide, which see.] ).

Literature-C. W. King, The Natural History of Precious Stones and Gems, 1865, pp. 273-277; J. H. Middleton, The Engraved Gems of Classical Times, 1891.

James Strahan.

Isa 54:11 (a) Our Lord JESUS is compared to this beautiful stone because of His holy and heavenly character, and as the foundation of GOD’s Church. It is also a picture of the heavenly character of the nation of Israel as they will appear when GOD finishes His training of them.

Eze 1:26 (a) This is a bright blue stone which is typical of the heavenly and holy character of our Lord. (See also Son 5:14; Eze 10:1; Rev 21:19).

A rare and valuable blue stone.