Topaz

פטדה , Exo 28:17; Exo 39:10; Job 28:19; Eze 28:13; τοπαζιον, Rev 21:20; a precious stone of a pale dead green, with a mixture of yellow; and sometimes of fine yellow, like gold. It is very hard, and takes a fine polish. We have the authority of the Septuagint and Josephus for ascertaining this stone. The oriental topazes are most esteemed. Those of Ethiopia were celebrated for their wonderful lustre, Job 28:19.

A precious stone; one of those which were in the breastplate of the high-priest (Exo 28:17), and the origin of which is referred to Cush (Job 28:19). It has been identified with the gem to which the moderns have applied that name. This is a precious stone, having a strong glass luster. Its prevailing color is wine-yellow of every degree of shade. The dark shade of this color passes over into carnation red, and sometimes, although rarely, into lilac; the pale shade of the wine-yellow passes into grayish; and from yellowish-white into greenish-white and pale green, tincal and celadon-green. It may thus be difficult to determine whether the stone in question was the yellow topaz; but that it was a topaz there is little reason to doubt.

It is clear that the stone was highly prized by the Hebrews. Job declares that wisdom was more precious than the topaz of Cush (Job 28:19); and as the name Cush includes Southern Arabia and the Arabian Gulf, the intimation coincides with the statement of Pliny and others, that the topazes known to them came from the Topaz Island in the Red Sea, whence they was probably brought by the Phoenicians. In Eze 28:13, the topaz is named among the precious stones with which the King of Tyre was decked.

A precious stone of wine-yellow color, with occasional pale tinges of green or red. It was one of the twelve gems in the high priest’s breastplate, Exo 28:17 ; 39:10, and was a highly prized product of Cush, or Southern Arabia, Job 28:19 ; Eze 28:13 .\par

Topaz. Topaz is one of the gems used in the high priest’s breastplate, Exo 28:17; Exo 39:10; Eze 28:13, one of the foundations, also, of the New Jerusalem, in St. John’s description of the city. Rev 21:20. The topaz of the ancient Greeks and Romans is generally allowed to be our chrysolite, while their chrysolite is our topaz. Chrysolite is a silicate of magnesia and iron; it is so soon as to lose its polish, unless carefully used. It varies in color from a pale-green to a bottle-green. It is supposed that its name was derived from Topazos, an island in the Red Sea, where these stones were procured.

From pitdah (Hebrew) by transposition. One of the hyaline corundum stones, bright yellow. Second in the first row of the high-priest’s breast-plate (Exo 28:17; Exo 39:10), ninth foundation stone of the wall of New Jerusalem (Rev 21:20). Job (Job 28:19) represents it as from Ethiopia,; so Strabo (xvi. 770), Diodorus (iii. 39), and Pliny (xxxvii. 32). The king of Tyre wore it; among the nine of the 12 jewels of the high priest’s breast-plate; as type of antichrist who shall usurp Christ’s king priesthood (Eze 28:13). Septuagint, Vulgate, and Josephus identify the Greek topaz with the Hebrew pitdah; and Smith’s Bible Dictionary identifies the topaz as our chrysolite and the ancient chrysolite as our topaz. Pliny (H. N. 37, section 8) speaks of "the green tints of the topaz," meaning our chrysolite.

Topaz. Eze 28:13; Rev 21:20. The modern chrysolite, a rather soft and transparent or translucent gem, usually of a pale green. The true topaz is ordinarily pellucid and of a yellowish tint, but sometimes of a brown, blue, or green hue, or even colorless. A single gem of this kind has been sold (it is said) for upwards of $1,000,000. The finest specimens are found in the East Indies.

The Hebrew word is pitdah, and has been supposed to be derived from an island in the Red Sea called Topazos. This would account for the ancient versions calling it ’topaz,’ but the gem is supposed to agree with our chrysolite. Job 28:19 speaks of ’the topaz of Ethiopia.’ It was one of the jewels in the breastplate, Exo 28:17; Exo 39:10; and is included in the prophetical description of the symbolical ’king of Tyrus.’ Eze 28:13. In the N.T. τοπάζιον points to the same stone. Rev 21:20. It is a silicate of magnesia and iron, and being comparatively soft has to be worn with care.

See GEMS:

TOPAZ.—See Jewels and Precious Stones.

tō´paz. See STONES, PRECIOUS.

(ôïðÜæéïí)

Topaz is the ninth foundation-stone of the New Jerusalem (Rev_21:20). The topaz of modern mineralogy was almost unknown to the ancients, and the stone denoted by ôïðÜæéïí was probably that variety of olivine which is now termed chrysolite or peridot. It was found in the ôïðÜæéïò íῆóïò of the Red Sea. Pliny (Historia Naturalis (Pliny) xxxvii. 8) speaks of it as held in very high estimation, ‘e virenti genere,’ and Strabo (XVI. iv. 6) says:

‘The topaz is a translucent stone, sparkling with a golden lustre. It is not easy to distinguish in the daytime, because it is outshone, but at night it is visible to those who collect it. Placing a vessel over the spot as a mark, they dig [the stones] up by day. A body of men is appointed and maintained by the kings of Egypt to guard the place where they are found, and to superintend the collection of them.’

This ancient topaz was soft and easily engraved: ‘eadem sola nobilium limam sentit’ (Pliny, loc. cit.). The modern topaz, on the contrary, is nearly as hard as a diamond.

James Strahan.