M.L.
GLIKMAN, ISRAEL
09.04.2017
The years are going by, forming centuries that, in turn,
become millennia. However, the mineralogical meaning of the stones on the
breastplate-hoshen of the High Priest remains a mystery. Every year new names are
added to the list of researchers in this field but the problem remains unsolved.
Before reviewing their work, we would like to emphasize that there is no
mention of any kind of “precious stones” – “even chen, even yakara or even tova”
in the Torah (the Pentateuch). Many of the
names of the hoshen stones are only mentioned two or three times in the Tanach,
while the commentators continue regarding hoshen as an adornment on the chest
of the High Priest and “decorate” it with more and more precious stones. We
believe that even though the object was made out of gold and stones, it had
never served as an adornment, neither when it was created, nor during the days
of the Divine Presence in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple. Hoshen was an
integral part of the device of direct communication with the Сreator.
And now to the latest publications:
Zohar Amar, a professor at the Bar Ilan University (Ramat Gan, Israel) wrote in his article "זיהוי אבני החושן" (2016) that it
is not important which stones were on the First Temple’s hoshen, what matters
is which stones will be on the Third Temple’s hoshen: odem – sardius; pitdah – peridot;
bareket – garnet, spinel; nofech – emerald; sapir – sapphire, yahalom – green
diamond; leshem – yellow zirconium; shevo – gagate, black diamond; achlama –
onyx; tarshish – topaz; shoham – aquamarine; yashfe – opal or labradorite.
The Temple Institute (Machon haMigdash, Jerusalem, Israel) have also presented
their vision of the issue: odem – red chalcedony; pitdah – green topaz; bareket
– green emerald; nofech – kallaite; sapir – blue corundum, sapphire or garnet; yahalom – rough
diamond or quartz; leshem –
yellow or red zirconium; shevo – black and white agate; achlama – amethyst;
tarshish – aquamarine; shoham – beryl or onyx; yashfe – jasper.
Such “rare” diversity of opinions.
While pondering upon all the information obtained
during the years of our research, we suddenly realized that except Bezalel (the
actual “manufacturer” of the hoshen) and the High Priest, nobody had seen the stones,
as they were hidden from the human eyes inside the hoshen between its front and
back (directly adjacent to the chest of the
Cohen) parts.
It became clear that we needed to find evidence to support our assumption, the
hard evidence. It seems absurd that the High Priest had to work hard when
reading an answer from the Сreator to his own question regarding the future of
a particular tribe of the whole people. The shining letters should have
been right in front of his eyes. And this could only have been possible if the
stones were placed inside and not outside the hoshen and fixed on the inner
surface of its front part. Let’s remember that the hoshen was a woven doubly
folded fabric, square in shape, which was attached to the chest of the High
Priest. By unfolding (laying out) the hoshen (with the internal placement
of the stones) by 180 degrees, we would get the effect of the “upside down”
letters on the stones (we initially used this terminology in the article
“Restoring the breastplate-hoshen of the High Priest”). When we bring back the
parts of hoshen to the 90 degrees position, the answer from Heaven becomes
easily readable by the High Priest from right to left. The first stone “odem” would
be located to the right of the High Priest, while the last stone “yashfe” would be to the left. The High Priest would
open the hoshen upon receiving the answer and close it back at the end of the
“communication session”.
Should our reasoning be correct, the stones were located INSIDE the
hoshen mounted on golden settings attached to the inner surface of its front
part.
But what about the numerous drawings and paintings found in books and on the
Internet depicting the High Priest with the hoshen on his chest and the twelve
stones on its outer surface? Is it just a pictorial demonstration (by way of illustration)
or a mistake that goes back centuries? And what about the Jerusalem Temple
Institute research and hoshen reconstruction with the stones on the outer
surface, which has been publicly displayed at a museum? Perhaps, the outer placement
of the stones warranted RASHI and other commentators to believe that the twelve
stones in golden settings served as embellishments on the High Priest’s garments.
Has anyone else ever suggested such a hidden placement of the hoshen stones and
would we be able to find any evidence in the text of the Torah?
We started searching for answers in the available to us literature.
It turned out that Abraham ibn Ezra (1089-1164) was the first one to come up
with the idea that the stones had been placed inside of the hoshen. In his
commentary to the chapter 25 of the Book of Shemot (Exodus) he mentions Josef
from Babylon who said that the hoshen was folded in two and the stones were
placed in the middle. RAMBAM (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, 1135-1204) wrote that the
letters on the hoshen glowed before the High Priest’s face and that the twelve
stones were the Urim ve Thummim
(הלכות
כלי המקדש , פרק י,יא).
While Rashi (Rabbeinu Shlomo Yitzchaki, 1040-1105) wrote that Urim ve Thummim
were the names of the Сreator. Then the whole subject of “the stones inside the
hoshen” had been forgotten until 2006 when Rav Avigdor Elbom wrote a small
pamphlet “Antithesis to the Hosen Stones”. Based on the commentaries of the Torah
sages he tried to come to an unambiguous conclusion: “The hoshen stones were
placed inside the hoshen between its folds. Thus, the High Priest would open
the hoshen in the question-answer process". His son, Rav Yosef Yehiel
Elbom, published an article “The Hoshen Stones Were Placed Inside” (2007), in
which he defended his fathers’ conclusions. Both works were sharply criticized by
Rav Azariah Ariel (2014). His conclusion sounded like a verdict: “There is no evidence
to support the idea that the stones were inside the folds (“pockets”) of the hoshen.
And nobody has ever believed in that other than an obscure sage from the ibn Ezra’s
commentary”. To strengthen his position, he cited the words of RAMBAN (Rabbi Moshe
ben Nachman, 1195-1270) that the stones are not what was used to fill a vessel.
Back in 1981 the Torah commentator A.S. Hartom expressed the currently
prevailing opinion in his commentaries to the Book Shemot: “It is self-evident
that the stones were placed on the outer surface of the hoshen” (page 104).
All the above-mentioned contemporary publications were based on the analysis of
various statements by certain Torah commentators and the information gleaned from
the Babylonian Talmud (Tractate Yoma) without a detailed analysis of the technology
and the process of the making of the hoshen outlined in the Torah. We decided to
go back to the Torah and study once again, what it has to say about the hoshen
and the twelve stones. While working with the Torah translations into Russian we
encountered the tendency to replace the literal meanings of Hebrew words with
set phrases and literary embellishments that to some degree distort the
original meaning of the text. For the Russian translations of the Torah and
Rashi commentaries we have used the internet site: http://www.ejwiki-bible.org/wiki .
Some of the chapters of the Second Book (Shemot – Exodus) tell us about the
tasks that the Сreator entrusted Moshe Rabbeinu with: building the Tabernacle,
making the Ark of the Covenan, the Temple ware and the High Priest’s garments. In
this book we also learn that Bezalel the son of Uri was chosen by God and given
special wisdom and knowledge to carry out all the works including working with
stones: “Becharoshet even lemalot” (31:5; 35:33). This is literally translated as:
“skill, art (artisan’s work) of filling up a stone”. The Hebrew “charash” means
a master, an artisan, while “charoshet” means industry. The sentence is
generally translated into Russian as: “Carve stones for insertion”. In the
dictionaries we find such expressions as: “charash nechoshet” - a coopersmith; “charash etz” – a carpenter and
“charash barzel” – a blacksmith. It would appear reasonable to suggest that
“charash even” means a stone mason, however, it is usually translated as “a
stone carver”. The word “carve” (on stone or wood) in Hebrew is “charat” חרת (The Hebrew – Russian Dictionary edited by B.
Podolsky, T-A, 1992, p. 104), while a carver on stone is “chakak” חקק. Therefore,
there is no mention of stone carving in the above-mentioned sentence. We can suggest
the following understanding of the sentence: “In the mastery of filling
with the stone”. Perhaps, it refers to an unknown to us technology of stone enhancement
for the hoshen or artificial stones manufacturing. The interim conclusion: the Сreator
had gifted Bezalel with the highest level of knowledge in the field of working
with stones.
RASHI thus commented on the meaning of the expression “becharoshet”: “(it) means
mastery or craft, in the same way as “charash – חרש” means a masterful craftsman...”
We find the first mention of the hoshen stones in the chapter 25 of the Second
Book that lists all the offerings necessary for making the High Priest’s garments:
“shoham stones, and the
miluim stones for the ephod and the hoshen” (vs. 7). In the chapter 35 it is written
that the rulers (leaders, heads of tribes) “… brought shoham stones, and the miluim
stones for the ephod and the hoshen” (vs. 25). The shoham stone is translated
as onyx in all the Russian translations. In our earlier work “The Shoham Stone
from the Land of Havilah, Part 3” we have proved that it is carnelian. However,
now we are most interested in the expression “the miluim stones”. Here are just
some examples of its translation:
D. Yosifon: “the set-in stones”;
P. Gil: “other inserted stones”;
Edition of R. S.R. Girsh: “the stones for the mounting”;
F. Gurfinkel: “the mounting stones”;
Torah
Mi-Zion: “the set-in stones”;
L.
Mandelstam: “the stones for the mounting”;
Synodal
translation: “the set-in stones”.
RASHI referred to them as “the filling stones” as, in his opinion, they filled
nests-settings (“mishbetzot”) specially made for them.
In dictionaries we find the following translations
of the word “miluim – מלואים”: reserve
military service, additions, supplements, stuffing, filler. However, there is also
a word “miluah – מלואה” meaning
the setting (for stones). Then the translation “the mounting stones, the stones
for the mounting” makes sense.
Dr. Asher Shafrir notes that the word miluim rarely appears in the Tanach and
is always used in plural meaning “male” – מלאor “shalem” –
שלם(complete and whole respectfully). Then the expression “the
miluim stones” means they filled the settings.
But perhaps, it is much simpler: “… the shoham stones and the additional stones
…”. There were eleven such stones on the breastplate of the High Priest. Three
shoham stones: two on the ephod and one on the hoshen. More on this is in chapter
28 of the Book of Exodus. This chapter lists all the stones of the breastplate
(vs. 17-20) starting with the instruction (vs. 17): “Vemileta bo meluat even …”
D. Yosifon translates it: “And insert in it
the set-in stones”;
P. Gil: “And insert in it the mounted stones”;
Edition of R. S.R. Girsh: “Strengthen the settings for the stones”;
F. Gurfinkel: “And insert in it the filling made of stones”;
Torah
Mi-Zion: “And fill it with the stone filling”;
L.
Mandelstam: “And you shall insert in it the stone setting”;
Synodal
translation: “And insert in it the mounted stones”;
Dr. Uri Linetz in his commentary (2012) wrote:
“And fill it with the filling of the stone”
The key words for understanding of the
above-mentioned instruction are “mileta bo –בו מלאת”.
Do they mean “insert in it” or “fill it”? This refers to the hoshen. Taking the
expression “mileta bo” from the Torah text, we conducted a survey of some
students and teachers in the town of Bnei Brak (Israel) in order to see how they would understand
this expression: inside or outside. The answer was unambiguous: inside, i.e.
the stones should be placed INSIDE THE HOSHEN. It should be noted that all the
respondents knew the Scriptures really well – they cited the continuation of
the vs. 17 by heart.
The next dilemma is how to translate the
action: insert or fill?
V. Dal (The Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Russian Language, 1996) wrote:
“… to insert something into something or somewhere … is to place inside, in the
middle…” (Vol. 1, p. 270); to fill something with something is to replace the
emptiness, to put inside, to become full…” (Vol. 2, p. 453).
According to S.I. Ozhegov (The Russian Dictionary,
M. 1986) “to fill something with somebody or something is to make full,
occupied, saturated with something to the limit” (p. 331), while “to insert
something into something is to place inside something” (p. 91).
In the list of synonyms for the words “fill” and “insert” there is one common word:
“lay over”. The interim conclusion: “To insert in order to fill.
To maintain the experimental integrity, we decided to check how the word
“mileta” is translated in other verses. For example, in Exodus 28:41 it is
written: “Vemileta et yadam”. It refers to the hands of the sons of Aaron the High
Priest. Below are the translations of this expression:
D. Yosifon: “and authorize them”;
P. Gil: “and perform the rite of their initiation”;
Edition of R. S.R. Girsh: “and authorize”;
F. Gurfinkel: “and grant them the authority”;
Torah Mi-Zion: “and you shall fill their hands”;
L. Mandelstam: “will authorize them (you shall fill their authority in the
hand)”;
Synodal translation: “and fill their hands”.
RASHI gives the following commentary: “… literally: fill their hands (grant
them power and authority). This expression always means initiation,
introduction (to an office). When appointing a person to a position of
responsibility the ruler puts a glove in his hand … and by means of this action
he grants him the authority…)”
Conclusion: the literal translation of the word “mileta” both in vs. 17 and vs.
41 is “FILL”. Then the translation of the verses should be: “AND FILL IT
(hoshen) WITH THE MOUNTED STONE”; “AND FILL THEIR HANDS...”
For
the sake of an illustration, let us present some examples of the translation of
part of vs.17 into other languages.
Translations
into English:
"And
thou shalt set in it settings of stones…"
"And
thou shalt fill it…"
"And
fill in it a filling of stone…"
"You
will fill it with a filling of stone…"
"
And fill in fillings of stones…" The first example is most
common.
In German we would like to emphasize two
versions. The first one belongs to Martin Luther (1545): "Und sollst es
fullen mit vier Riegen voll Steine". The second version is more
contemporary: "Und besetze es mit eingesetzten Steinen " or "…mit gefasten
Edelsteinen".
Another example is in Italian: "Lo riempirai
con quattro file fi pietre". The word "riempirai" means "fill, fill out".
Chapter 39 of the Book of Exodus tells
us about the work done by Moshe Rabbeinu and Bezalel. There are three versions
of translation vs.10 into Russian: “And
inserted in it four raws of stones“; “On it they fastened the settings for the stones”; “And filled
four rows of stones in it”. The last version is from the Torah Mi-Zion
translators.
Despite the
lack of unambiguity in the translations, there is still a group of researchers
- translators of the Torah (who also function as its commentators), who agree
that the stones were located, placed between the parts of the hoshen folded in
two.
But let us go back to the contens of chapter
28 of the Book of Shemot (Exodus), which describes in great detail how to
fasten the hoshen on the High Priest’s chest and which fittings should be made
specifically for this purpose.
14 and you shall make two chains of pure gold like
braided cords, and fasten the braided chains to the [golden] settings.
22 “You
shall make chains for the breastplate at the end, like braided cords of pure
gold.
23 And you shall make two
rings of gold for the breastplate, and put the two rings on the two ends of the
breastplate.
24 Then you shall put the two
braided chains of gold in the two rings which are on the ends of the
breastplate;
25 and the other two
ends of the two braided chains you shall fasten to the two settings, and
put them on the shoulder straps of the ephod in the front.
26 “You shall make two
rings of gold, and put them on the two ends of the breastplate, on the edge of
it, which is on the inner side of the ephod.
27 And
two other rings of gold you shall make, and put them on the two shoulder
straps, underneath the ephod toward its front, right at the seam above the
intricately woven band of the ephod.
28 They
shall bind the breastplate by means of its rings to the rings of the ephod,
using a blue cord, so that it is above the intricately woven band of the ephod,
and so that the breastplate does not come loose from the ephod.
Let us sum up the materials for the fastening: six golden rings, four golden chains and a blue cord had to be made.
The breastplate – hoshen, when unfolded, is rectangular in shape, its size
being one cubit by half a cubit (a span). A ring is attached to each corner
(four rings – four corners) and then the hoshen is folded in half (then there
is a front part and the back part). The two remaining rings are attached to the
corners of the fold.
We proceed to the fastening. The two golden
rings at the corners of the back part of the hoshen touching the chest of the
High Priest are attached by two golden chains with the golden setting of the
ephod stones on his shoulders. The two golden rings at the corners of the front
part of the hoshen are attached by two golden rings to the shoulder straps of
the ephod in the front. The two golden rings on the corners of the fold of the
hoshen are used to attach the ephod with the blue cord “so it wouldn’t fall down”.
Thus, the
back part of the hoshen was rigidly fastened at the top by a golden chain
running from the golden setting of the efod stones to the golden rings at the
corners of this part of the hoshen, and at the bottom it was fastened by the
blue cord. The front part of the hoshen, already fixed at the bottom, was flexible
at the top. The two chains, coming from the golden rings of this part, were,
most likely, fastened by a hook in the front of the ephod. Such a fastening
created all the necessary conditions for opening the hoshen before the
communication session and closing it back upon its completion.
The main conclusion: THE HOSHEN STONES HAD BEEN HIDDEN FROM THE EYES OF THE
STRANGERS. THE HIGH PRIEST (directly) AND THE KING STANDING BEHIND HIM (over
the Cohen’s shoulder) COULD SEE THE STONES AT THE MOMENT OF COMMUNICATION WITH
THE CREATER.
1. Our analysis of the Torah text regarding the stones placement in the hoshen and
its fastening to the efod on the chest of the High Priest confirmed all the assumptions
made by the researchers who were the first ones to propose that the hoshen
stones had been located on the inner surface of the outer part of the hoshen.
2. It
makes sense that when the hoshen was opened, the writings on the stones (the
names of the tribes) would appear from right to left and the first stone was
located at the top right corner of the inner surface of the outer part of the
hoshen. “The letters glowed before the High Priest’s face”.
3. Upon completing his communication with the Сreator, the High Priest would
close the hoshen fixing the chains on the front part of the ephod. Thus, the
stones would be hidden from all other people praying at the Temple.
4. Should a hoshen made nowadays, for example at the Temple Institute, be turned
inside out then the stones would be inside the hoshen filling it out.
5. It remains a mystery, which stones were on the hoshen, as well as the very process
of the “art, skill of filling out the stone”.
6.
Some information to consider: in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and ancient Greece
GLASS WAS CONSIEDERED TO BE A STONE.
In "Real Encyclopaedia der classischen Alterthumswissenschaft
in alphabetischer Ordnung" (1852, стр.2691), section "Vitrum" we see that
the ancient Greeks called glass "litos chute" - "gegossener
Stein" - "cast stone", an expression clearly borrowed from
the ancient Egyptian language. The Greek word "ualos" also denoting glass
had appeared much later.
Ancient Egyptians called glass melt (Glasfluss) “inr n wdh” or “`З.t wdh”,
where ‘inr’ and “`З.t” denoted Stein - stone, and “wdh”
denoted giessen – "pour" or schmelzen (Metall) –"cast".
The word "thn.t” appears in later texts and means "Glas" –glass.
It derives from the word "thn " – glaenzen – shine. The blue glass in
the style of lapis lazuli was called “hsbd wdhw”.
The term “cover with glass” – mit Glas uberziehen in
ancient Egyptian was “mrh”. By comparison, the verb “to smear, to cover" is
in Hebrew - “mrh” - -
מרח marakh. In Egyptian the word Fullung – filling
is “mhw”, the same word in Hebrew is milui - מלוי. The word “oven” in Hebrew is tanur – תנור, while in Egyptian it is “thr”. (For more details, see "
Worterbuch der Aegypitschen Sprache ,Berlin, 1971).
The primary meaning of the word denoting “glass” in Akkadian is "a stone from the oven" – “abne
sha kuri”, where “abne” means stone similar to the Hebrew “even”, while “kuru”
is "kiln, furnace". The expression "uqnu sha kuri" means a blue-colored
glass, the word “uqnu” is lapis lazuli and the literal translation would be
"lapis lazuli from a casting furnace" and "uqnu sha shadi" means
"lapis lazuli from the mountains" (see Reallexikon der Assyrologie,
section "Glas", Glasuren ").
The Hebrew word “kur” – “כור ” means furnace, while in the Book of Job 28^17 we find the word
denoting glass and not appearing in the Torah: “zekukit” – “זכוכית”,
and it is most likely borrowed from the Akkadian “zuku” – glass.
By the time of the Jewish Exodus the glassmaking had been quite developed in Egypt,
its primary purpose being manufacturing “precious stones”. The Pharaohs personally
supervised the production and often used glass as embellishment. The glass was even
habitually called “stones”.
The special attention that the Torah pays to the shoham stone (“the land
of Havilah … and the shoham stone” and “the shoham stone and the miluim
stones”) may be regarded as an indication of its natural origin and the value.
Translated from Russian by Yulia
Mestechkin, 8.09.2017
