Biblical Hebrew Forum

["K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Yaakov:
I just looked up a Google search and found that sapphire comes in many
colors, including blue. Bright red sapphires are also called rubies. So it
is possible to have white sapphires.

Sapphire is the second hardest mineral known. Clear sapphires are sometimes
used as diamond substitutes.

Two of the three mentions below are from visions, and the third poetry, so
from those it is hard to use as contexts for defining the word. A vision can
have a sapphire the size of a throne.

Karl W. Randolph.

On Tue, May 13, 2008 at 4:05 AM, Yaakov Stein <yaakov_s AT rad.com> wrote:

> The stone SPYR is usually translated into English as sapphire,
> and even during Mishnaic times the stone in the Ephod was explained
> to be a blue precious stone due to its similarity to the Greek word for
> blue.
> Although the precise blue stone intended there and in the Song of Songs
> may be unknown (many think lapis lazuli was intended),
> there seems to be a different SPYR as well.
>
> In Exodus 24:10 we find the expression LBNT HSPYR.
> The classical commentators are split as to the meaning of LBNT.
> Some interpret it as from LBN = white, while others say it comes from
> LBNH = brick.
> Neither of these fits a blue precious gem.
>
> Similarly, Ezekiel 10:1 has a SPYR stone the size of a throne,
> while Lamentations 4:7 uses SPYR in a context of white things
> (depending on the reading of (DMU )
>
> I am wondering whether from these uses we can deduce that
> in addition to the regular precious stone, we have some bright
> white/blue stone such as marble. In fact, polished white marble
> with blue lines could be a candidate.
>
> I am asking this because I believe that such an understanding
> could clear up an obscure Talmudic passage.
>
> Yaakov (J) Stein