Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>]

Yaakov,

I have an inkling that SAPIR is, natural or artificial, glass and by  
borrowing, quartz and other clear, precious and semiprecious stones.  
It is remarkable that such a common material as glass is barely  
explicitly mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.
The meaning of SAPIR may be $ABIR or CABIR for its tendency to easily  
fracture, by its manufacture from ZIBURIT, or for its coming in small  
chips, shards or flakes.
Exodus 24:10 is difficult, but I think that what is being said there  
is that the 74 elders of Israel imagined seeing a likeness standing,  
so to speak, high up on a celestial transparent slab [LEBEN-AH?] of  
glass, permitting them a peek from below into heaven. This is also  
the vision of Ezekiel.
The SAPIRIM of Song of Songs 5:14 are possibly glass beads.
The SAPIR of Job 28:5-6 is, methinks, some sort of obsidian produced  
by the volcanic activity he describes there:
אֶרֶץ מִמֶּנָּה יֵצֵא לָחֶם  
וְתַחְתֶּיהָ נֶהְפַּךְ כְּמוֹ-אֵשׁ
"The earth, though out of it comes forth bread, is in fiery upheaval  
underneath". This may also be the SAPIR of Isaiah 54:11.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On May 13, 2008, at 7:05 AM, Yaakov Stein 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
>
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