About Precious Stones and People in the Bible

Ezekiel, in his prophecy of the ruin of Tyre and Sidon, in utterances of incomparable beauty, alludes to the regal splendours of Phoenicia, and its abundance of precious stones. "Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle.... Thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire" (chap. xxviii. 13, 14).

The apostle John, in his rocky and desolate island of the Aegean Sea, saw the celestial visions which made his place of banishment a heavenly paradise, and in language sublime and inspired, employed the most precious objects of the earth to typify the glory that was revealed. Thus he saw the Mighty One on His throne in heaven, His countenance like a jasper and a sardine stone, so transcendent was His brightness. He saw a rainbow about the throne, like unto an emerald.

The vision of the New Jerusalem represents the gates as of pearl, Christ being the Pearl of "great price." "The building of the wall of it was of jasper, and the city was pure gold like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst."