"AND the foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of precious stone: the first foundation-stone was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald." Rev. xxi, 19.
The word "adorned" may raise a doubt here, whether the writer means to say, that into the various courses of the foundation, ornamental, precious stones were only here and there inserted. But taking the whole description together, I do not apprehend this to have been his meaning. Jasper, as we have seen above, is usually a stone of green, transparent color, with red veins. But there are many varieties. Sapphire is of a beautiful azure or sky-blue color, almost as transparent and glittering as a diamond. Chalcedony seems to be a species of the agate, or more probably the onyx. The onyx of the ancients was probably of a bluish white, and semi-pelucid. The emerald was of a vivid green, and next to the ruby in hardness.
"The fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolithe, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysopras, the eleventh hyacinth, the twelfth amethyst," Verse 20.
Sardonyx is a mixture of chalcedony and cornelian, which last is of a flesh color. Sardius is probably the cornelian; sometimes, however, the red is quite vivid. Chrysolithe, as its name imports, is of a yellow or gold color, and is pelucid. From this was probably taken the conception of the pelucid gold, which constitutes the material of the city. Beryl is of a sea-green color. The topaz of the present day seems to be reckoned as yellow; but that of the ancients appears to have been pale green. Plin. 38, 8. Bellermann, Urim et Thummim, p. 37. Chrysopras of a pale yellow and greenish color, like a scallion; sometimes it is classed at the present day under topaz. Hyacinth of a deep red or violet color. Amethyst, a gem of great hardness and brilliancy, of a violet color, and usually found in India.
In looking over these various classes we find the first four to be of a green or bluish cast; the fifth and sixth, of a red or scarlet; the seventh, yellow; the eighth, ninth and tenth, of different shades of the lighter green; the eleventh and twelfth, of a scarlet, or splendid red. There is classification, therefore, in this arrangement; a mixture not dissimilar to the arrangement in the rainbow, with the exception that it is more complex.—Stuart.