cording to their names, like the engravings of a signet, every one with his name, according to the twelve tribes.

15 And they made upon the breastplate chains at the ends, of wreathen work of pure gold.

16 And they made two ouches of gold, and two gold rings, and put the two rings in the two ends of the breastplate.

17 And they put the two wreathen chains of gold in the two rings on the ends of the breastplate.

18 And the two ends of the two wreathen chains they fastened in the two ouches, and put them on the shoulderpieces of the ephod, before it.

19 And they made two rings of gold, and put them on the two ends of the breastplate, upon the border of it, which was on the side of the ephod inward.

20 And they made two other golden rings, and put them on the two sides of the ephod underneath, toward the forepart of it, over against the other coupling thereof, above the curious girdle of the ephod.

21 And they did bind the breastplate by his rings unto the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it might be above the curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate might not be loosed from the ephod; as the LORD commanded Moses.

22 ¶ And he made the robe of the ephod of woven work, all of blue.

23 And there was an hole in the midst of the robe, as the hole of an habergeon, with a band round about the hole, that it should not rend.

24 And they made upon the hems of the robe pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen.

25 And they made 'bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates upon the hem of the robe, round about between the pomegranates;

26 A bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, round about the hem of the robe to minister in; as the LORD commanded Moses. 27 And they made coats of fine linen of woven work for Aaron, and for his sons, 28 And a mitre of fine linen, and goodly bonnets of fine linen, and 'linen breeches of fine twined linen,

29 And a girdle of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, of needlework; as the LORD commanded Moses.

30 ¶ And they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote upon it writing, like to the engravings of a signet, 'HOLINESS TO THE LORD.

31 And they tied unto it a lace of blue, to fasten it on high upon the mitre; as the LORD commanded Moses.

32 Thus was all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation finished: and the children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did they.

33 And they brought the tabernacle unto Moses, the tent, and all his furniture, his taches, his boards, his bars, and his pillars, and his sockets,

34 And the covering of rams' skins dyed red, and the covering of badgers' skins, and the vail of the covering,

35 The ark of the testimony, and the staves thereof, and the mercy seat,

36 The table, and all the vessels thereof, and the shewbread,

37 The pure candlestick, with the lamps thereof, even with the lamps to be set in order, and all the vessels thereof, and the oil for light,

38 And the golden altar, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the hanging for the tabernacle door,

39 The brasen altar, and his grate of brass, his staves, and all his vessels, the laver and his foot,

40 The hangings of the court, his pillars, and his sockets, and the hanging for the court gate, his cords, and his pins, and all the vessels of the service of the tabernacle, for the tent of the congregation,

41 The cloths of service to do service in the holy place, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and his sons' garments, to minister in the priest's office.

42 According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel made all the work.

43 And Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the LORD had commanded, even so had they done it: and Moses blessed them.

Verse 3. And they did beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in the blue, etc.'-This is the most ancient notice of the preparation of gold in wires, or extended threads, to be interwoven in cloths; and it is quite in conformity with all the information we can collect from ancient writings on the subject. Works made with threads of metal are rarely mentioned at all, and whenever they are spoken of, the wire appears to have been wholly made on the anvil. The metals were beaten with a hammer into thin plates, then cut with a pair of scissors or other instrument, into narrow slips, which were afterwards rounded with the hammer and file, so as to form wires or threads. Most of this process is described in the text. A very similar process of fabrication is described by Homer as being used by Vulcan, who repaired to his forge and formed upon his anvil a net so fine, that it could be perceived by no one, not even by the gods, being more delicate than the web of a spider. Abating the hyperbole, we may gather from this, as well as from the fact that the threads of metal were, in the instance before us, interwoven with, or employed to embroider cloths, that very fine wire was formed by this tedious and laborious process. It is not exactly clear how the gold threads were applied to ornament the ephod of the high-priest. We rather think they were not interwoven in the cloth, as in chap. xxxv. 34, it seems to be said that the colours in the enriched cloth were the work of the embroiderer as distinguished from the weaver, who is afterwards mentioned. So also the robe of the ephod, which was all of blue, is said to have been of woven work (verse 22), probably to denote its simplicity. The same is also said of the innermost coat, v. 27; while in speaking of the ephod, the girdles, etc., which were highly ornamented, embroidery and needlework are mentioned. Beckmann thinks that the earliest application of gold to dress, was to sew on slips of the metal, particularly on the seams, as is now done with gold lace. As there is no mention in the text of any process subsequent to that of cutting the metallic plate into slips, necessarily flat, it is possible that they were em broidered on the dress, or otherwise applied, without being rounded into wires or threads. Beckmann supposes that gold stars and other figures cut from thin plates of the metal, were very early applied to dresses, much in the same manner as spangles are at present, being either sewed to the cloth, or fastened by some adhesive composition. To this would seem to have succeeded the arts of embroidering and interweaving with threads of gold; and, ultimately, the progress of uncomfortable luxury led to the formation of clothes entirely of gold threads, without any other material. This was indeed cloth of gold '-a name which in more modern times has been given to cloth, the threads of which are of silk wound about with silver wire flattened and gilded. There is no notice of silver thread being interwoven in cloth earlier than the times of the later Greek emperors.

It is really surprising to find so much use made of threads of precious metal while it continued to be formed by the hammer. Beckmann declares himself unable to determine when attempts were first made to draw into threads metal, cut or beat into small slips, by forcing them through holes in a steel plate placed perpendicularly on a table. But the art was not known in Italy in the time of Charlemagne; and our author, from the best evidence he was able to obtain, is disposed to attribute the invention of the drawing-plate to the fourteenth century. Since then the arts of forming and applying threads of gold have received much improvement. It is not known when wire first began to be spun round thread, as it now usually is in application to dress. This branch of the art is not ancient. The threads found among the ruins of Herculaneum are of massy gold. When the fine wire first began to be spun around thread it was round; the art of first flattening the wire, by means of which tassels and other ornaments have been rendered much cheaper-in consequence of much less metal being required to cover the silk-and at the same time more brilliant and beautiful, is of modern but unascertained date. The different degrees of ductility of gold

and silver have led to the beautiful invention of plating silver wire with gold.

10. Sardius.' DIN, odem-the cornelian of the moderns; its ancient name, σápdtov, seems to have been taken from Sardus, or Sardinia, where it was originally found. The Hebrew, intimating 'redness,' is very well applied to a gem that is generally of a red colour, though there be varieties which are of a flame and of a pearl tincture, from the East Indies. The finest specimens come from Surat, a large city near the gulf of Cambay, on the north-western shores of India. It is found in the channels of torrents of Hindostan, in nodules of a black-olive passing into grey. After exposure for some weeks to the sun, these are subjected to heat in earthen pots, whence proceed those lively colours for which they are valued in jewellery.

Topaz pitdah; Sept. Toráciov.—Most of the ancient versions regard this as the topaz, which is generally described by the ancients as of a golden yellow colour, although Pliny states its colour to be green. Relying on this last intimation, several writers have conceived that the topaz of the ancients was no other than the crysolite: but one who has written with great attention on the subject refutes this by showing that all the hues ascribed to the ancient topaz are found in that to which the moderns have applied the name. (Bellarmann, Urim und Thummim, p. 39.) The prevailing colour of this precious stone is wine-yellow in every degree of shade. The dark shade of this colour passes over into carnation_red, and sometimes, although rarely, into lilac; the pale shade of the wine-yellow passes into greyish; and from yellowish white into greenish white and pale green. It may be therefore difficult to determine the precise hue of the jewel which shone in the breastplate of the high priest. It is clear that the stone was highly prized by the Hebrews. Job declares that wisdom was more precious than the wisdom of Cush (Job xxviii. 19); and as the name Cush includes Southern Arabia and the Arabian Gulf, the intimation coincides with the statement of Pliny, that the topazes known to the ancients came from the Topaz Island in the Red Sea.

T

Carbuncle.' bareketh.-The Greek version has ouápaydos, smaragdus, or emerald, in all the places where this word occurs. This interpretation is also given by Josephus, and is accepted by the best authorities, so that, upon the whole, we may with tolerable safety regard the emerald as the Hebrew bareketh. The emerald is well characterized by its green colour, of various depths. In value it ranks next after the ruby, and is nearly as hard as the topaz. The best that are brought to this country come from Peru; but India may have afforded as good in the time of Moses.

11. Emerald.inophek, rendered in the Sept. ǎvepat, i. e. a glowing coal, which the old Latin version renders by carbunculus,' whence the English carbuncle. Under this name several red stones appear to be comprehended; but if one of them more than another may be indicated, we should perhaps refer to the precious or noble garnet as agreeing best with the designation, since, when held to the sun, it resembles a burning coal-pòs de Tàr ἥλιον τιθέμενον ἄνθρακος καιομένου ποιεῖ χρόαν (Theophrastus, 31). The colour of the precious garnet, it is well known, is of a deep red, sometimes falling into blue. The best garnets are from Pegu, in the Birman empire. The ancients obtained the most esteemed from Africa, whence they are called Garamantine and Carthaginian. -'Sapphire.' See Exod. xxiv. 10.

electric, a property ascribed to the Lapis lyncurius, or λυγκύριον of Theophrastus. Those known to us are brought from the south of Europe.

—'Agate.'

shebo; Sept. dxárns.-The original term seems to hint at the variety of colours and figurations of the agate. The agate takes a fine polish, which brings out those beautiful forms so much admired in that variety called Mocha stone.

Amethyst. Nachlamah; Sept. duélvotos.— The Oriental amethyst is a gem of a violet colour and great brilliancy, and is said to be as hard as the ruby and sapphire. It comes from Persia, Arabia, Armenia, and the East Indies. Those that commonly pass under the name of amethyst are merely pieces of quartz tinged with a rosy or vinous colour.

13. Beryl. A tarshish.-The Greek translations render this by xpuσóxidos, crysolite.' This gem is not remarkable for its hardness, being scratched by quartz. It is of a green colour, declining to a yellow, and of a splendent external lustre. It comes from Egypt, where it is found in alluvial strata. According to the analysis of Klaproth, every hundred parts of this gem contain nine

teen of the oxide of iron, to which the green may be owing.

Onyx. The word is here shoham, the same which is rendered 'onyx' in Gen. ii. 12, where the stone has been noticed. Those, however, who accept the conclusion that the 'yahalom' in v. 11, is the onyx, must admit either that the two names denote the same stone, or two marked varieties of it: or else agree with those who believe the shoham to have been the beryl, or, as the most valuable kind is called, aqua marine, resembling the emerald in colour, but is superior to it in hardness. It is in fact considered by some as a species of emerald. Its green often passes into a honey yellow and sky-blue. It is found in the Altaic chain of mountains in Siberia, and in Limoges in France, as well as in Brazil.

CHAPTER XL.

1 The tabernacle is commanded to be reared, 9 and

anointed. 13 Aaron and his sons to be sanctified. 16 Moses performeth all things accordingly. 34 A cloud covereth the tabernacle.

AND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2 On the first day of the first month shalt thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation.

3 And thou shalt put therein the ark of the testimony, and cover the ark with the vail.

4 And 'thou shalt bring in the table, and set in order the things that are to be set in order upon it; and thou shalt bring in the candlestick, and light the lamps thereof.

5 And thou shalt set the altar of gold for the incense before the ark of the testimony, and put the hanging of the door to the tabernacle.

6 And thou shalt set the altar of the burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation.

7 And thou shalt set the laver between the tent of the congregation and the altar, and shalt put water therein.

8 And thou shalt set up the court round about, and hang up the hanging at the court gate.

9 ¶ And thou shalt take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and all that is therein, and shalt hallow it, and all the vessels thereof: and it shall be holy.

10 And thou shalt anoint the altar of the burnt offering, and all his vessels, and sanc

tify the altar and it shall be an altar most holy.

11 And thou shalt anoint the laver and his foot, and sanctify it.

12 ¶ And thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and wash them with water.

13 And thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments, and anoint him, and sanctify him; that he may minister unto me in the priest's office.

14 And thou shalt bring his sons, and clothe them with coats :

15 And thou shalt anoint them, as thou didst anoint their father, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office: for their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations.

16 ¶ Thus did Moses: according to all that the LORD commanded him, so did he.

17 ¶ And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared

and put the mercy seat above upon the ark:

21 And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and 'set up the vail of the covering, and covered the ark of the testimony; as the LORD commanded Moses.

22 And he put the table in the tent of the congregation, upon the side of the tabernacle northward, without the vail.

23 And he set the bread in order upon it before the LORD; as the LORD had commanded Moses.

24 And he put the candlestick in the tent of the congregation, over against the table, on the side of the tabernacle southward. 25 And he lighted the lamps before the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses.

26 And he put the golden altar in the tent of the congregation before the vail:

27 And he burnt sweet incense thereon; as the LORD commanded Moses.

28 ¶ And he set up the hanging at the door of the tabernacle.

29 And he put the altar of burnt offering by the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation, and offered upon it the burnt offering and the meat offering; as the 'LORD commanded Moses.

30 ¶ And he set the laver between the

tent of the congregation and the altar, and put water there, to wash withal.

31 And Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet thereat:

32 When they went into the tent of the congregation, and when they came near unto the altar, they washed; as the LORD commanded Moses.

33 ¶ And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the hanging of the court gate. So Moses finished the work.

34 Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

35 And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

36 And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel "went onward in all their journeys:

37 But if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up.

38 For the cloud of the LORD was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.