Ber´yl. This is supposed by some to be the precious stone intended by the word shoham, which occurs in Genesis 2:12; Exodus 28:9; Exodus 35:9-27; Job 28:16; Ezekiel 28:13. Whether the beryl be the shohamor not, it is a Scriptural stone by virtue of the mention of it in Revelation 21:20. There is no doubt that the stone which we call beryl is the substance to which the ancients gave the same name. It is of a pale sea-green color, inclining sometimes to water blue, and sometimes to yellow. In its crystallized form it exhibits sexagonal columns striped longitudinally. The shoham furnished the shoulder-pieces in the breastplate of the high priest, on each of which six names were engraven, and for this purpose the stalky beryl, consisting of long, stout, hexagonal pieces, was peculiarly suited. Beryls are found, but not often, in collections of ancient gems. In Genesis 2:12, the shoham is named as the product of Havilah; in Job 28:16, it is mentioned as a stone of great value, being classed with the sapphire and the gold of Ophir; in Ezekiel 28:13, it appears as a valuable article of commerce.
Luther, relying upon the authority of some ancient versions, makes the shoham to have been the onyx. This indeed is the stone usually given for the shohamin Hebrew lexicons, and is the one which the Authorized Version has also adopted.
This Encyclopedia of Biblical Literature is a 6 volume set in 1 book. It has over 2Read More
John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.
From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself.
One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.
A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.
Wikipedia