Today’s post, “Peridot – The Foundation Of Heaven,†is from one of my favorite blogger friends, Carol Peterson. Carol is a writer with a heart for encouragement, sharing parables of faith on her blog From Carol’s Quill and making learning exciting in Fun with Finance and other teacher resource books.
CAROL’S GEMS: PERIDOT—THE FOUNDATION OF HEAVEN
Peridot
Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
Every month has a birthstone. The birthstone for the month of August is Peridot. And it reminds me of Jesus.
Biblical Gemstones
Translations of mineral names from Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic to English are not always exact. Most scholars and historians, however, believe that the green stone referred to in Bible translations as chrysolite, is beautiful lime-green Peridot.
Back in the Garden
Without getting into a discussion of who Ezekiel meant by the King of Tyre, Ezekiel says Peridot (chrysolite) was present in the Garden of Eden:
You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: carnelian, chrysolite and emerald, topaz, onyx and jasper, lapis lazuli, turquoise and beryl. (Ezekiel 28:13)
In the Middle Ages, Peridot was believed to have the power to drive away evil. Too bad Eve didn’t know that back in the Garden…
The High Priest
Peridot (chrysolite) was named as one of the stones adorning the breastplate of the High Priest (Exodus 28) and represented the Tribe of Zebulun (the sixth son of Jacob and Leah). When the Hebrews entered the Promised Land, the Tribe of Zebulun’s inheritance was generally the territory toward the Sea of Galilee where Jesus conducted his Galilean ministry. It also included Bethlehem—the birthplace of Jesus.
Only the High Priest was allowed to wear the jeweled Breastplate. Because Jesus became our High Priest forever, Jesus symbolically wears the Breastplate of the High Priest—and August’s birthstone, the peridot—forever.
Heaven
The Apostle John shares his vision of heaven, saying,
The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. (Revelation 21:19)
Did you see? The seventh layer (the number of perfection in biblical symbolism) of the foundation of heaven is Peridot.
I fell in love with Peridot when my son was born in the month of August. When I wear Peridot, I think of my son. After this post, I’ll also think of Jesus—the Son of God. I hope you will, too.
Happy birthday to everyone born in August.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for the beauty in our world—in mountains and oceans, flowers and gemstones. Thank you also for your beautiful son, Jesus. Please open our eyes and hearts to see your love through Jesus in the world around us today. Amen.
WHAT ABOUT YOU? Written on those 12 jeweled foundations in heaven are the names of the 12 apostles. John doesn’t say which layer represents which apostle. Any guess at who Peridot represents?
Peridot is a favorite mineral of mine, it has the beauty of green, like some of the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen! It is generally associated with volcanic lavas. I remember seeing plenty of this mineral in Hawaii. There is even a green sand beach on the big island, though I didn’t see that while I was there.
Hmmm, which apostle? I think Peter, because he was always ready to speak up… like in a burbling volcano… heehee 🙂
Chris, thanks so much for letting me get my geologist-wanna-be thrills here! Peter, huh? Good guess.
Good stuff Carol. As an aside, my wife loves Peridot.
Chris,
As a fellow geologist, you could appreciate this. My wife has a beautiful Peridot ring that wa her Fathers. However she and I differ on the correct pronunciation of Peridot. I remember Doc Blanchard pronouncing it Peri”DOT” like dot com. At jewelry stores they call it Peri”dough”. I am thinking the jewelry stores use the more French sounding name to make the gem more sexy and appealing (makes me think more about LSU and as a Gator, that just does not work for me:)). What is your recolelction of how to correctly prounounce Peridot?
Blessings, Neil
LOL… that’s too funny Neil !!!
Dr. Blanchard spoke a different language, it was rhombohedron this… atomic packing factor that… and reflection… rotation… inversion… all this right after lunch would either leave my head spinning around transitional symmetry… or just plane old sleepy, dozing off in sheer boredom. That was a tough class for me!!
In regards to the French and LSU… I had to chuckle at this too as I never really associated these two that much… certainly New Orleans and the French tongue, I got that part!
I’m going to have to go with the Peri”dough” as it is sexy… and French!
I’m curious what Carol thinks about all this… 🙂
@ Neil and Chris – ha! The online dictionary says it’s originally a French word; pronounced: peri-DOH. If you click on the speaker a helpful lady pronounces it for us. I think she’s French…oooh la-la peridot!