Aaron's Breastplate

Exodus 28:15, 17-21 And you shall make a breastplate of judgment, the work of a skillful workman; like the work of the ephod you shall make it; of gold, of blue and purple and scarlet strands, and of fine twined linen you shall make it.And you shall enclose in it enclosures of stones, four rows of stones: the first row shall be a row of a sardius, a topaz, and an emerald; And the second row, a carbuncle, a sapphire, and a diamond; And the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; And the fourth row, a chrysolite, and an onyx, and a jasper; they shall be set in gold in their enclosures. And the stones shall be according to the names of the sons of Israel, twelve, according to their names; they shall be like the engravings of a signet, each according to its name, for the twelve tribes.
Did you realize, that Revelation 4:3, is specific about the description of He (G-d) was inthe appearance as both jasper (Benjamin 12th son, last) and sardius (Reuben 1st son)?
“And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance, and there was a rainbow around the throne like an emerald in appearance”.
The first shall be last, the last shall be first.
And the importance of the combination of the first and last stone of the 12 Hebrew Tribes, sons of Jacob, is to describe the Alpha/Omega of the characteristics of G-d (IHVH), with a parallel lesson about these two sons, 1st born Reuben and last born Benjamin!
So from head to foot the High Priest was covered in white. This is symbolic of righteousness. We are told in Revelation (19:8) of the bride of Y’Shua who would be “arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints”. On the turban was a gold plate inscribed with the words, “Holiness to the L-rd”.
On the shoulders were two attachments – shoulder pieces - on which were fixed two onyx stones. Onyx stone consists of layers of different colors – like marble – black, white, blue, red and brown, but predominately white. On these two stones were placed, in order of their birth, the names of the 12 sons of Jacob. The two stones were mounted in gold with filigree work and fixed (permanently) on the shoulders of this ephod.
The material of the ephod was of the same as that of the veil. Now we read in Hebrews 10:20 (RV) that the veil represents Y’Shua’s flesh and so the ephod, being of the same material as the veil, represents the Messiah. The shoulders speak of the strength for carrying loads, for authority and government. In Isa. chap. 9:6 we have a clear reference to the Messiah: “For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders”. And chap. 22:22, again refers to the future government being on Y’Shua’s shoulders, “I will place on His shoulder the key to the house of David; what He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open”. So these two stones are speaking to us of Y’Shua’s rule over the 12 tribes.
On this jpg the breastplate stones are reading Left to right (backwards from original) posted on http://www.christian-forum.net/lofiversion/index.php/t24821.html. From a Gentile’s view, the following is taken out of the Hebrew books:
Stones, starting at the top row, and reading right to left are to be place as following:
Sardius – Reuben [Gen. 30:14] a beautiful gem of blood red Jasper.
Topaz – Simeon [Gen. 34:25] a pale green citrine quartz with mixture of yellow
Carbuncle – Judah [Gen. 49:9] colors of heaven
Emerald – Zevulun [Gen. 49:13] a bright white color without any other mixture.
Sapphire – Issachar [Gen. 49:14] a lapis lauli of black color.
Diamond – Levi [Deut. 33:8]. 1/3 white, 1/3 black, 1/3 red, sparkling rock crystal.
Liqure – Dan [Gen. 49:17] blue sapphire
Agate – Gad [Gen. 49:19] black and white sapphire.
Amethyst – Napytali [Gen. 49:21] clarified red *wine
Beryl – Asher [Deut. 33:24] fiery red color.
Onyx – Joseph [Gen. 49:22] jet black color.
Jasper – [Gen. 35:16-19] a gem of bright green color sometimes clouded with white and spotted with red and yellow. Mineralogists list 15 varieties of jasper – green, bluish gray, milky white, and various combinations of colors.
Notice the names of the sons do not go in order.
The 12 sons of Israel (Jacob) were: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Ephraim and Manasseh as the ancestors of the original twelve tribes. However, Reuben lost his rights as firstborn by defiling Jacob’s bed (Genesis 35:22; 49:3-4), and it was given to Joseph instead, 1 Chr. 5:1. In Reuben and Joseph's place, Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, became tribes of Israel (Genesis 48:5-6). As a result, the twelve tribes became Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Ephraim and Manasseh.
Naming the twelve tribes is a confusing task. Revelation 7:5-8 lists the 12 tribes as: Judah, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph and Benjamin. This is interesting…for the first time Joseph is listed as a tribe along with his son Manasseh. Why isn’t Ephraim listed? Why is Reuben listed, but not Dan? There are no perfect answers to these questions. Technically, there were more than twelve tribes if you count both of Joseph’s sons as tribes in addition to Joseph. Revelation 7 presents a list of 144,000 witnesses from twelve different tribes. It does not say why Ephraim and Dan are not listed. The best answer is that G-d decided not to choose any witnesses from those two tribes. Some Bible teachers understand Dan being left off the list in Revelation 7 because of what is said in Genesis 49:17, “Dan will be a serpent by the roadside, a viper along the path that bites the horse's heels so that its rider tumbles backward.”
Levi made up the thirteenth tribe, but because this tribe’s inheritance was the priesthood rather than tribal lands, its number was not included as part of the national polity.
The shoulder ornaments are green beryls. Urim and Thummim, depicted above the breastplate, and blue aquamarine and golden berly.
Some things we will not understand until we reach the other side.