Exodus 28:17

And thou shalt set in it settings of stones,.... Or "fill in it fillings of stones" ; which shows that there were in it ouches, or sockets of gold, the hollows of which were to be filled up with precious stones:even four rows of stones; making a four square, and so filling up the measure of the breastplate:the first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle; about these stones, and those that follow, there is a great variety of interpretations of them, both among Jews and Christians; and they seem to be little known: our translators upon the whole seem to be as right as any in giving the names of them; the first of these, the "sardius", is a red stone of a blood colour, as the "cornelian" or "ruby", and which some have thought is here meant, and has its name either from the place where it has been found, Sardis or Sardinia; or rather from its red colour; for "sered" signifies red in Eze 28:13 as Braunius has observed from Kimchi; and so Odem, which is the word here used, signifies, and undoubtedly intends a stone of such a colour; and it is highly probable that this is the Demium of Pliny , which is one of the three kinds of sardius in India; and the red is so called from its redness, as the same Braunius observes.