The topaz of the ancients was of a green colour; and so the three Targums call this stone Jarken or Jarketha, which signifies green; hence some have taken this to be the emerald, which is of a fine green colour: the third stone is the "carbuncle", as we render it; whatever stone is meant, it must be a bright and glittering one, like lightning, as the word signifies; wherefore some have taken it to be the emerald, so the Septuagint and Braunius ; it being a very radiant and glittering stone, of a grass green, and very refreshing to the sight; but Danaeus says, that the carbuncle is that species of the ruby, which of all is most beautiful and excellent, and darts out light like lightning to those that look at it at a distance, and shines in the middle of the night and darkness, so that it enlightens places near it, as if it were a sun:[this shall be] the first row; now upon these three stones were engraven the names of Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, as both the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem agree.
Nba talm wb talmw "et implebis in eo plenitudinem lapidis", Montanus; "vel eum impletione lapidis", Pagninus; "implebis in eo impletione lapidis", Drusius. De Vestitu Sacerd. Heb. l. 2. c. 8. sect. 10.
p. 639. Nat. Hist. l. 37. c. 7. Ibid. l. 6. c. 29. Ut supra, (De Vestitu Sacerd. Heb. l. 2.) c. 10. sect. 4. p. 653.