Exodus 28:10

10 [with] six of their names on the one stone and the remaining six on the second, according to their genealogies.

Exodus 28:10 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 28:10

Six of their names on one stone
The names of the six eldest on the stone upon the right shoulder:

and the other six names of the rest on the other stone:
the names of the six youngest on the stone upon the left shoulder; for these stones, as afterwards said, were put on the shoulders of the priests,

according to their birth;
the order of it; so that upon the first stone were engraven the names of Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, and Naphtali; and on the second stone the names of Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin; and so they are disposed by Jarchi, with whom Josephus agrees ^F1; though some Jewish writers, and particularly Maimonides ^F2, place them otherwise; but this seems most agreeable to the letter and sense of the text.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 3. c. 7. sect. 5.)
F2 Hilchot Cele Hamikdash, ut supra. (c. 9. sect. 9.)

Exodus 28:10 In-Context

8 And the waistband of his ephod, which is on it, will be of like work to it--gold, blue, and purple and crimson [yarns] and finely twisted linen.

9 "And you will take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the {Israelites},

10 [with] six of their names on the one stone and the remaining six on the second, according to their genealogies.

11 [As the] work of a skilled stone craftsman, [with] seal engravings you will engrave on the two stones the names of the {Israelites}; you will make them mounted [in] gold filigree settings.

12 And you will set the two stones on the ephod's shoulder pieces [as] stones of remembrance for the {Israelites}, and Aaron will bear their names before Yahweh on his two shoulder pieces for remembrance.

Footnotes

• [a] In other words, "according to their birth order"