Onyx
shoham. Found in the land of Havilah (Gen 2:12). Onyx means "nail"; then the agate, resembling in color a man's nail. Two onyx stones, with six names of Israel's tribes engraven on each, were on the high priest's shoulders as "stones of memorial unto Israel" (Exo 28:9-12). The onyx was the second stone in the fourth row on his breast-plate (Exo 28:20). Josephus (Ant.
3:7, section 5) calls the shoulder stones "sardonyxes" (compounded of sard or chalcedony and onyx, deep red and milkwhite layers alternating). David's onyxes "prepared for the house of his God" (1Ch 29:2) probably came from Tyre (Eze 28:13). Tyre's king, like the high priest with his precious stones, was the type of humanity in its unfallen perfection in Eden; antichrist will usurp the divine King Priest's office (Zec 6:13; compare Act 12:21-23).
Job (Job 28:16) calls it "precious," but not so much so as "wisdom," priceless in worth. The Arabian sardonyxes have a black ground color, sachma, is Arabic "blackness"; opaque white covers black or blue strata. Sahara in Arabic means "to be pale"; from whence Gesenius derives shoham. The kinds of onyx and sardonyx vary so as to answer to either derivation. The onyx has two strata, the sardonyx has three.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia on Onyx
Onyx on'-iks o'-niks. ⇒See a list of verses on ONYX in the Bible. See STONES, PRECIOUS. ⇒See the definition of onyx in the KJV Dictionary ⇒See also the McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible on Onyx
This is the rendering of the Heb. on¥ shoham, in AV and RV text (see below), but it is impossible to be certain of its correctness. There are no cognate words in Heb. literature to throw light on the inquiry. The attempts to find an etymology in other languages of the same family fail absolutely or fall short at the critical point. The Arab. : is, indeed, used in the sense ‘to be pale,’ which would suit the onyx fairly well; but that meaning is only the secondary, not the radical one. The district λα Socheim, in Yemen, pro- duced a Bpecielly. fine onyx; but there are two weighty objections against the derivation thus suggested, namely, the almost invariable use of the article with the Heb. word (πῃ), and the impossibility of » representing ... Schrader’s con- jecture, so far as it goes, is decidedly the most elpful. He proposes (COT? i. p. 30) to identify the shoham with the Assyro-Babylonian sdmtu, which means ‘dark,’ and is used as the name of a valuable stone from Melukhkha in Upper Baby- lonia. Sayce (Expos. Times, vii. [1896] Bs 306) accepts the connexion of the two words, and b…
Smith's Bible Dictionary on Onyx
(a nail) is the translation of the Hebrew shoham ; but there is some doubt as to its signification. Some writers believe that the “beryl” is intended; but the balance of authority is in favor of some variety of the onyx. (“The onyx is not a transparent stone, but as the color of the flesh appears through the nail (Greek onyx) on the human body, so the reddish mass which is below shines delicately through the whitish surface of the onyx. There are several varieties. White and reddish stripes alternating form the sardonyx; white and reddish gray, the chalcedony. When polished it has a fine lustre, and is easily wrought into a gem of great beauty.”-Rosenmiller.
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- Easton, M.G. (1893) Easton's Bible Dictionary. 3rd edn. Thomas Nelson. [Public Domain]
- Nave, O.J. (1897) Nave's Topical Bible. Topical Bible Publishing Co.. [Public Domain]
- Hastings, J. (ed.) (1909) A Dictionary of the Bible. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. [Public Domain]
- Smith, W. (ed.) (1884) Smith's Bible Dictionary. London: John Murray. [Public Domain]
- Fausset, A.R. (1878) Fausset's Bible Dictionary. [Public Domain]A Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopaedia