Q. Are the stones in the High Priest's Breastplate in any special order? Did each stone represent a letter in the Jewish Alphabet or did they symbolize something else? A. The high priest's breast plate (or piece) has twelve stones on it. The twelve stones represent the twelve tribes of Israel. In this case, the Bible tells us clearly the symbolism involved: "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 seal, each according to his name for the twelve tribes." (Exodus 28:21) It isn't obvious, however, which stone represents which tribe, however. I'm not aware of the letters telling the names of the stones representing letters in the Hebrew alphabet. The Hebrew alphabet has considerable more letters than twelve, it should be noted. The order of the stones isn't fully clear, although one would assume the order listed for each of the four rows would run from right to left, as Hebrew does, rather than left to right, as English does. The order is repeated twice (compare Exodus 39:10-13 with Exodus 28:17-20), without any changes. It's not obvious what the significance is of the order. There could be more symbolism here than the obvious points raised above. Duality in Biblical symbols and prophecy is common. | 