BREAST-PLATE

BREAST-PLATE, in Jewish Antiquity, one part of the vestments anciently worn by the high-priests. It was a folded piece of the same rich embroidered stuff of which the ephod was made; and it was set with twelve precious stones, on each of which was engraven the name of one of the tribes. They were set in four rows, three in every row, and were divided from one another by little golden squares or partitions, in which they were set. The names of these stones, and those of the tribes engraven on them, as also of their disposition on the breast-plate, were as follow:

This breast-plate was fastened at the four corners, those above to each shoulder by a golden hook or ring at the end of a wreathed chain; and those below to the girdle of the ephod, by two strings or ribbons, which had likewise two rings and hooks. This ornament was never to be severed from the priestly garment; and it was called the Memorial, to remind the high-priest how dear those tribes ought to be to him, whose names he wore on his breast. It is also called the Breast-plate of Judgment, because it had the divine oracle of Urim and Thummim annexed to it.