The workmanship of the Priestly Garments

Warning, this is a sidetrack. I stumbled a bit over the description of the ephod when it first came up. I was very thankful for the footnote that said that the translation of the names of some of the stones is uncertain. It was the diamond that bothered me. I suppose that their Egyptian plunder may have included a diamond big enough to engrave a name on, but it would be a remarkable stone. The big problem, though, is fact that the only way to scratch a diamond is with another diamond, and that would have to be arduous work. I have to marvel that bronze-age people spent the time and energy to engrave stone and perhaps polish it (unless they found stones polished by streams). Cutting hammered gold foil into threads must have been another exercise in patience, though I suppose their threads were not as fine as ours today.


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