SHOHAM (Drift!), a precious stone mentioned in Gen. ii. 12 ; Exod. xxviii. 9 ; xxxv. 9-27 ; Job xxviii. ; Ezek. x.xviii. 13. That it is really un known is evinced by the variety of opinions which have been hazarded concerning it In the two last texts the Sept. makes it the beryl (13npUNNtov), and is followed by the Vulgate. Josephus also gives it the same name (Antiq. iii. 7. 5). This is a great weight of authority ; and whether the beryl be the shoham or not, it is a Scriptural stone by virtue of the mention of it in Rev. xxi. 2o. There is no doubt that the stone which we call beryl is the substance to which the ancients gave the same name. It is of a pale sea-green colour, inclining sometimes to water blue, and sometimes to yellow. In its crystallised form it exhibits sexagonal co lumns striped longitudinally. The shoham fur nished the shoulder-pieces in the breastplate of the high-priest, on each of which six names were en graven ; and for this purpose the stalky beryl, con sisting of long, stout, hexagonal pieces, was pecu liarly suited. Beryls are found, but not often, in collections of ancient gems. In Gen. ii. 12 the shoharn is named as the product of Havilah ; in Job xxviii. 16 it is mentioned as a stone of great
value, being classed with the sapphire and the gold of Ophir ; in Ezek. xxviii. 13 it appears as a valuable article of commerce.
In Gen. ii. 12 the Sept renders the word, which it elsewhere gives as the beryl, by Was wpciolvos, or the chrysoprasus,' according to its etymology, leek-green stone ;' but as the ancients did not nicely disting-uish between stones of similar quality and colour, it is probable that the beryl is still intended by the translator in this text. The chrysoprasus (xpmrbrpao-os) is, however, a Scrip tural stone, being named in Rev. xxi. 2o. It is, as the name imports, of a greenish golden colour, like a leek—i.e. usually apple-green—passing into a grass.green (Plin. Hist. Nal. xxvii. 2o, 21).
Luther, relying upon the authority of some ancient versions, makes the shoham to have been the onyx, an interpretation which Braun, Michaelis, Eichhorn, and others support on etymological grounds. This, indeed, is the stone usually given for the Shoham in Hebrew lexicons, and is the one which the A. V. has also adopted.—J.