Where did the precious stones on the breastpiece of Israel’s high priest come from?

▪ After the Israelites left Egypt and entered the wilderness, God gave them orders to make this breastpiece. (Exodus 28:15-21) The breastpiece had stones of ruby, topaz, emerald, turquoise, sapphire, jasper, leshem, agate, amethyst, chrysolite, onyx, and jade.a Did the Israelites really have access to those types of gems?

In Bible times, people prized precious stones and traded them. The ancient Egyptians, for example, obtained gemstones from as far away as what is now modern-day Iran, Afghanistan, and possibly even India. Egyptian mines produced a number of different precious stones. The Egyptian monarchs had a monopoly on mineral extraction in the territories they controlled. The patriarch Job described how his contemporaries used shafts and underground galleries to search for treasures. Among other items dug from the ground, sapphire and topaz are specifically mentioned by Job.​—Job 28:1-11, 19.

The Exodus account states that the Israelites “stripped the Egyptians” of their valuables when leaving the land. (Exodus 12:35, 36) So it is possible that the Israelites obtained from Egypt the stones used on the high priest’s breastpiece.