PECTORAL, Rational, or Breast-plate of Judgment. They call by this Name the Piece of Embroidery of about ten Inches square1, of very rich Work, which the High -priest of the Jews wore upon his Breast, and which was set with four Rows of precious Stones, upon every one of which was engraven the Name of one of the Tribes of Israel. The Breast-plate was double, or made of two Pieces folded one upon the other, like a kind of Purse or Bag, in which, according to the Rabbins, the Urim and Thummim was inclosed. This Piece had the Name of the Breast-plate of Judgment, probably because it discovered the Judgment and the Will of God; or because the High-priest who wore it Prov. xxxi. 10.was the Fountain of Justice, and put on this Ornament when he exercised his judicial Capacity in Matters of great Consequence.
The Hebrew has simply2 Coshen, and sometimes Coshen Mishphat, which the Seventy have rendered by Logion, or Logion criseos, and St. Jerom by Rationale, or Rationale judicii. It is not well known what the literal Signification of Coshen is. ‘Tis generally derived from the Arabic Casan, which signifies big, thick, and unequal, as indeed this Pectoral must be. The Reader may see what has been said upon the Article EPHOD, and what will be said upon the Article URIM and THUMMIM.
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