Hoshen/Choshen is known as a Hebrew term typically translated as breastplate; in English language contexts it refers to a specific breastplate - the sacred breastplate used by the The High Priest for the Israelites, in line with the Book of Exodus. In the biblical account, the breastplate is called the breastplate of judgement, since the Urim and Thummim, which inturn were utilized in divination, were placed inside of it.
Depending on the brief description in Exodus, this kind of breastplate was connected to the Ephod, by all gold chains/cords linked with the actual gold bullion bands along the Ephod's shoulder straps, and also by blue ribbon tied to the gold bullion rings at the lower elements of the Ephod; the scriptural detailed description claims when the breastplate was also to be produced from an equivalent material as the Ephod . . . stitched linen - and was in the form of block, a cubit in width, 2 layers thick, and with 4 series of 3 etched jewels each individual embedded upon it, each individual gem being framed in gold.
The brief description suggests how the rectangle breastplate was to be produced from a pair of equal rectangle-shaped bits of material ( space ) recommending that its look and feel was akin to a backless waistcoat, with a sack on the inside in which to support the Urim and Thummim. The term for the breastplate ( space ) Hoshen . . . appears to be affiliated possibly to its function or even to its overall look; some historians think that it is likely derived from hasuna, meaning beautiful, whilst others think that it is much more likely to derive from sinus, indicating a fold for containing some thing.
According to the Talmud, the donning of the Choshen atoned for the transgression of errors in judgement on the part of the Children of Israel.
The dozen gems in the breastplate were each one, according to the Biblical account, to be produced from particular minerals, none of them the identical as another, and each and every of them representative of a particular tribe, whose name was to be inscribed on the gemstone. There is no consistent view in established rabbinical literature as to the order of the names; the Jerusalem Targum, for example, contended that the names appeared in the order of the birth of each one tribe's patriarch according to the Book of Genesis; Maimonides asserted that the names were all etched on the first gemstone, with the words [these are[]|] the tribes of Jeshurun being engraved on the last stone; kabbalistic writers such as Hezekiah ben Manoah and Bahya ben Asher argued that just 6 letters from each one name was present on each gemstone, jointly with a handful of characters from the names of Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob, or from the term [these are[]|] the tribes of Jeshurun, so that there were seventy-two letters in total (seventy two being a pretty considerable number in Kabbalistic thought).
Unfortunately, the meaning of the Hebrew names for the minerals, given by the masoretic wording, are not crystal clear, and even though the Greek names for them in the Septuagint are more straightforward, historians believe that it cannot be entirely relied on for this situation because the breastplate had stopped to be in use by the time the Septuagint was created, and several Greek names for many gemstones have evolved meaning between the classical era and modern times. Yet, although classical rabbinical literature believes that the names were written using a magic worm because neither chisels nor paint neither ink were allowed to mark them out, a a lot more naturalistic method proposes that the gems must have had relatively lower solidity in order to be etched upon, and as a result this gives an additional hint to the identity of the minerals.