The second row of the breastplate carried three more tribes, and the meturgeman names the stones: smarag, sapphire, and chalcedony. On them were inscribed Judah, Dan, and Naphtali (Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus 39:11).
Who shares a row with whom?
These three tribes make an unlikely trio. Judah is the royal line — the tribe of David and, one day, of King Meshiha. Dan is the last camp on the march, often associated in later midrash with struggle against idolatry. Naphtali is the swift one, of whom Jacob blessed, "a hind let loose, who gives goodly words" (Genesis 49:21). A king, a warrior, and a messenger — each engraved on a single stone in a single row.
The targumist never tells us that the arrangement is random. Upon them was inscribed and set forth the name of three tribes — the verb carries weight. These names were not written; they were set forth, declared, made to speak.
Sapphire in the middle
The sapphire at the heart of this row echoes the sapphire pavement beneath the feet of the God of Israel on Sinai (Exodus 24:10). The meturgeman does not make the connection explicit, but a listener in the beit midrash would have heard it. The same stone that flashed beneath the divine throne now rests over the heart of the priest who serves that throne.
The breastplate was a bridge. Above, sapphire firmament. Below, sapphire on Aharon's chest. And between them, the names of ordinary Israelites — farmers, shepherds, judges, mothers — whose lives were represented in the same stone that paved the heavenly court.
The takeaway: the Temple service was never about the priest alone. The stones on his chest insisted that every tribe, every name, was already standing in the holy place.