Comentário sobre Êxodo 28:21

איש על שמו EVERY ONE WITH HIS NAME — As the order in which they were born shall be the order of the stones: a sardius for Reuben, a topaz for Simeon, and so in the case of all of them.

והאבנים תהיין על שמות בני ישראל, as soon as the Israelites when donating these various materials had dedicated them to their sacred purpose, i.e. that their names be inscribed on these gemstones, they became sacred, so that the word תהיין, meaning “they will remain, etc.,” is fully justified.”

As was the order of their birth so was the order of the stones. . . I.e., it was in the order by which the matriarchs [started to] give birth. Whoever gave birth first, [all her sons came before those of the next matriarch]. This disregards the order that the tribes were actually born — Reuvain, Shimon, Leivi, Yehudah, [Dan, Naftali] — as the תולדותם of the eiphod is ordered. Therefore here, Yissachar and Zevulun [who are sons of Leah, the first matriarch to give birth,] come before Dan and Naftali. As a result, Dan’s name was written on the leshem stone, as it is written in Yehoshua (19:47): “They called [the town of] Leshem ‘Dan,’ like the name of Dan their father” [see Rashi on Shoftim 18:29]. Re”m elaborated, and I summarized.