Issachar is the tribe of the Balance, “an ass bending between two burdens.” The ass in the East today as it was in the days of the Bible is regarded as an emblem of constancy, patience, endurance and stolidity, and frequent allusion is made to it in sacred writings: “Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk by the way.” (Judges 5. 10.) Josephus replies with vigour to the assertion of Apion that the Jews worshipped an ass’s head. In the mythology of the Egyptians the good and evil essences are symbolised by two wild asses, and mention is made in “The Book of the Dead” of the duel between the ass and its “eater,” the night serpent. The ass also as a symbolic animal of Jupiter represented Justice in the ancient world, hence its association with the Balance becomes clear. The tribe Issachar, this “servant of tribute,” is symbolic of absolute truth for “a false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is his delight.” (Prov. 11. 1.), and “He that speaketh truth showeth forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit.” (Prov. 12. 17.) The entry of the Son of the Virgin into Jerusalem—the city of Virgo—riding on an ass, as told in that chapter of parables, Matthew 21, is not devoid of symbolic meaning. Hermes or Thoth is the recorder of the scales in the Egyptian Hall of Judgment and he may also be said to ride upon the scales for the sign Libra follows the sign of the Virgin. Libra has been described as the most sensitive sign of the Zodiac, the opal is its ideal gem and the opal is the gem for the seventh division of the Breastplate and on it was engraved the tribe of Dan. =The Eighth Stone of the Breastplate= The eighth stone of the Breastplate is Shebo, rendered as Agate by the Authorised Version, the Vulgate, Marbodus and others. Gesenius gives the derivation of Shebo from a root which means “to take prisoner,” and his illustrious pupil, Julius Fürst, connects it with a root meaning “to glitter.” Dr. Deane derives it from another meaning “to obscure, to dull,” and expresses the opinion that the problem “cannot be solved by etymology alone.” He believes SHEBO to be some variety of crystallised quartz. Dr. Breslau in translating SHEBO as Agate has good supporters. The variety known as Banded agreeably fits in with the demands of the planet Mars through the sign of its expression Scorpio, termed the sign of the Serpent. Its wavy lines typify the undulations of the serpent, the lines of a fortress or the restless waves of the sea. The opinion has been expressed that SHEBO may have some connection with the Indian Serpent of the Underworld—Sesha or Shesha, and the connection may be further extended to the huge serpent which slays and is slain by Thor as told in the Song of Vala.