High upon the shoulders of the High Priest, at the very point connecting the parts of the ephod, rested two onyx stones engraved with the names of the tribes of Israel. Placing these names on the shoulders represents the profound burden and responsibility of national leadership. As the High Priest performed his holy service, he literally carried the people of Israel with him. These stones were set within gold frames and expertly carved by a master craftsman, much like a signet ring. Unlike the stones of the breastplate, which were engraved using the miraculous shamir worm, these shoulder stones were carved by human hands [רבנו בחיי].
The names of the twelve tribes were divided evenly between the two stones, with six on one and the rest on the other. Rather than being inscribed as a single continuous block on each stone, the names were arranged in pairs, with one name on the right stone and its counterpart on the left [רלב״ג, אור החיים]. Although the second set of six is described as the remaining names, this does not diminish their importance. All the tribes are held equally in memory. They are referred to as remaining simply because the first stone could not hold all twelve [העמק דבר]. While such a term typically implies a small leftover minority, here it refers to an exact, highly significant half [פרדס יוסף].
A central detail of the instruction focuses on the concept of the tribes' birth. The primary approach among commentators is that this dictates the sequence of the engraving, requiring the names to appear in the chronological order in which the tribal ancestors were born into the world, rather than the order in which they eventually had their own children [רש״י, רבנו בחיי, קאסוטו, שטיינזלץ, מזרחי, שפתי חכמים, גור אריה]. However, an alternative view suggests this instruction does not dictate the order at all, but rather the exact form of the names. In this view, the names had to be written exactly as they were given at birth, such as Reuben or Simeon, without adding the later suffixes that denoted a tribal family [הכתב והקבלה, תורה תמימה, רש ר הירש, ביאור יש״ר].
Even among those who agree that the names followed a specific sequence, there are different perspectives on how they were arranged. Some suggest that Judah was written first out of respect for his royal lineage and the honor of God hinted at in his name, even though he was not the firstborn [אור החיים, תורה תמימה, מלבי״ם]. Others propose that the arrangement was not strictly chronological but was grouped by their mothers, with the sons of Leah written together, the sons of Rachel together, and the sons of the handmaids placed between them [דעת זקנים, רש ר הירש, ביאור יש״ר].
Beyond the technical instructions, dividing the tribes into two equal groups carries deep symbolic weight. Having six tribes on the right and six on the left, with the High Priest standing in the center, mirrors the historic covenantal gathering at Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. At that monumental event, six tribes stood on one mountain and six on the opposing mountain to accept the covenant. Thus, bearing these stones on the shoulders serves as a constant reminder to the Israelites of the oath they swore to God [חתם סופר].