Reference: Metals
Fausets
Gold of Havilah is mentioned as early as Ge 2:11. The first worker of instruments of copper ("brass") and iron was Tubal-cain (Ge 4:22). Abram was rich in silver and gold (Ge 13:2). Instruments before Tubalcain (born according to Hebrew chronology 500 years after Adam and contemporary with Enoch from Seth; 1,000 according to Septuagint chronology) were apparently of flint, bone, and hard wood, such as uncivilized nations now use. Races that have degenerated into barbarism fall back upon flint; then advance to bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, harder than either: and then brass; and lastly iron. The oldest European races used only flint weapons, which are found in the gravel; but this is no proof they were unknown to Adam's early descendants. Isolation would soon reduce the distant emigrants to savagery. Silver was used for commerce, as "money" (Ge 23:16; 17:12; 20:16), gold for ornament.
Gold, silver, brass, iron, tin, and lead were among the spoils taken front Midian (Nu 31:22). In Job 20:24 for "steel" translated brass. Also Ps 18:34, "a bow of steel" should be brass, which, or bronze, was used to strengthen arms, as for instance the Egyptians' bows. But God so taught David to war relying on Him that, no weapon could prevail against him; so Isa 54:17. In Jer 15:12, "shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?" the metal meant is copper mixed with iron by the Chalybes near the Pontus far N. of Palestine; i.e., can the Jews, however iron-like, break the hardier steel-like northern Chaldees (Jer 1:14). Common iron, as then prepared, was inferior to the Chalybian iron and brass combined. Thus explaining, we solve Henderson's difficulty that KJV makes iron not so hard as brass, and we need not transl, as he does "can one break iron, even northern iron, and brass?"
In Na 2:3, "the chariots will be with flaming torches," translated rather "with fire flashing scythes," literally, "with the fire (glitter) of scythes" or steel weapons fixed at right angles to the axles, and turned down, or parallel, inserted into the felly of the wheel. (On Ezr 1:4 "amber," Re 1:15 "fine brass". (See AMBER.) The first payment of gold is in 1Ch 21:25. (See ARAUNAH.) Gold was imported from Ophir, Sheba, Parvaim, and Uphaz (1Ki 9:27-28; 10/2/type/acv'>10:2,10; 2Ch 3:6; Jer 10:9). The hills of Palestine yielded copper (De 8:9). Job 28 hints at the fact that gold is more superficial, iron lodes yield more the deeper you go: "there is a vein (a mine from whence it goes forth, Hebrew) for the silver, and a place for gold (which men) refine (it is found in the sands of rivers, and its particles have a superficial range in mines); iron is taken out of the dust (or earth, ore looking like it), and copper is molten out of the stone."
Copper is easier found and wrought than iron, so was in earlier use. Copper alloyed with tin formed brindle, of which Napier (Metal. of Bible) thinks the domestic vessels, the arms, etc., in Scripture were made, as it tarnishes less, takes a finer polish, and admits of a keen, hard edge (2Sa 21:16). Israel derived their skill in metallurgy from the Egyptians. Tin (bdiyl) was doubtless imported through the Phoenicians from Cornwall to Tarshish, and thence to Palestine (Eze 27:12; 22:18-20; Isa 1:25); the Assyrian bronze bowls, having one part tin to ten copper, now in the British Museum, consist of metal probably exported 3,000 years ago from the British isles. (See BOWLS.)
See Verses Found in Dictionary
The name of the first is Pishon. That is it which encompasses the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
And Zillah, she also bore Tubal-cain, the forger of every cutting instrument of brass and iron. And the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.
And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.
And he who is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations: he who is born in the house, or bought with money of any foreigner that is not of thy seed.
And to Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver. Behold, it is for thee a covering of the eyes to all who are with thee. And in regard to all thou are righted.
And Abraham hearkened to Ephron. And Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver that he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current [money] with the merchant.
a land in which thou shall eat bread without scarceness. Thou shall not lack anything in it, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou may dig copper.
and Ishbibenob, who was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred [shekels] of brass in weight, he being girded with a new [sword], thought to have slain David.
And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen who had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon. And they came to Ophir, and fetched gold from there, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.
And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bore spices, and very much gold, and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she conversed with him of all that was in her heart.
And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices a very great store, and precious stones. There came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.
So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight.
And whoever is left, in any place where he sojourns, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, besides the freewill-offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.
He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of brass shall strike him through.
He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of brass.
And I will turn my hand upon thee, and thoroughly purge away thy dross, and will take away all thy tin.
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. And every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of LORD, and their righteousness which is of me, says LORD.
Then LORD said to me, Out of the north evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.
There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artificer and of the hands of the goldsmith, blue and purple for their clothing. They are all the work of skilful men.
Can a man break iron, even iron from the north, and brass?
Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me. All of them are brass and tin and iron and lead, in the midst of the furnace. They are the dross of silver. Therefore thus says lord LORD: Because ye have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem read more. as they gather silver and brass and iron and lead and tin into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it. So I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will lay you there, and melt you.
Tarshish was thy merchant because of the multitude of all kinds of riches, with silver, iron, tin, and lead. They traded for thy wares.
The shield of his mighty men is made red. The valiant men are in scarlet. The chariots flash with steel in the day of his preparation, and the cypress [spears] are brandished.
and his feet resembling highly refined metal, as in a furnace having been fiery hot, and his voice as the sound of many waters,
Smith
Metals.
The Hebrews, in common with other ancient nations, were acquainted with nearly all the metals known to modern metallurgy, whether as the products of their own soil or the results of intercourse with foreigners. One of the earliest geographical definitions is that which describes the country of Havilah as the land which abounded in gold, and the gold of which was good.
Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold,
silver, as will be shown hereafter, being the medium of commerce, while gold existed in the shape of ornaments, during the patriarchal ages. Tin is first mentioned
and lead is used to heighten the imagery of Moses' triumphal song.
Whether the ancient Hebrews were acquainted with steel, properly so called, is uncertain; the words so rendered in the Authorized Version,
2Sa 22:35; Job 20:24; Ps 18:34; Jer 15:12
are in all others passages translated brass, and would be more correctly copper. The "northern iron" of
is believed more nearly to correspond to what we call steel [STEEL] It is supposed that the Hebrews used the mixture of copper and tin known as bronze. The Hebrews obtained their principal supply from the south of Arabia and the commerce of the Persian Gulf.
See Steel
The great abundance of gold in early times is indicated by its entering into the composition of all articles of ornament and almost all of domestic use. Among the spoils of the Midianites taken by the Israelites in their bloodless victory when Balaam was slain were earrings and jewels to the amount of 16,750 shekels of gold,
equal in value to more than $150,000. Seventeen hundred shekels of gold (worth more than $15,000) in nose jewels (Authorized Version "ear-rings") alone were taken by Gideon's army from the slaughtered Midianites.
But the amount of treasure accumulated by David from spoils taken in war is so enormous that we are tempted to conclude the numbers exaggerated. Though gold was thus common, silver appears to have been the ordinary medium of commerce. The first commercial transaction of which we possess the details was the purchase of Ephron's field by Abraham for 400 shekels of silver.
The accumulation of wealth in the reign of Solomon was so great that silver was but little esteemed.
Brass, or more properly copper, was a native product of Palestine.
De 8:9; Job 28:2
It was plentiful in the days of Solomon, and the quantity employed in the temple could not be estimated, it was so great.
No allusion is found to zinc; but tin was well known. Arms,
2Sa 21:16; Job 20:24; Ps 18:34
and armor,
were made of copper, which was capable of being so wrought as to admit of a keen and hard edge. Iron, like copper, was found in the hills of Palestine. Iron-mines are still worked by the inhabitants of Kefr Hunch, in the sought of the valley of Zaharani.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
The name of the first is Pishon. That is it which encompasses the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good. There is bdellium and the onyx stone.
And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.
And Abraham hearkened to Ephron. And Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver that he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current [money] with the merchant.
Thou did blow with thy wind, the sea covered them. They sank as lead in the mighty waters.
And the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the captains of thousands, and the captains of hundreds, came near to Moses. And they said to Moses, Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war that are under our charge, and there lacks not one man of us. read more. And we have brought LORD's oblation, what every man has gotten, of jewels of gold, ankle-chains, and bracelets, signet-rings, earrings, and armlets, to make atonement for our souls before LORD. And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, even all wrought jewels. And all the gold of the heave-offering that they offered up to LORD, of the captains of thousands, and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels. ([For] the men of war had taken booty, every man for himself.) And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tent of meeting, for a memorial for the sons of Israel before LORD.
a land in which thou shall eat bread without scarceness. Thou shall not lack anything in it, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou may dig copper.
When I saw among the spoil a goodly Babylon mantle, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them. And, behold, they are hid in the ground in the midst of my tent
And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred [shekels] of gold, besides the crescents, and the pendants, and the purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and besides the chains tha
And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was clad with a coat of mail. And the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a javelin of brass between his shoulders.
And Saul clad David with his apparel, and he put a helmet of brass upon his head, and he clad him with a coat of mail.
and Ishbibenob, who was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred [shekels] of brass in weight, he being girded with a new [sword], thought to have slain David.
He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of brass.
And Solomon left all the vessels [unweighed] because they were very many; the weight of the brass could not be found out.
And all king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver; it was accounted of nothing in the days of Solomon.
And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars he made to be as the sycamore trees that are in the lowland, for abundance.
He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of brass shall strike him through.
He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of brass shall strike him through.
Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is molten out of the stone.
He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of brass.
He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of brass.
Can a man break iron, even iron from the north, and brass?
Can a man break iron, even iron from the north, and brass?