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/j2000'>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 Pison; that is it which compasses the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
And Zillah also bore Tubalcain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron; and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.
And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.
And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every male in your generations, he that is born in the house or bought with money of any stranger, who is not of thy seed.
And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver; behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that were with thee and with everyone: thus she was reproved.
Then Abraham hearkened unto Ephron, and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which 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 shalt eat bread without scarceness; thou shalt not lack any thing in it, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose mountains thou may dig brass.
And Ishbibenob, who was of the sons of the giant, and the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of brass in weight, was girded with a new sword and had determined to kill David.
And Hiram sent in the navy his slaves, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the slaves of Solomon. And they went to Ophir and brought 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 was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.
And she gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold and a very great store of spices and precious stones; never again did there come 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 may remain of all the places where they remained a stranger, let the men of his place help him with silver and with gold and with goods and with beasts, with freewill gifts for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.
He shall flee from the weapons of iron, and the bow of bronze shall strike him through.
He trains my hands for the battle, so that a bow of bronze shall be broken by my arms.
and I will turn my hand upon thee and according to pureness purge away thy dross and 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 shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the slaves of the LORD, and their justice from me, said the LORD.
Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.
Silver spread into plates shall be brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, shall the workman work and the hands of the founder: they shall dress them in blue and purple: they are all the work of cunning men.
Shall iron break the iron from the place of the north wind and the bronze?
Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross; they are all brass and tin and iron and lead in the midst of the furnace; they are become the dross of silver. Therefore thus hath the Lord GOD said: Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore 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 will I gather you in my anger and in my fury, and I will cause you to rest, and melt you.
Tarshish was thy market by reason of the multitude of all thy riches in silver, iron, tin, and lead; they traded in thy fairs.
The shield of his valiant ones shall be red, the men of his army are in scarlet, the chariot as fire of torches in the day which shall be made ready; the fir trees shall be terribly shaken.
and his feet like unto brilliant metal as if they burned in a furnace 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 Pison; that is it which compasses 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.
Then Abraham hearkened unto Ephron, and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.
Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them. They sank as lead in the mighty waters.
And the officers who were over thousands of the host, the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, came near unto Moses, and they said unto Moses, Thy slaves have taken the sum of the men of war who are under our charge and not one man of us is missing. read more. We have therefore brought an offering for the LORD, each man of what he has found, of vessels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and tablets, to reconcile our souls before the LORD. And Moses and Eleazar, the priest, took the gold from them, all wrought vessels. And all the gold of the offering that they offered up to the 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 spoil, every man for himself.) And Moses and Eleazar, the priest, took the gold from the captains of thousands and of hundreds and brought it into the tabernacle of the testimony, for a memorial of the sons of Israel before the LORD.
a land in which thou shalt eat bread without scarceness; thou shalt not lack any thing in it, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose mountains thou may dig brass.
When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment 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 earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.
And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand seven hundred shekels of gold, without the ornaments and collars and purple clothing that was on the kings of Midian and without the chains that were about their camels' necks.
And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was clothed with a coat of mail of scales; and the weight of the coat of mail was five thousand shekels of brass. And he had greaves of brass upon his legs and a shield of brass between his shoulders.
And Saul clothed David with his clothing, and he put a helmet of brass upon his head; he also armed him with a coat of mail.
And Ishbibenob, who was of the sons of the giant, and the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of brass in weight, was girded with a new sword and had determined to kill David.
he who trains my hands for war and causes my arms to break the bow of bronze.
And Solomon did not inquire the weight of the brass of all the vessels because they were exceeding many.
And all King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and likewise all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; there was no silver, for in the days of Solomon it was not esteemed.
And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars to be as the sycamore trees that are in the vale, for abundance.
He shall flee from the weapons of iron, and the bow of bronze shall strike him through.
He shall flee from the weapons of iron, and the bow of bronze shall strike him through.
He trains my hands for the battle, so that a bow of bronze shall be broken by my arms.
He trains my hands for the battle, so that a bow of bronze shall be broken by my arms.
Shall iron break the iron from the place of the north wind and the bronze?
Shall iron break the iron from the place of the north wind and the bronze?