Reference: Mining and Metals
Hastings
Though Palestine proper is deficient in mineral resources, yet these were present to some extent on its borders, and were not only abundantly found, but even largely developed, in other parts of the ancient East. The Scripture references to mining, accordingly, though not very numerous, are sufficiently definite. Such a passage as De 8:9 (cf. De 33:25), though inapplicable to Palestine proper, may hold good of the Lebanon district or (as has been suggested by some) of the Sinaitic region. The classical description of the miner's life in Job 28 is evidently based on observation. It depicts the adventurous and toilsome character of the quest, the shafts sunk and the galleries tunnelled in the rock, the darkness, the waters that have to be drained away, the hidden treasures of precious stones and metals that reward the effort and the ingenuity of man.
The list of metals in Nu 31:22 includes all those that are mentioned in Scripture, viz. gold, silver, 'brass,' iron, tin, and lead. All these are again enumerated in Eze 27:12-13,22 as articles of Tyrian commerce.
Brass.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
The name of the first is Pishon: this is the one which flows through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
Zillah also gave birth to Tubal Cain, the forger of every cutting instrument of brass and iron. Tubal Cain's sister was Naamah.
"My lord, listen to me. What is a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver between me and you? Therefore bury your dead."
to Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city.
Then Zipporah took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet; and she said, "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me."
The children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they asked of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and clothing.
You blew with your wind. The sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.
You shall overlay it with pure gold. You shall overlay it inside and outside, and you shall make a gold molding around it.
You shall make two cherubim of hammered gold. You shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat.
You shall overlay it with pure gold, and make a gold molding around it.
You shall overlay the boards with gold, and make their rings of gold for places for the bars: and you shall overlay the bars with gold.
You shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold; their hooks shall be of gold, on four sockets of silver.
You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top, its sides around it, and its horns; and you shall make a gold molding around it.
He made the lampstand of pure gold. He made the lampstand of beaten work. Its base, its shaft, its cups, its buds, and its flowers were of one piece with it.
Their buds and their branches were of one piece with it. The whole thing was one beaten work of pure gold.
They beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in the blue, in the purple, in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, the work of the skillful workman.
Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine.
All the gold of the wave offering that they offered up to Yahweh, of the captains of thousands, and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred fifty shekels.
(For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Rephaim; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; isn't it in Rabbah of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its breadth, after the cubit of a man.)
But Yahweh has taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be to him a people of inheritance, as at this day.
a land in which you shall eat bread without scarceness, you shall not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you may dig copper.
He made him ride on the high places of the earth. He ate the increase of the field. He caused him to suck honey out of the rock, oil out of the flinty rock;
Your bars shall be iron and brass. As your days, so your strength will be.
At that time, Yahweh said to Joshua, "Make flint knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time." Joshua made himself flint knives, and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the foreskins.
When I saw among the spoil a beautiful Babylonian robe, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I coveted them and took them. Behold, they are hidden in the ground in the middle of my tent, with the silver under it."
The weight of the golden earrings that he requested was one thousand and seven hundred [shekels] of gold, besides the crescents, and the pendants, and the purple clothing that was on the kings of Midian, and besides the chains that were about their camels' necks.
He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of brass.
They came to Ophir, and fetched from there gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.
The navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of almug trees and precious stones.
Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred sixty-six talents of gold,
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 nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon. For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram: once every three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.
of the nations concerning which Yahweh said to the children of Israel, "You shall not go among them, neither shall they come among you; for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods." Solomon joined to these in love.
Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for the [things of] gold, and the silver for the [things of] silver, and the brass for the [things of] brass, the iron for the [things of] iron, and wood for the [things of] wood; onyx stones, and [stones] to be set, stones for inlaid work, and of various colors, and all kinds of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance.
besides that which the traders and merchants brought: and all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon. King Solomon made two hundred bucklers of beaten gold; six hundred [shekels] of beaten gold went to one buckler.
For the king had ships that went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram; once every three years came the ships of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.
and twenty bowls of gold, of one thousand darics; and two vessels of fine bright brass, precious as gold.
After him repaired their brothers, Bavvai the son of Henadad, the ruler of half the district of Keilah.
After him repaired Meremoth the son of Uriah the son of Hakkoz another portion, from the door of the house of Eliashib even to the end of the house of Eliashib.
Between the ascent of the corner and the sheep gate repaired the goldsmiths and the merchants.
That with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever!
He shall flee from the iron weapon. The bronze arrow shall strike him through.
Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted out of the ore.
He puts forth his hand on the flinty rock, and he overturns the mountains by the roots.
He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of bronze.
For you, God, have tested us. You have refined us, as silver is refined.
They shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba. Men shall pray for him continually. They shall bless him all day long.
The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, but Yahweh tests the hearts.
Take away the dross from the silver, and material comes out for the refiner;
The crucible is for silver, and the furnace for gold; but man is refined by his praise.
His legs are like pillars of marble set on sockets of fine gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.
Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water.
and I will turn my hand on you, thoroughly purge away your dross, and will take away all your tin.
and I will turn my hand on you, thoroughly purge away your dross, and will take away all your tin.
whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent. Their horses' hoofs will be like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind.
So the carpenter encourages the goldsmith. He who smoothes with the hammer encourages him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, "It is good;" and he fastens it with nails, that it might not totter.
I will open rivers on the bare heights, and springs in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.
The blacksmith takes an axe, works in the coals, fashions it with hammers, and works it with his strong arm. He is hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water, and is faint.
"To whom will you liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like?
Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.
For the Lord Yahweh will help me; therefore I have not been confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be disappointed.
They are all grievous rebels, going about with slanders; they are brass and iron: they all of them deal corruptly. The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed of the fire: in vain do they go on refining; for the wicked are not plucked away.
The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed of the fire: in vain do they go on refining; for the wicked are not plucked away. Men will call them rejected silver, because Yahweh has rejected them."
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 skillful men.
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 skillful men.
Every man is become brutish [and is] without knowledge; every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so you shall be my people, and I will be your God;
Can one break iron, even iron from the north, and brass?
Every man is become brutish [and is] without knowledge; every goldsmith is disappointed by his image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
As an adamant harder than flint have I made your forehead: don't be afraid of them, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.
The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, Son of man, the house of Israel is 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.
Son of man, the house of Israel is 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.
Son of man, the house of Israel is 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 the Lord Yahweh: Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. As they gather silver and brass and iron and lead and tin into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire on it, to melt it; so will I gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will lay you there, and melt you.
As they gather silver and brass and iron and lead and tin into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire on it, to melt it; so will I gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will lay you there, and melt you. Yes, I will gather you, and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in its midst.
Yes, I will gather you, and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in its midst. As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so you will be melted in its midst; and you will know that I, Yahweh, have poured out my wrath on you.
As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so you will be melted in its midst; and you will know that I, Yahweh, have poured out my wrath on you.
Tarshish was your merchant by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded for your wares.
Tarshish was your merchant by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded for your wares.
Tarshish was your merchant by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded for your wares. Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were your traffickers; they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass for your merchandise.
The traffickers of Sheba and Raamah, they were your traffickers; they traded for your wares with the chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold.
Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Damascus, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron;
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 pine spears are brandished.
(and behold, a talent of lead was lifted up); and this is a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah basket." He said, "This is Wickedness;" and he threw her down into the midst of the ephah basket; and he threw the weight of lead on its mouth.
I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will test them like gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, 'It is my people;' and they will say, 'Yahweh is my God.'"
and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to Yahweh offerings in righteousness.
For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen,
merchandise of gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, fine linen, purple, silk, scarlet, all expensive wood, every vessel of ivory, every vessel made of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble;