Reference: Silver
American
One of the precious metals and the one most commonly used as coin among all nations. It is first mentioned in Scripture in the history of Abraham, Ge 13:2; 20:16; 23:16, and was used in constricting the tabernacle, Ex 26:19,32, and afterwards the temple, 1Ch 29:4. In employing it as a medium of trade, the ancient Hebrews weighed it out, instead of having coins. In the times of the New Testament there were coins. See SHEKEL, and MONEY.
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Now Abram was extremely rich in livestock and in silver and in gold.
And to Sarah he said, Behold, I have given this brother of yours a thousand pieces of silver; see, it is to compensate you [for all that has occurred] and to vindicate your honor before all who are with you; before all men you are cleared and compensated.
So Abraham listened to what Ephron said and acted upon it. He weighed to Ephron the silver which he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: 400 shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants.
And you shall make forty silver sockets under the twenty boards, two sockets under each board for its two tenons.
You shall hang it on four pillars of acacia wood overlaid with gold, with gold hooks, on four sockets of silver.
Easton
used for a great variety of purposes, as may be judged from the frequent references to it in Scripture. It first appears in commerce in Ge 13:2; 23:15-16. It was largely employed for making vessels for the sanctuary in the wilderness (Ex 26:19; 27:17; Nu 7:13,19; 10:2). There is no record of its having been found in Syria or Palestine. It was brought in large quantities by foreign merchants from abroad, from Spain and India and other countries probably.
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Now Abram was extremely rich in livestock and in silver and in gold.
My lord, listen to me. The land is worth 400 shekels of silver; what is that between you and me? So bury your dead. So Abraham listened to what Ephron said and acted upon it. He weighed to Ephron the silver which he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: 400 shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants.
And you shall make forty silver sockets under the twenty boards, two sockets under each board for its two tenons.
All the pillars round about the court shall be joined together with silver rods; their hooks shall be of silver and their sockets of bronze.
And his offering was one silver platter, the weight of which was 130 shekels, one silver basin of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a cereal offering;
He gave for his offering one silver platter, the weight of which was 130 shekels, one silver basin of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a cereal offering;
Fausets
Hebrew keceph, Greek arguros. The only one of the four metals, gold, silver, brass, and iron, not mentioned until after the deluge. Abraham paid Ephron for the cave of Machpelah "400 shekels of silver, current money with the merchant" (Ge 23:16). By this time it had become a recognized standard of value and medium of exchange. It probably was not coined, but bars of silver were probably formed in conventional shapes and marked with some sign to note their weight. The thousand ("pieces" is not in the Hebrew) of silver given by Abimelech to Abraham probably indicate the value of the "sheep and oxen," etc., which he gave (Ge 20:14-16). (See MONEY.) Silver was brought to Solomon in lavish abundance from Arabia and Tarshish (in plates like the Cingalese sacred writing tablets). 2Ch 9:14,21; 1Ki 10:21-27. Idols were generally wood inside, plated over with silver (Jer 10:9; Isa 30:22; 40:19; Ho 13:2; Hab 2:19).
It was used for women's ornaments, Ge 24:53; cups, Ge 44:2; sockets and chapiters of the pillars of the tabernacle, Ex 26:19; 27:10; 38:17; the two trumpets, Nu 10:2; the temple candlesticks, etc., 1Ch 28:15-17; the model shrines of Diana, Ac 19:24. There being mines ("vein") of silver and "dust of gold" is accurately noted in Job 28:1 (See METALS.) The Lord, with perfect wisdom and love, leaves His people in affliction till, their dross being purified, He sees them reflecting His holy image; just as a "refiner of silver" sits watching the melting silver until he sees his own image reflected, when he knows the silver has been long enough in the furnace and withdraws it (Mal 3:3). (See MINES; LEAD.) Captain Burton's discovery of silver and gold and other metals in great abundance in the land of Midian, as well as the remains of ancient mine workings, remarkably confirms the Scripture account of Midian's wealth in the metals (Nu 31:9,22,50-54; Jg 8:24-26). A forger would never have ascribed this kind of wealth to a nomadic people. (See MIDIAN; PARAN.)
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Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham and restored to him Sarah his wife. And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before you; dwell wherever it pleases you. read more. And to Sarah he said, Behold, I have given this brother of yours a thousand pieces of silver; see, it is to compensate you [for all that has occurred] and to vindicate your honor before all who are with you; before all men you are cleared and compensated.
So Abraham listened to what Ephron said and acted upon it. He weighed to Ephron the silver which he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: 400 shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants.
And the servant brought out jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and garments and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave precious things to her brother and her mother.
And put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack's mouth of the youngest, with his grain money. And [the steward] did according to what Joseph had said.
And you shall make forty silver sockets under the twenty boards, two sockets under each board for its two tenons.
Their pillars shall be twenty and their sockets twenty, of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their joinings shall be of silver;
The sockets for the pillars were of bronze, the hooks of the pillars and their joinings of silver, the overlaying of their tops of silver, and all the pillars of the court were joined with silver.
Make two trumpets of silver; of hammered or turned work you shall make them, that you may use them to call the congregation and for breaking camp.
And the Israelites took captive the women of Midian and their little ones, and all their cattle, their flocks, and their goods as booty.
We have brought as the Lord's offering what each man obtained -- "articles of gold, armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings, neck ornaments -- "to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord. Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all the wrought articles. read more. And all the gold of the offering that they offered to the Lord from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds was 16,750 shekels. For the men of war had taken booty, every man for himself. And Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds and brought it into the Tent of Meeting as a memorial for the Israelites before the Lord.
And Gideon said to them, Let me make a request of you -- "every man of you give me the earrings of his spoil. For [the Midianites] had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites [general term for all descendants of Keturah]. And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment, and every man cast on it the earrings of his spoil. read more. And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold, besides the crescents and pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and the chains that were about their camels' necks.
The weight of the golden lampstands and their lamps, the weight of gold or silver for each lampstand and its lamps, according to the use of each lampstand; The gold by weight for each table of showbread, and the silver for the tables of silver; read more. Also pure gold for the forks, basins, and cups; for the golden bowls by weight of each; for the silver bowls by weight of each;
Besides what traders and merchants brought; and all the kings of Arabia and governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.
For the king's ships went to Tarshish with Huram's servants; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
Then you will defile your carved images overlaid with silver and your molten images plated with gold; you will cast them away as a filthy bloodstained cloth, and you will say to them, Be gone!
The graven image! A workman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts silver chains for it.
Silver beaten [into plates] is brought from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz, the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith; the [idols'] clothing is violet and purple -- "they are all the work of skillful men.
And now they sin more and more and have made for themselves molten images of their silver, even idols according to their own understanding [as it pleased them], all of them the work of the craftsmen. To these [very works of their hands] they speak or pray who sacrifice to them; they kiss and show homage to the calves [as if they were alive]!
Woe to him who says to the wooden image, Awake! and to the dumb stone, Arise, teach! [Yet, it cannot, for] behold, it is laid over with gold and silver and there is no breath at all inside it!
He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify the priests, the sons of Levi, and refine them like gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord offerings in righteousness.
Hastings
Morish
This was a source of wealth from early days. Abraham was rich in silver, Ge 13:2; but with Solomon gold was so plentiful that silver was 'nothing accounted of.' 1Ki 10:21. The silver and gold which he had amassed were, alas, afterwards carried away to enrich their enemies because of the sins of Israel. 2Ch 12:9. Silver was also the common specie of commerce, 'pieces of silver' being weighed long before money was coined. Ge 23:16. Silver was used for the sockets, hooks, etc., in the tabernacle, the money paid for the redemption of the Israelites being applied to this purpose. Ex 30:11-16; 38:25-28. The house of God is founded on redemption. Ex 36:24-36; 38:10-17.
Silver is found in the earth (Job 28:1), and before it can be compared to 'the words of the Lord' it must be purified seven times. Ps 12:6; Pr 25:4.
THE SILVER CORD in Ec 12:6 seems to refer to 'the thread of life,' which is loosed, or removed, when death ensues.
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Now Abram was extremely rich in livestock and in silver and in gold.
So Abraham listened to what Ephron said and acted upon it. He weighed to Ephron the silver which he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: 400 shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants.
And the Lord said to Moses, When you take the census of the Israelites, every man shall give a ransom for himself to the Lord when you number them, that no plague may fall upon them when you number them. read more. This is what everyone shall give as he joins those already numbered: a half shekel, in terms of the sanctuary shekel, a shekel being twenty gerahs; a half shekel as an offering to the Lord. Everyone from twenty years old and upward, as he joins those already numbered, shall give this offering to the Lord. The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel when [you] give this offering to the Lord to make atonement for yourselves. And you shall take the atonement money of the Israelites and use it [exclusively] for the service of the Tent of Meeting, that it may bring the Israelites to remembrance before the Lord, to make atonement for yourselves.
And he made under the twenty boards forty sockets or bases of silver, two sockets under one board for its two tenons or hands, and two sockets under another board for its two tenons. For the other side of the tabernacle, the north side, he made twenty boards read more. And their forty sockets or bases of silver, two sockets under [the end of] each board. And for the rear or west side of the tabernacle he made six [frame] boards. And two boards he made for each corner of the tabernacle in the rear. They were separate below but linked together at the top with one ring; thus he made both of them in both corners. There were eight boards with sixteen sockets or bases of silver, and under [the end of] each board two sockets. He made bars of acacia wood, five for the [frame] boards of the one side of the tabernacle, And five bars for the boards of its other side, and five bars for the boards at the rear or west side. And he made the middle bar pass through halfway up the boards from one end to the other. He overlaid the boards and the bars with gold and made their rings of gold as places for the bars. And he made the veil of blue, purple, and scarlet [stuff] and fine twined linen, with cherubim skillfully worked. For [the veil] he made four pillars of acacia [wood] and overlaid them with gold; their hooks were of gold, and he cast for them four sockets or bases of silver.
Their pillars and their bronze sockets or bases were twenty; the hooks of the pillars and their joinings were silver. And for the north side the hangings were [also] a hundred cubits; their pillars and their sockets or bases of bronze were twenty; the hooks of the pillars and their joinings were of silver. read more. But for the west side were hangings of fifty cubits; their pillars and their sockets or bases were ten; the hooks of the pillars and their joinings were of silver. And for the front, the east side, fifty cubits. The hangings for one side of the gate were fifteen cubits; their pillars three and their sockets or bases three. Also for the other side of the court gate, left and right, were hangings of fifteen cubits; their pillars three and their sockets or bases three. All the hangings around the court were of fine twined linen. The sockets for the pillars were of bronze, the hooks of the pillars and their joinings of silver, the overlaying of their tops of silver, and all the pillars of the court were joined with silver.
And the silver from those numbered of the congregation was 100 talents and 1,775 shekels, by sanctuary standards: A beka for each man, that is, half a shekel, by the sanctuary shekel, for everyone who was counted, from twenty years old and upward, for 603,550 men. read more. The 100 talents of silver were for casting the sockets or bases of the sanctuary and of the veil; 100 sockets for the 100 talents, a talent for a socket. Of the 1,775 shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their tops, and made joinings for them.
All King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver; it was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon.
So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem; he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and of the king's house. He took everything. He took away also the shields of gold Solomon had made.
The words and promises of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in an earthen furnace, purified seven times over.
Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth [the material for] a vessel for the silversmith [to work up].
[Remember your Creator earnestly now] before the silver cord [of life] is snapped apart, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern [and the whole circulatory system of the blood ceases to function];
Smith
Silver.
In very early times silver was used for ornaments,
and for vessels of various kinds. Images for idolatrous worship were made of silver or overlaid with it,
; Habb 2:19 Bar. 6:39, and the manufacture of silver shrines for Diana was a trade in Ephesus.
But its chief use was as a medium of exchange, and throughout the Old Testament we find "silver" used for money, like the French argent. Silver was brought to Solomon from Arabia,
and from Tarshish,
which supplied the markets of Tyre.
From Tarshish it came int he form of plates,
like those on which the sacred books of the Singhalese are written to this day. Spain appears to have been the chief source whence silver was obtained by the ancients. Possibly the hills of Palestine may have afforded some supply of this metal. Silvers mixed with alloy is referred to in
and a finer kind, either purer in itself or more thoroughly purified, is mentioned in
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And the servant brought out jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and garments and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave precious things to her brother and her mother.
You shall not make [gods to share] with Me [My glory and your worship]; gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves.
Besides what traders and merchants brought; and all the kings of Arabia and governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.
For the king's ships went to Tarshish with Huram's servants; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
Men will call them reprobate and rejected silver [only dross, without good metal], because the Lord has rejected them.
Silver beaten [into plates] is brought from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz, the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith; the [idols'] clothing is violet and purple -- "they are all the work of skillful men.
Tarshish [in Spain] carried on traffic with you because of the abundance of your riches of all kinds; with silver, iron, tin, and lead they traded for your wares.
And now they sin more and more and have made for themselves molten images of their silver, even idols according to their own understanding [as it pleased them], all of them the work of the craftsmen. To these [very works of their hands] they speak or pray who sacrifice to them; they kiss and show homage to the calves [as if they were alive]!
Watsons
SILVER, ????, Ge 20:16; ????????, 1Pe 1:15; Ac 3:4; 20:33; a well known metal, of a white shining colour; next in value to gold. It does not appear to have been in use before the deluge; at least Moses says nothing of it; he speaks only of the metals brass and iron, Ge 4:26. But in Abraham's time it was become common, and traffic was carried on with it, Ge 23:2,15. Yet it was not then coined, but was only in bars or ingots; and in commerce was always weighed.
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And to Seth also a son was born, whom he named Enosh. At that time men began to call [upon God] by the name of the Lord.
And to Sarah he said, Behold, I have given this brother of yours a thousand pieces of silver; see, it is to compensate you [for all that has occurred] and to vindicate your honor before all who are with you; before all men you are cleared and compensated.
And Sarah died in Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan. And Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.
My lord, listen to me. The land is worth 400 shekels of silver; what is that between you and me? So bury your dead.
And Peter directed his gaze intently at him, and so did John, and said, Look at us!
I coveted no man's silver or gold or [costly] garments.
But as the One Who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all your conduct and manner of living.