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 had great wealth of cattle and silver and gold.
And he said to Sarah, See, I have given to your brother a thousand bits of silver so that your wrong may be put right; now your honour is clear in the eyes of all.
And Abraham took note of the price fixed by Ephron in the hearing of the children of Heth, and gave him four hundred shekels in current money.
With forty silver bases under the twenty boards, two bases under every board to take its tongues.
Hanging it by gold hooks from four pillars of wood, plated with gold and fixed in silver bases.
Even three thousand talents of gold of Ophir and seven thousand talents of the best silver, for plating the walls of the house:
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 had great wealth of cattle and silver and gold.
My lord, give ear to me: the value of the land is four hundred shekels; what is that between me and you? so put your dead to rest there. And Abraham took note of the price fixed by Ephron in the hearing of the children of Heth, and gave him four hundred shekels in current money.
With forty silver bases under the twenty boards, two bases under every board to take its tongues.
All the pillars round the open space are to have silver bands, with hooks of silver and bases of brass.
And his offering was one silver plate, a hundred and thirty shekels in weight, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the scale of the holy place; the two of them full of the best meal mixed with oil for a meal offering;
He gave one silver plate, a hundred and thirty shekels in weight, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the scale of the holy place; the two of them full of the best meal mixed with oil for a meal offering;
Make two silver horns of hammered work, to be used for getting the people together and to give the sign for the moving of the tents.
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 gave to Abraham sheep and oxen and men-servants and women-servants, and gave him back his wife Sarah. And Abimelech said, See, all my land is before you; take whatever place seems good to you. read more. And he said to Sarah, See, I have given to your brother a thousand bits of silver so that your wrong may be put right; now your honour is clear in the eyes of all.
And Abraham took note of the price fixed by Ephron in the hearing of the children of Heth, and gave him four hundred shekels in current money.
Then he took jewels of silver and jewels of gold and fair robes and gave them to Rebekah: and he gave things of value to her mother and her brother.
And put my cup, my silver cup, in the youngest one's bag, with his money. So he did as Joseph said.
With forty silver bases under the twenty boards, two bases under every board to take its tongues.
Their twenty pillars and their twenty bases are to be of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their bands are to be of silver.
And the bases of the pillars were of brass; their hooks and the bands round the tops of them were of silver; all the pillars were ringed with silver.
Make two silver horns of hammered work, to be used for getting the people together and to give the sign for the moving of the tents.
The women of Midian with their little ones the children of Israel took prisoner; and all their cattle and flocks and all their goods they took for themselves;
And we have here an offering for the Lord from what every man took in the war, ornaments of gold, leg-chains and arm-rings, finger-rings, ear-rings, and neck-ornaments, to make our souls free from sin before the Lord. So Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, even all the worked ornaments. read more. And the gold which the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds gave, as an offering to be lifted up before the Lord, came to sixteen thousand, seven hundred and fifty shekels. (For every man of the army had taken goods for himself in the war.) Then Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold given by the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, and took it into the Tent of meeting, to be a sign in memory of the children of Israel before the Lord.
Then Gideon said to them, I have a request to make to you; let every man give me the ear-rings he has taken. (For they had gold ear-rings, because they were Ishmaelites.) And they gave answer, We will gladly give them. So they put down a robe, every man dropping into it the ear-rings he had taken. read more. The weight of the gold ear-rings which he got from them was one thousand, seven hundred shekels of gold; in addition to the moon-ornaments and jewels and the purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and the chains on their camels' necks.
And gold by weight for the light-supports and the vessels for the lights, the weight of gold needed for every support and every vessel for lights; and for the silver light-supports, the weight of silver needed for every support and for the different vessels as every one was to be used; And gold by weight for the tables for the holy bread for every table, and silver for the silver tables; read more. Clear gold for the meat-hooks and the basins and the cups; for the gold basins, gold enough by weight for every basin; and silver by weight for every silver basin;
And in addition to what he got from traders of different sorts, all the kings of Arabia and the rulers of the country gave gold and silver to Solomon.
For the king had Tarshish-ships sailing with the servants of Huram: once every three years the Tarshish-ships came back with gold and silver, ivory and monkeys and peacocks.
Truly there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is washed out.
And you will make unclean what is covering your pictured images of silver, and the plating of your images of gold: you will send them away as an unclean thing, saying, Be gone!
The workman makes an image, and the gold-worker puts gold plates over it, and makes silver bands for it.
Silver hammered into plates is sent from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the expert workman and of the hands of the gold-worker; blue and purple is their clothing, all the work of expert men.
And now their sins are increased; they have made themselves a metal image, false gods from their silver, after their designs, all of them the work of the metal-workers; they say of them, Let them give offerings, let men give kisses to the oxen.
A curse on him who says to the wood, Awake! to the unbreathing stone, Up! let it be a teacher! See, it is plated with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all inside it.
He will take his seat, testing and cleaning the sons of Levi, burning away the evil from them as from gold and silver; so that they may make offerings to the Lord in righteousness.
For there was a certain man named Demetrius, a silver-worker, who made silver boxes for the images of Diana, and gave no small profit to the workmen;
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 had great wealth of cattle and silver and gold.
And Abraham took note of the price fixed by Ephron in the hearing of the children of Heth, and gave him four hundred shekels in current money.
And the Lord said to Moses, When you are taking the number of the children of Israel, let every man who is numbered give to the Lord a price for his life, so that no disease may come on them when they are numbered. read more. And this is what they are to give; let every man who is numbered give half a shekel, by the scale of the holy place: (the shekel being valued at twenty gerahs:) this money is an offering to the Lord. Everyone who is numbered, from twenty years old and over, is to give an offering to the Lord. The man of wealth is to give no more and the poor man no less than the half-shekel of silver, when the offering is made to the Lord as the price for your lives. And you are to take this money from the children of Israel to be used for the work of the Tent of meeting, to keep the memory of the children of Israel before the Lord and to be the price of your lives.
And for these twenty boards, forty silver bases, two bases under every board, to take its tongues. And for the second side of the House, on the north, they made twenty boards, read more. With their forty silver bases, two bases for every board. And for the west side of the House, at the back, they made six boards, And two boards for the angles at the back. These were joined together at the base and at the top to one ring, so forming the two angles. So there were eight boards with sixteen bases of silver, two bases under every board. And they made rods of hard wood; five for the boards on one side of the House, And five for the boards on the other side of the House, and five for the boards at the back, on the west. The middle rod was made to go right through the rings of all the boards from one end to the other. All the boards were plated with gold, and the rings through which the rods went were of gold, and the rods were plated with gold. And he made the veil of the best linen, blue and purple and red, worked with winged ones designed by expert workmen. And they made four pillars for it of hard wood plated with gold: they had hooks of gold and four silver bases.
Their twenty pillars and their twenty bases were brass; and the hooks of the pillars and their bands were of silver. And for the north side. hangings a hundred cubits long, on twenty brass pillars in brass bases, with silver hooks and bands. read more. And on the west side, hangings fifty cubits long, on ten pillars in ten bases, with silver bands. And on the east side, the open space was fifty cubits long. The hangings on one side of the doorway were fifteen cubits long, on three pillars with their three bases; And the same on the other side of the doorway; on this side and on that the hangings were fifteen cubits long, on three pillars with their three bases. All the hangings were of the best linen. And the bases of the pillars were of brass; their hooks and the bands round the tops of them were of silver; all the pillars were ringed with silver.
And the silver given by those who were numbered of the people was a hundred talents, and a thousand, seven hundred and seventy-five shekels in weight, by the scale of the holy place. A beka, that is, half a shekel by the holy scale, for everyone who was numbered; there were six hundred and three thousand, five hundred and fifty men of twenty years old and over. read more. Of this silver, a hundred talents was used for making the bases of the pillars of the holy place and of the veil; a talent for every base. And a thousand, seven hundred and seventy-five shekels of silver was used to make the hooks for the pillars, and for plating the tops of the pillars and for making their bands.
And all King Solomon's drinking-vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the Woods of Lebanon were of the best gold; not one was of silver, for no one gave a thought to silver in the days of King Solomon.
So Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem and took away all the stored wealth of the house of the Lord and the king's house: he took everything away, and with the rest the gold body-covers which Solomon had made.
Truly there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is washed out.
The words of the Lord are true words: like silver tested by fire and burned clean seven times.
Take away the waste from silver, and a vessel will come out for the silver-worker.
Before ever the silver cord is cut, or the vessel of gold is broken, or the pot is broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the water-hole;
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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Then he took jewels of silver and jewels of gold and fair robes and gave them to Rebekah: and he gave things of value to her mother and her brother.
Gods of silver and gods of gold you are not to make for yourselves.
And in addition to what he got from traders of different sorts, all the kings of Arabia and the rulers of the country gave gold and silver to Solomon.
For the king had Tarshish-ships sailing with the servants of Huram: once every three years the Tarshish-ships came back with gold and silver, ivory and monkeys and peacocks.
They will be named waste silver, because the Lord has given them up.
Silver hammered into plates is sent from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the expert workman and of the hands of the gold-worker; blue and purple is their clothing, all the work of expert men.
Tarshish did business with you because of the great amount of your wealth; they gave silver, iron, tin, and lead for your goods.
And now their sins are increased; they have made themselves a metal image, false gods from their silver, after their designs, all of them the work of the metal-workers; they say of them, Let them give offerings, let men give kisses to the oxen.
For there was a certain man named Demetrius, a silver-worker, who made silver boxes for the images of Diana, and gave no small profit to the workmen;
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 Seth had a son, and he gave him the name of Enosh: at this time men first made use of the name of the Lord in worship.
And he said to Sarah, See, I have given to your brother a thousand bits of silver so that your wrong may be put right; now your honour is clear in the eyes of all.
And Sarah's death took place in Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan: and Abraham went into his house, weeping and sorrowing for Sarah.
My lord, give ear to me: the value of the land is four hundred shekels; what is that between me and you? so put your dead to rest there.
And Peter, looking at him, with John, said, Keep your eyes on us.
I have had no desire for any man's silver or gold or clothing.
But be holy in every detail of your lives, as he, whose servants you are, is holy;