Reference: Tin
American
A metal known and used at an early period, Nu 31:22, and brought by the Tyrians from Tarshish, Eze 27:12. In Isa 1:25 it means the alloy of lead, tin, and other base admixtures in silver ore, separated from the pure silver by smelting.
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Easton
Heb bedil (Nu 31:22; Eze 22:18,20), a metal well known in ancient times. It is the general opinion that the Phoenicians of Tyre and Sidon obtained their supplies of tin from the British Isles. In Eze 27:12 it is said to have been brought from Tarshish, which was probably a commercial emporium supplied with commodities from other places. In Isa 1:25 the word so rendered is generally understood of lead, the alloy with which the silver had become mixed (ver. Isa 1:22). The fire of the Babylonish Captivity would be the means of purging out the idolatrous alloy that had corrupted the people.
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Fausets
bedil; Greek kassiteres, from whence comes Cassiterides, the name given to the Scilly isles by the Greeks and Romans. who did not know that the tin came from the mainland of Cornwall. Arabic kasdeer, Sanskrit kastira, Egyptian khasit. The Hebrew bedil, means "substitute" or alloy, its principal use being then to make bronze. In Egypt and Assyria 10 or 20 parts of tin went to 80 or 90 of copper to make bronze. Found among Midian's spoils (Nu 31:22). Centuries before Israel's Exodus bronze was made by the mixture of tin and copper in Egypt, which proves the very ancient use of tin. Isaiah (Isa 1:25) alludes to it as an alloy separated, by smelting, from the silver.
Bedell took his motto from Isa 1:25. In Eze 22:18,20, "Israel is to me become dross ... tin ... therefore I will gather you into the furnace," i.e., as Israel has degenerated from pure silver into a deteriorated compound, I must throw them into the furnace to sever the good from the bad (Jer 6:29-30). The Phoenicians conveyed much tin probably to Tartessus or Tarshish in Spain, thence to Tyre; Jer 27:12," Tarshish was thy (Tyre's) merchant with tin." Zechariah (Zec 4:10 margin) mentions tin as used for plummets. Spain and Portugal, Cornwall and Devonshire, and the islands Junk, Ceylon, and Banca in the straits of Malacca (Kenrick, Phoenicia, 212), were the only three countries known to possess tin in quantities.
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Hastings
Morish
This is the stannum of the ancients, found alloyed with lead, etc., but separated by smelting. It is not known to have been found in Palestine, but would have been early known there and was imported from Tarshish. Nu 31:22; Isa 1:25; Eze 22:18,20; 27:12.
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Smith
Tin.
Among the various metals found in the spoils of the Midianites, tin is enumerated.
It was known to the Hebrew metal-workers as an alloy of other metals.
The markets of Tyre were supplied with it by the ships of Tarshish.
It was used for plummets,
and was so plentiful as to furnish the writer of Ecclesiasticus, Ecclus. 47:18, with a figure by which to express the wealth of Solomon. Tin is not found in Palestine. Whence, then. did the ancient Hebrews obtain their supply "Only three countries are known to contain any considerable quantity of it: Spain and Portugal, Cornwall and the adjacent parts of Devonshire, and the islands of Junk, Ceylon and Banca, in the Straits of Malacca." (Kenrick, "Phoenicia," p. 212.) There call be little doubt that the mines of Britain were the chief source of supply to the ancient world, [See TARSHISH] ("Tin ore has lately been found in Midian." --Schaff.)
See Tarshish
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Watsons
TIN, ????, Nu 31:22; Isa 1:25; Eze 22:18,20; 27:12; a well-known coarse metal, harder than lead. Mr. Parkhurst observes, that Moses, in Nu 31:22, enumerates all the six species of metals. The Lord, by the Prophet Isaiah, having compared the Jewish people to silver, declares, "I will turn my hand upon thee, and purge away thy dross, and remove, all ???????, thy particles of tin:" where Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion have ?????????? ???, and the Vulgate stannum tuum, "thy tin;" but the LXX, ???????, wicked ones. This denunciation, by a comparison of the preceding and the following context, appears to signify that God would, by a process of judgment purify those among the Jews who were capable of purification, as well as destroy the reprobate and incorrigible, Jer 6:29-30; 9:7; Mal 3:3; Eze 12:18,20. In Eze 27:12, Tarshish is mentioned as furnishing ????; and Bochart proves from the testimonies of Diodorus, Pliny, and Stephanus, that Tartessus in Spain, which he supposes the ancient Tarshish, anciently furnished tin. As Cornwall in very ancient times was resorted to for this metal, and probably first by the Phenicians, some have thought that peninsula to be the Tarshish of the Scriptures; a subject which, however, from the vague use of the word, is involved in much uncertainty. See TARSHISH.