METALS MENTIONED IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 



277 



Lead, Uphoreth, as Personal Property. 



B.C. 1452. After the spoiling of the Midianites, among the 

 metals which the children of Israel were commanded to go 

 through the lire, it has been seen that mention is made of " the 

 lead." (Numb, xxxi, 22.) 



B.C. 588. Among the products with which Tarshish traded 

 in the fairs of Tyre mention is specified of " lead." (Ezek. xxvii, 

 12 — see under precious stones.) 



Lead is extremely abundant in Spain, besides all which the 

 Phoenicians brought by sea to Tarshish from Cornwall and 

 Brittany. 



Lead Symbolically. 

 B.C. 1491. " Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast 

 into the sea. Thou didst blow with thy wind : they sank as 

 lead in the mighty waters." (Ex. xv, 10.) Also Job xix, 24 ; 

 Jer. vi, 29 ; Ezek. xxii, 18 ; xxvii, 12 ; Zech. v, 7, 8. 



Tin, bedel, as Personal Property. 



B.C. 1452. As already quoted, all the metal taken by the 

 children of Israel when they spoiled the Midianites they were 

 commanded to purify, by making it go through the fire ; and 

 among the rest was tin. (Numb, xxxi, 22.) 



B.C. 588. Tarshish traded in the fairs of Tyre with tin 

 (Ezek. xxvii, 12.) 



The Sanscrit name is hytira ; much tin is found in Malacca, 

 and the Phoenicians are conjectured to have procured it thence. 



Tin mines exist in Portugal, but besides it is well known 

 that the Phoenicians obtained their tin from Cornwall, the 

 ancient Cassiterides, a name derived from the Greek KacrcrLTepos, 

 tin. The tin mines of central France then supplied the 

 prehistoric dwellers of the lacustral towns of Helvetia, and 

 ingots of metallic tin have been found in them near the town of 

 Neuchatel, in the lake. It would appear that the Phoenicians 

 were the first people to discover and employ bronze, the alloy of 

 tin with copper, so far back as the time of Moses, since the 

 Midianite merchants must have obtained from them the tin of 

 which we read, doubtless to make bronze. There is not the 

 slightest shadow of probability that the Jews ever employed 

 tin in all their history : the words lead and tin do not occur in 

 the Xew Testament. 



Tin Symbolically. 

 B.C. circum 760. " Hear, 0 heavens, and give ear, 0 earth ; 

 Wash you, make you clean ; put away the evil of your doings 



