the Fourth Week of Advent
Click here to learn more!
Bible Dictionaries
Brass
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or BRASS.—Wherever we find the word ‘brass’ in the Authorized and Revised Versions, we may be reasonably certain that copper or bronze is intended. Copper was universally used by the ancients, on account of its extreme ductility. In Bible lands it was mined in the region of Lebanon, in Edom, in the Sinaitic peninsula, where the great Egyptian mines were located, and in the isle of Cyprus. Brass is a fictitious metal, an alloy of copper and zinc; bronze is a mixture of copper and tin. But while in ancient vessels a combination of tin with copper is frequently found, analysis hardly ever reveals the presence of zinc.
1. The word χαλκία in Mark 7:4 (found here only in the NT), Authorized Version and Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ‘brasen vessels,’ may be translation ‘copper vessels,’ and is actually so rendered in the German and Dutch versions.
2. The noun χαλκός, translation ‘brass,’ is used by Christ in Matthew 10:9 ‘Get you no gold nor silver nor brass in your purses,’ by metonymy for copper coin. χαλκός occurs also in Mark 6:8; Mark 12:41, where it is translation ‘money,’ marg. ‘brass.’
3. The word χαλκολίβανον, white copper, translation ‘fine brass’ ( Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ‘burnished brass’) in Revelation 1:15; Revelation 2:18 (cf. Daniel 10:6), is descriptively applied to the feet of Christ as He appeared in the vision of St. John in Patmos. There is quite a diversity of opinion as to its correct meaning. Some have supposed it to be that rare metal, more precious than gold, Orichalcum, whilst others have thought of frankincense and even of amber. In this connexion it evidently refers to the strength and stable majesty of the glorified Christ, in the same way as the Heb. nĕhôsheth is used in the OT (Psalms 107:16, Micah 4:13, Zechariah 6:1).
Literature.—Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible, art. ‘Brass’; Smith, Dict. of Antiq. s.v. ‘Aes’; Grimm-Thayer, Lex. s.v. χαλκολίβανον.
Henry E. Dosker.
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Hastings, James. Entry for 'Brass'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/b/brass.html. 1906-1918.
