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Bible Dictionaries
Silver
Smith's Bible Dictionary
or Silver. In very early times, silver was used for ornaments, Genesis 24:53, and for vessels of various kinds. Images for idolatrous worship were made of silver, or overlaid with it, Exodus 20:23; Hosea 13:2; Habakkuk 2:19; Baruch 6:39, and the manufacture of silver shrines for Diana was a trade in Ephesus. Acts 19:24. 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, 2 Chronicles 9:14, and from Tarshish, 2 Chronicles 9:21, which supplied the markets of Tyre. Ezekiel 27:12. From Tarshish, it came in the form of plates, Jeremiah 10:9, 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 Jeremiah 6:30, and a finer kind, either purer in itself or more thoroughly purified, is mentioned in Proverbs 8:19.
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Smith, William, Dr. Entry for 'Silver'. Smith's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/sbd/s/silver.html. 1901.
