the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Encyclopedias
Brass
The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia
or A composition of copper and zinc. The application of the word in the Bible is uncertain, as instruments of copper and bronze were often used where brass is mentioned. Copper, bronze, and other metals were known to the Egyptians before the Exodus. In the Old Testament brass is referred to both actually and symbolically. In Exodus 38:2-8 the altar of burnt offering is overlaid with brass. All the vessels of the altar are made of brass. In Numbers 21:9 Moses makes a serpent of brass. In 1 Samuel 17:5 Goliath is clad in an armor of brass. In 2 Samuel 8:8 King David takes "exceeding much brass" from Betah and Berothai. In 1 Kings 7:7 is the reference to Hiram, king of Tyre, "a worker in brass." In 2 Kings 25:13,14; Jeremiah 52:17, brazen vessels and pillars are carried away by the Chaldeans; and in 1 Chronicles 15:19 the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, are appointed to sound with "cymbals of brass."
Brass is often referred to symbolically in Hebrew Scripture: Deuteronomy 28:23, "Thy heaven that is over thee shall be brass" (without clouds and rain); Job 6:12, "Is my flesh brass?" (enduring, insensible); Daniel 2:32, "Belly and thighs of brass" (expressing brilliancy); Daniel 10:6, "His feet like in color to burnished brass."
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Singer, Isidore, Ph.D, Projector and Managing Editor. Entry for 'Brass'. 1901 The Jewish Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tje/b/brass.html. 1901.
