Bible Lexicons

χαλκολίβανον (so Suidas (but see Gaisf. edition under the word)), χαλκολιβανου, τό, more correctly χαλκολιβανος, χαλκολιβανου, ἡ (according to the reading as it ought to be restored ((but see the editions)) in Revelation 1:15 ὡς ἐν καμίνῳ πεπυρωμενη; cf. Düsterdieck's critical note (see Buttmann, 80 (69) note)), a word of doubtful meaning found only in Revelation 1:15, and , chalcolibanus, Vulg. aurichalcum or orichalcum (so manuscript Arafat. (al. aeric.); Luther Messing (R. V. burnished brass)); according to the testimony of an ancient Greek (Ansonius) in Salmasius (Exercitt. ad Solin., p. 810 a.: ὁ λίβανος ἔχει τρία εἴδη δένδρων, καί ὁ μέν ἄρρην ὀνομάζεται χαλκολιβανος, ἡλιοειδής καί πυρρός ἤγουν ξανθός), a certain kind of (yellow) frankincense; but both the sense of the passages in Rev and a comparison of Daniel 10:6 and Ezekiel 1:7, which seem to have been in the writer's thought, compel us to understand some metal, like gold if not more precious (cf. Hebrew חַשְׁמָל, a metal composed of gold and silver, Sept ἤλεκτρον, Vulg. electrum, Ezekiel 1:4, 27; Ezekiel 8:2); this interpretation is confirmed by the gloss of Suidas: εἶδος ἠλέκτρου τιμιώτερον χρυσοῦ, ἐστι δέ τό ἤλεκτρον ἀλλοτυπον χρυσίον μεμιγμένον ὕελω καί λιθεία. The word is compounded, no doubt, of χαλκός and λίβανος, not of χαλκός and לָבָן, 'white.' Cf. Winer's RWB, under the word Metalle; Wetzel in the Zeitschr. f. d. luth. Theol. for 1869, p. 92ff; cf. Ewald, Johann. Schriften, ii., p. 117f; (Lee in the 'Speaker's Commentary' at the passage).