נחשת. Anciently, copper was employed for all the purposes for
which we now use iron. Arms, and tools for husbandry and the mechanic
arts, were all of this metal for many ages. Job speaks of bows of
copper, Job xx, 24; and when the Philistines had Samson in their power,
they bound him with fetters of copper. Our translators indeed say
“brass;” but under that article their mistake is pointed out. In Ezra
viii, 27, are mentioned “two vessels of copper, precious as gold.” The
Septuagint renders it σκεύη χαλκοῦ ϛίλϐοντος; the Vulgate and Castellio,
following the Arabic, “_vasa æris fulgentis_;” and the Syriac, “vases of
Corinthian brass.” It is more probable, however, that this brass was not
from Corinth, but a metal from Persia or India, which Aristotle
describes in these terms: “It is said that there is in India a brass so
shining, so pure, so free from tarnish, that its colour differs nothing
from that of gold. It is even said that among the vessels of Darius
there were some respecting which the sense of smelling might determine
whether they were gold or brass.” Bochart is of opinion that this is the
_chasmal_ of Ezekiel i, 27, the χαλκολίϐανον of Rev. i, 15, and the
_electrum_ of the ancients.
Mr. Harmer quotes from the manuscript notes of Sir John Chardin a
reference to a mixed metal in the east, and highly esteemed there; and
suggests that this composition might have been as old as the time of
Ezra, and be brought from those more remote countries into Persia, where
these two basins were given to be conveyed to Jerusalem. Ezekiel, xxvii,
13, speaks of the merchants of Javan, Jubal, and Meshech, as bringing
vessels of _nehesh_ (copper) to the markets of Tyre. According to
Bochart and Michaëlis, these were people situated toward Mount Caucasus,
where copper mines are worked at this day. See BRASS.
which we now use iron. Arms, and tools for husbandry and the mechanic
arts, were all of this metal for many ages. Job speaks of bows of
copper, Job xx, 24; and when the Philistines had Samson in their power,
they bound him with fetters of copper. Our translators indeed say
“brass;” but under that article their mistake is pointed out. In Ezra
viii, 27, are mentioned “two vessels of copper, precious as gold.” The
Septuagint renders it σκεύη χαλκοῦ ϛίλϐοντος; the Vulgate and Castellio,
following the Arabic, “_vasa æris fulgentis_;” and the Syriac, “vases of
Corinthian brass.” It is more probable, however, that this brass was not
from Corinth, but a metal from Persia or India, which Aristotle
describes in these terms: “It is said that there is in India a brass so
shining, so pure, so free from tarnish, that its colour differs nothing
from that of gold. It is even said that among the vessels of Darius
there were some respecting which the sense of smelling might determine
whether they were gold or brass.” Bochart is of opinion that this is the
_chasmal_ of Ezekiel i, 27, the χαλκολίϐανον of Rev. i, 15, and the
_electrum_ of the ancients.
Mr. Harmer quotes from the manuscript notes of Sir John Chardin a
reference to a mixed metal in the east, and highly esteemed there; and
suggests that this composition might have been as old as the time of
Ezra, and be brought from those more remote countries into Persia, where
these two basins were given to be conveyed to Jerusalem. Ezekiel, xxvii,
13, speaks of the merchants of Javan, Jubal, and Meshech, as bringing
vessels of _nehesh_ (copper) to the markets of Tyre. According to
Bochart and Michaëlis, these were people situated toward Mount Caucasus,
where copper mines are worked at this day. See BRASS.