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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comFausset Bible Dictionary: Brass
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With us a mixed metal, consisting of copper and zinc; but the brass of the Bible is one dug simple out of the earth (; ), probably copper. Bronze, a composition of copper and tin, extensively known in ancient times, may m some passages be meant. In , "thy shoes shall be iron and brass," it is implied Asher should have a mine abounding territory. Keil and Delitzsch translate, "iron and brass shall be thy castle" min'al); Asher's dwellings were to be impregnable as if of iron and brass. Copper was used earlier than iron, its ductility being its recommendation for general use.
Tubal-cain is termed "the instructor of every artificer in brass and iron" (). "Brass" is used in a good sense for strength (; ). In a bad sense, for impudent stubbornness (; ). For money, . In , "I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass," i.e. hard, yielding no rain, and producing no fruit. "Flesh of brass," i.e. invulnerable (). The thighs of brass in Nebuchadnezzar's image () represent the brazen armed Greeks. In ," His feet like unto fine brass," rather, "glowing brass, as if they had been made red hot in a furnace."