84 HEBREW LIFE AND CUSTOM
pierced by arrows,1 of what is hard or unyielding,2 of earth
which through drought cannot be ploughed.2
Of manufactured iron, in addition to the carpenters’
utensils already mentioned, we read of the blacksmith’s
sledge-hammer (pattish},* of an anvil,≡ of knives, and of a
sharpening steel,6 of a pan or griddle for cooking,7 of the
bars of the city gates,8 of fetters,9 and of iron instead of
stones under the threshing-sledge.10 For the plates of war-
chariots, an early foreshadowing of the modem armoured
car, SeeJoshuaxvii. 16, ι8 ; Judges iv. 3. For armour,
see Job xx. 24 ; Isa. xli. 7.
Copper. Copper, which to the Hebrew evidently included
bronze, was obtained from mines in or close to the borders
of the Holy Land itself.1 ɪ The two mountains of copper or
bronze in Zech. vi. ι, are probably to be understood
allegorically and not of actual mountains : they are, as it
were, the indestructible gate-posts on each side of the road
to Jehovah’s palace.
Before iron came into common use bronze, needless to
say, was the hardest metal known. Hence, like iron, it
was a natural metaphor for the strong or indestructible.12
Iron and copper were apparently forged by the same
smith.12 Bronze was used for armour.1* Many of the ves-
sels used in the Temple, and presumably elsewhere, were
made of it.15 Hebrew coppersmiths in the early days of
the monarchy were apparently not capable of making very
large casts in bronze. The two great pillars for the Temple,
which without their capitals were some twenty-seven feet
high and nearly six feet in diameter, taking the place of
’ Ezek. iv. 3. ’ Isa. xlviii. 4. 3 Deut. xxviii. 23.
4 Isa. xli. 7 ; Jer. xxiii. 29. 5 Isa. xli. 7.
6 Prov. xxvii. 17 ; cf. Eccles, x. 10. 7 Ezek. iv. 3.
8 Ps. cvii. ι6 ; Isa. xlv. 2.
9 Ps. cxlix. 8 ; contrast sadd,t a heavy block ’,Job xiii. 27, xxxiii. 11.
” Amos i. 3, and perhaps 2 Sam. xii. 31.
” Deut. viii. 9 ; Job xxviii. 2.
n Ps. cvii. 16 ; Isa. xlv. 2 ; Job vi. 12. ŋ Gen. iv. 22 ; Isa. xli. 7.
m i Sam. xvii. 5, 6 ; ɪ Kings xiv. 27. 4 2 Kings xxv. 14.
TRADES AND PROFESSIONS 85
the more primitive stone massêbôth, were cast in Palestine
by Tyrian workmen.1
Copper, as well as iron, lead, and tin, was used as an
alloy.2
Lead was also in use, as noted above. It is mentioned
as heavy.3 From Job xix. 24 we may infer that, as at the
present time, it was used to fill up letters engraved in
stone. A metal used as an alloy {bcdhiV) may be Tin. It is
mentioned in Num. xxxi. 22 ; Isa. i. 25 ; Ezek. xxii. 18, and
is rendered in the Peshitta by ankha, which in the Hebrew
form anakh occurs in Amos vii. 7 f.* Like lead and iron it
was imported into Palestine by Sidonian merchants.5
GOLDSMITHS AND SILVERSMITHS
Gold ore, or roughly smelted gold, is referred to in
Proverbs and Job,6 and references to the refining of it are
ɪ ɪ Kings vii. 15, 46.
3 Ezek. xxii. ι8 ff. ; Jer. vi. 28, 29. The massoretic text of the
latter passage is unfortunately somewhat corrupt, but since it is in
poetry we have both parallelism and the ⅛fna-rhythm as aids in its
restoration. The first word of the line beginning Jer. vi. 28 is missing :
perhaps it was ∏≡∏. Obviously `no (omitted by LXX) is an incorrect
anticipation of the following D'T^∏D. The false concord maiy Dn is
a sign of corruption, and the parallel lpnɔ κb DTH suggests that DH is
a blunder for ПВРЛ. Hence the two verses should read
½n '□⅛ħ D'⅛1D D⅛ [НЭП]
iΓΠ3∏ D,nWD D⅛ 5>∏3, ntf∏J
τ∣" ∙ ∙ ; - тч V : “ v ∙
nτ≡⅛ nbɪzn εte msp nπj
ɪipnə j<b D4yn η⅛ η^∣x κιt⅛>
[Behold,] they are all revolters
All of them brass and iron,
The bellows blows up the fire,
In vain do they go on refining,
going with slander,
they do the damage ;
the lead still remains,
but the bad are not outed.
3 Exod. xv. ɪo ; cf. Zech. v. 7.
4 In Zech. iv. ɪo bnɔn is corrupt (derived from the following *1'3) :
contrast Zech. v. 8.
5 Ezek. xxvii. 12.
6 Prov. xvii. 3, xxvii. 21 ; Job xxviii. ɪ, 6.