Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

BRONZE

A yellowish-brown metal alloy composed primarily of copper. Metallurgists use the term to designate copper/tin alloys of less than 11 percent tin. In ancient texts and among contemporary scholars “bronze” includes items made of copper and alloys with arsenic, antimony, lead, or silver and not just tin. In the KJV the term “brass” is used uniformly, since the term which specifies copper/zinc alloys today was used of all cuprous alloys in 1611 a.d.

Alloyed copper is used to manufacture products that are superior to those made of pure copper. Bronze alloys provide production advantages of being more fusible, requiring less annealing, and being more fluid in casting. The finished bronze products are harder, less susceptible to oxidation, and can be burnished to shine. The ratio of copper and alloying ingredients can be varied in accordance with the desired purpose of the product. Bronze is hardened but also becomes more brittle with increased proportions of tin. Tin content of ca. 20 percent, e.g., contributes a sonorous quality that is desirable in cymbals, but that would not meet the flexibility requirements for a sword. Most bronze in the ancient Near East has a tin content of 5-10 percent. This bronze hardened by hammering is as hard as 5.5 on the Mohs’ scale, almost twice as hard as copper. Bronze widely replaced copper since it was a superior material for tools and weapons that needed to remain rigid or to sustain sharp edges. Bronze was the chief utilitarian metal until iron technology supplanted it.

The craft of metalworking is identified in the Bible as originating with Tubal-cain (Gen. 4:22), who is eponymously recognized as the “father of metallurgy.” The early application of hammer and fire was basic to all subsequent metallurgy. Artifactual evidence points towards work in copper taking place in Upper Mesopotamia by the 6th millennium b.c. Alloys of copper, particularly arsenical copper, are widely evidenced in the 4th millennium, with the best-known examples being the horde of mace heads and crowns found at Naḥal Mishmar. This “bronze” was almost exclusively the type utilized in the 3rd millennium. Tin bronze became dominant in the 2nd millennium.

In the Bible bronze technology was widely known, and is evidenced in the assemblage of artifacts from the last half of the 2nd millennium and the initial part of the 1st. Hammering, raising, chasing, and casting are seen in the manufacture of items for the exterior of both the tabernacle and the temple (Exod. 27; 1 Kgs. 7). Copper alloys are relatively valued in taxonomic lists (Num. 31:22) as less than gold and silver, which were used inside religious structures. Bronze was used for the manufacture of extensively utilized ritual objects such as bowls, lavers, altars, and musical instruments (1 Chr. 15:19); military supplies such as armor, spears, swords and arrowheads (1 Sam. 17:5-7; 2 Chr. 12:10; Job 20:24); and domestic hardware such as doors and closing mechanisms (Ps. 107:16; 1 Kgs. 4:13). Not highlighted in the Bible but evidenced in physical remains are a wide assortment of tools and personal items that extend beyond awls (Deut. 15:17) and hand mirrors (Exod. 30:17).

Bibliography. B. Rothenberg, ed., The Ancient Metallurgy of Copper (London, 1990).

Robert Wayne Smith

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

BRONZE

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)