Lead
Summary
A heavy bluish-gray metal known from earliest times, used by the Hebrews for weights, inscriptions, and in metallurgical processes for refining silver.
☩Sources and Properties
Lead was one of the first metals used in antiquity because it was easily obtained from its ores. Ancient sources included Egypt, the Sinaitic peninsula, northern Syria, and Asia Minor, where it commonly occurred with silver. The Phoenicians also imported lead from Tarshish (Spain) and the British Isles. The ships of Tarshish supplied the market of Tyre with lead among other metals (Ezekiel 27:12). Lead was among the spoils the Israelites took from the Midianites (Numbers 31:22). Its most notable property was its heaviness—the heaviest metal known to the ancients except gold—which Moses referenced when describing Pharaoh's host sinking 'like lead in the mighty waters' (Exodus 15:10).
☩Uses in Scripture
Lead's weight made it ideal for weights, formed either as round flat cakes (Zechariah 5:7) or rough lumps called 'stones' (Zechariah 5:8). It served for fishing line sinkers and sounding leads for measuring depth at sea (Acts 27:28). Job expressed a wish that his words 'with a pen of iron and lead, were graven in the rock forever' (Job 19:24), likely referring to carving inscriptions and pouring molten lead into the letter cavities to make them legible and protect them from weathering. Ancient records on leaden tablets are attested by Pausanias, Pliny, and Tacitus. If 'plumbline' in Amos 7:7-8 refers to lead, this demonstrates its use for plumb weights.
☩Metallurgical Processes
Lead played a crucial role in refining silver from base metals, as described in Ezekiel 22:18-22 and Jeremiah 6:28-30. The process involved mixing the silver alloy with lead, heating it upon an earthen vessel, and submitting it to an air blast. The lead oxidizes and consumes the dross while the precious metals remain. Jeremiah describes a failed refinement where 'the bellows were burned' and 'the lead is consumed,' leaving the worthless impurities behind—an apt metaphor for Israel's unreformed wickedness. This cupelling process, known also to Pliny as essential for silver purification, illuminates Malachi's description of the Lord as a refiner sitting to purify silver (Malachi 3:2-3).
Related Verses75 mentions
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Lead," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. V (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Lead," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. III (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).