Tin
“Separated, referring to its separation as an alloy in smelting”
Summary
Tin was a valuable metal in antiquity, not found in Palestine but imported from distant lands, used primarily as an alloy with copper to make bronze.
☩Sources and Trade
Tin is not found in Palestine, so the ancient Hebrews obtained it through trade. Only three regions were known to contain considerable quantities: Spain and Portugal, Cornwall and Devonshire in Britain, and islands in the Straits of Malacca. The mines of Britain were almost certainly the chief source of supply to the ancient world, with Phoenicians carrying on this traffic from Gades (Cadiz), keeping the route secret. Ezekiel identifies Tarshish as Tyre's merchant supplying tin, silver, iron, and lead.
☩Uses in Antiquity
The primary use of tin was in making bronze, an alloy of copper and tin. In Egypt and Assyria, bronze was typically made with ten to twenty parts tin to eighty or ninety parts copper. Bronze artifacts have been found bearing the names of Egyptian Pharaohs from centuries before the Exodus, demonstrating the antiquity of this metallurgy. Tin was also used for plummets (plumb lines), as Zechariah mentions a 'stone of tin' in connection with Zerubbabel's building work.
☩Figurative Use
Isaiah uses tin metaphorically when God declares He will purge away Israel's dross and remove all their tin—referring to impurities that must be separated from genuine silver through smelting. Ezekiel similarly depicts Israel as having become dross: 'brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver.' The imagery portrays judgment as a refining process that separates the good from the bad.
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Tin," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. X (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.F. N. Peloubet & M. A. Peloubet (ed.), "Tin," in Smith's Bible Dictionary (Porter & Coates, 1884).
- 3.George Morrish, "Tin," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).
- 4.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Tin," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).