Brass biblical

Six elemental metals are mentioned in the Old Testament (e.g., Numbers 31 22) gold (Hebrew zahav), silver (kesef, also the Biblical Hebrew word for money), copper (ne-chosheth, often translated into English as brass, which is an alloy of copper and zinc and may, in fact, not have been known in the time of Moses, or bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, which was known in the time of Moses), iron (barzel), tin (b deel), and lead (ofereth). The ancient Greeks also recognized mercury. About seventy-five elemental metals are now known. 

Seven metallic and two non-metallic elements were known to man before the Christian Era. The metals include those popularly called the coinage" metals, gold, silver and copper, together with lead, tin and iron to these quicksilver or mercury was added about the fourth century b.c. The two non-metals were carbon in its various forms as diamond, graphite and charcoal, and brimstone or sulphur. Six of the metals are mentioned by name in the Old Testament, together with the diamond and brimstone. As will be explained later, the tin of Holy Writ was not the pure metal as we know it to-day, but a rich tin-copper alloy. It is uncertain if the diamond was our stone (p. 55) the Biblical brass was usually... 

In his 1671 book Metallogmphia, John Webster uses biblical quotation to trace metallurgical chemistry back to Moses who, in turn, references Tubal-Cain (Genesis 4 22), the eighth of Mankinde from Adam, a biblical worker of iron and brass. Here is how Tubal-Cain might have discovered metallurgical chemistry " ... 

Somewhat oddly, Moses commanded a renowned goldsmith and architect called Bezaleel to prepare the Bread of the Presence of God. Indeed, Bezaleel was the same goldsmith Moses had commissioned to create the Ark of the Covenant. Coincidently, the renowned architect of King Solomon s Temple, Hiram Abiff, was not an architect in Biblical texts. He was an expert artisan working in gold, brass and dyes. 

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