Glass

VIEW:22 DATA:01-04-2020

Job_28:17, "crystal" or "glass", the only allusion to glass in Old Testament The paintings at Benihassan and in tombs show that it was known in the reign of Osirtasin I, 1600 B.C. Egypt was probably the land of its discovery. A bead of 1500 B.C. was found at Thebes, of the same specific gravity as crown glass in England. Relics of the Phoenician trade in the shape of glass beads have been found in Cornwall and Ireland. A glass bottle with Sargon's name was found in the N.W. Nimrud palace, the oldest specimen of transparent glass, older than 700 B.C. Pliny attributes the discovery to Phoenician sailors using natron to support saucepans (H. N., 36:65). Probably vitreous matter was formed in lighting fires on the sand in a country producing natron or subcarbonate of soda. Pliny's story may have originated in the suitability of the sand at the mouth of the Syrian river Belus for making glass, for which accordingly it was exported to Sidon and Alexandria, the centers of that manufacture.
In Deu_33:19 there seems allusion to the same: "they (of Zebulun on the N.W. seacoast) shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of treasures hid in the sand"; glass being a precious "treasure" in ancient times, and the sand of that coast being especially prized for its manufacture. The Egyptians could inlay it with gold and enamel, and permeate opaque glass with variously colored designs, and make the same hue and devices pass in right lines directly through the substance; and imitate precious stones. Glass is an emblem of brightness and colored glitter, rather than transparency, which "crystal" represents (Rev_4:6). Hence it was not used for windows, which were simply openings furnished with shutters.
LOOKING GLASSES were made of polished metal, generally tin and copper mixed, not glass (Exo_38:8 margin). Job_37:18, "the sky ... as a molten looking glass"; the polish of the metal representing the bright sky. In 1Co_13:12 the sense is: "now (in our present state) we see in a mirror (the reflection seeming behind, so that we see it through the mirror) darkly (in enigma)"; the ancient mirrors being at best unequal to ours, and often being tarnished and dim.
The inadequate knowledge of an object gained by seeing it reflected in the ancient mirror, compared with the perfect idea formed by seeing itself directly, happily represents the contrast between the saint's present reflected and his future direct, immediate, and intuitive knowledge. Compare 2Co_3:18; Jas_1:23. The word of God is a perfect mirror; but our minds imperfectly apprehend it, and at best see but the image indirectly, not the reality face to face. The luster of some mirrors found at Thebes, though buried for centuries, has been partially restored.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.

Glass. The Hebrew word occurs only in Job_28:17, where, in the Authorized Version, it is rendered "crystal." In spite of the absence of specific allusion to glass in the sacred writings, the Hebrews must have been aware of the invention from paintings representing the process of glass-blowing, which have been discovered at Beni-hassan, and in tombs at other places, we know that the invention vas known at least 3500 years ago.
Fragments too of wine-vases as old as the Exodus have been discovered in Egypt. The art was also known to the ancient Assyrians. In the New Testament, glass is alluded to as an emblem of brightness. Rev_4:6; Rev_15:2; Rev_21:18.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863

υαλος. This word occurs Rev_21:18; Rev_21:21; and the adjective υαλινος, Rev_4:6; Rev_15:2. Parkhurst says that in the later Greek writers, and in the New Testament, υαλος denotes the artificial substance, glass; and that we may either with Mintert derive it from ελη, splendour, or immediately from the Hebrew הל , to shine. There seems to be no reference to glass in the Old Testament. The art of making it was not known. Our translators have rendered the Hebrew word מראת , in Exo_38:8, and Job_37:18, “looking-glass.” But the making mirrors of glass coated with quicksilver, is an invention quite modern. Thee word looking-glass occurs in our version of Sir_12:11, “Never trust thine enemy; for like as iron rusteth, so is his wickedness. Though he humble himself, and go crouching, yet take good heed and beware of him, and thou shalt be unto him as if thou hadst washed a looking-glass, and thou shalt know that his rust hath not been altogether wiped away.” This passage proves, by its mention of rust, that mirrors were then made of polished metal. The word εσοπτρον, or mirror, occurs in 1Co_13:12, and Jam_1:23. Dr. Pearce thinks that in the former place it signifies any of those transparent substances which the ancients used in their windows, and through which they saw external objects obscurely. But others are of opinion that the word denotes a mirror of polished metal; as this, however, was liable to many imperfections, so that the object before it was not seen clearly or fully, the meaning of the Apostle is, that we see things as it were by images reflected from a mirror, which shows them very obscurely and indistinctly. In the latter place, a mirror undoubtedly is meant: “For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway he forgetteth what manner of man he was:” but in the former, 1Co_13:12, semi- transparent glass such as that which we see in the ancient glass vases of the Romans is obviously intended. Specimens of Roman glass may be seen in collections of antiquities, and some have been dug up at Pompeii; but in all it is cloudy and dull, and objects can only be seen through it with indistinctness. From this we may fully perceive the force of the Apostle's words, “now we see through a glass darkly.”
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.

glas (זכוּכית, zekhūkhı̄th; ὕαλος, húalos):
1. History
Glass is of great antiquity. The story of its discovery by accident, as related by Pliny (NH, xxxvi.65), is apocryphal, but it was natural for the Greeks and Romans to ascribe it to the Phoenicians, since they were the producers of the article as known to them. The Egyptian monuments have revealed to us the manufacture in a time so remote that it must have preceded that of the Phoenicians. A representation of glass-blowing on monuments of the Old Empire, as formerly supposed, is now regarded as doubtful, but undoubted examples of glazed pottery of that age exist. A fragment of blue glass has been found inscribed with the name of Antef III, of the 11th Dynasty, dating from 2000 or more bc (Davis, Ancient Egypt, 324). The oldest dated bottle, or vase, is one bearing the name of Thothmes III, 1500 or more bc, and numerous examples occur of later date. The close connection between Egypt and Syria from the time of Thothmes on must have made glass known in the latter country, and the Phoenicians, so apt in all lines of trade and manufacture, naturally seized on glass-making as a most profitable art and they became very proficient in it. The earliest glass was not very transparent, since they did not know how to free the materials used from impurities. It had a greenish or purplish tinge, and a large part of the examples we have of Phoenician glass exhibit this. But we have many examples of blue, red and yellow varieties which were purposely colored, and others quite opaque and of a whitish color, resembling porcelain (Perrot and Chipiez, Art in Ancient Phoenicia and Its Dependencies). But both they and the Egyptians made excellent transparent glass also, and decorated it with brilliant coloring on the surface (ib; Beni Hasan, Archeol. Survey of Egypt, Pt IV). Layard (Nineveh and Babylon) mentions a vase of transparent glass bearing the name of Sargon (522-505 bc), and glass was early known to the Babylonians.
2. Manufacture
Phoenicia was the great center, and the quantities found in tombs of Syria and Palestine go to confirm the statement that this was one of the great industries of this people, to which ancient authors testify (Strabo, Geog.; Pliny, NH). Josephus refers to the sand of the Belus as that from which glass was made (BJ, II, x, 2). It seems to have been especially adapted for the purpose, but there are other places on the coast where plenty of suitable sand could be obtained. The potash required was obtained by burning certain marine and other plants, and saltpeter, or niter, was also employed. The manufacture began centuries bc on this coast, and in the 12th century ad a factory is mentioned as still being worked at Tyre, and the manufacture was later carried on at Hebron, even down to recent times (Perrot and Chipiez).
Both the Egyptians and Phoenicians gained such proficiency in making transparent and colored glass that they imitated precious stones with such skill as to deceive the unwary. Necklaces are found composed of a mixture of real brilliants and glass imitations. Cut glass was manufactured in Egypt as early as the 18th Dynasty, and diamonds were made use of in the article Glass composed of different colors in the same piece was made by placing layers of glass wire, of different colors, one above the other and then fusing them so thar they became united in a solid mass without intermingling. Colored designs on the surface were produced by tracing the patterns, while the glass was still warm and plastic, deep enough to receive the threads of colored glass which were imbedded in them. The whole was heated again sufficiently to fuse the threads and attach them to the body. The surface was then made even by perishing. By this process vessels and ornaments of very beautiful design were produced. Many of the specimens, as found, are covered by an exquisite iridescence which is due wholly to the decomposition of the surface by chemical action, from lying buried for centuries in the soil which thus acts upon it. This is often lost in handling by the scaling off of the outer surface.
Glass, in the strict sense, is rarely mentioned in Scripture, but it was certainly known to the Hebrews, and occurs in Job_28:17 (translated ?crystal? in the King James Version). Bottles, cups and other vessels in glass must have been in use to some extent. The wine cup of Pro_23:31 and the bottle for tears mentioned in Psa_56:8 were most likely of glass. Tear bottles are found in great quantities in the tombs throughout the land and were undoubtedly connected with funeral rites, the mourners collecting their tears and placing them in these bottles to be buried with the dead. As mourners were hired for the purpose, the number of these bottles would indicate the extent to which the deceased was honored. These were, of course, small, some quite diminutive (see illustration), as also were the vials or pots to contain the ointment for the eyebrows and eyelashes, used to heighten the beauty of the women, which was probably a custom among the Hebrews as well as their neighbors. Rings, bracelets and anklets of glass are very common and were doubtless worn by the Hebrew women (see Isa_3:18 f). In the New Testament the Greek hualos occurs in Rev_21:18, Rev_21:21, and the adjective derived from it huálinos in Rev_4:6 and Rev_15:2. In the other passages, where in the King James Version ?glass? occurs, the reference is to ?looking-glass,? or mirror, which was not made of glass, but of bronze, and polished so as to reflect the light similar to glass. The Hebrew word for this is גּלּיון, gillāyōn (Isa_3:23), or מראה, mar'āh (Exo_38:8), and the Greek ἔσοπτρον, ésoptron (1Co_13:12; Jam_1:23; compare The Wisdom of Solomon 7:26; Sirach 12:11).
The composition of the Phoenician glass varies considerably. The analysis shows that, besides the ordinary constituents of silica, lime, lead, potash or soda, other elements are found, some being used for the purpose of coloring, such as manganese to give the purplish or violet hue, cobalt for blue, copper for red, etc. The articles illustrated above are of ordinary transparent glass with an iridescent surface, caused by decomposition, as mentioned above, indicated by the scaly appearance. Numbers 1, 4 and 5 are tear bottles, number 4 being only 1 3/4 inches in height; numbers 2 and 3 are ointment vases which were used for the ointment with which ladies were accustomed to color their eyebrows and eyelashes to enhance their beauty. This custom still prevails in the East. The small ladle by the side of the larger vase is of bronze, used in applying the ointment. This vase is double and 6 3/4 inches high, ornamented with glass wire wound upon it while plastic. The larger vases (numbers 6 and 7) are about 6 inches in height. The hand-mirror (?looking-glass? the King James Version) is bronze, and had originally a polished surface, but is now corroded.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.



Egyptian Glassblowers
Glass, according to Pliny, was discovered by what is termed accident. Some merchants kindled a fire on that part of the coast of Phoenicia which lies near Phoenicia, between the foot of Carmel and Tyre, at a spot where the river Belus casts the fine sand which it brings down; but, as they were without the usual means of suspending their cooking vessels, they employed for that purpose logs of niter, their vessel being laden with that substance; the fire fusing the nitre and the sand produced glass. The Sidonians, in whose vicinity the discovery was made, took it up, and having in process of time carried the art to a high degree of excellence, gained thereby both wealth and fame. Other nations became their pupils; the Romans especially attained to very high skill in the art of fusing, blowing, and coloring glass. Even glass mirrors were invented by the Sidonians. This account of Pliny is in substance corroborated by Strabo and by Josephus. Yet, notwithstanding this explicit statement, it was long denied that the ancients were acquainted with glass properly so called; nor did the denial entirely disappear even when Pompeii offered evidences of its want of foundation. Our knowledge of Egypt has, however, set the matter at rest?showing at the same time how careful men should be in setting up mere abstract reasonings in opposition to the direct testimony of history. Wilkinson, in his Ancient Egyptians (iii. 88, sq.), has adduced the fullest evidence that glass was known to and made by that ingenious people at a very early period of their national existence. Upward of 3500 years ago, in the reign of the first Osirtasen, they appear to have practiced the art of blowing glass. The process is represented in the paintings of Beni Hassan, executed in the reign of that monarch. In the same age images of glazed pottery were common. Ornaments of glass were made by them about 1500 years B.C.; for a bead of that date has been found, being of the same specific gravity as that of our crown glass. Many glass bottles, etc. have been met with in the tombs, some of very remote antiquity. Glass vases were used for holding wine as early as the Exodus. Such was the skill of the Egyptians in this manufacture, that they successfully counterfeited the amethyst, and other precious stones. It was sometimes used by the Egyptians even for coffins. They also employed it, not only for drinking utensils and ornaments of the person, but for mosaic-work, the figures of deities, and sacred emblems, attaining to exquisite workmanship, and a surprising brilliancy of color. The art too of cutting glass was known to them at the most remote periods; for which purpose, as we learn from Pliny, the diamond was used. That the ancients had mirrors of glass is clear from the above-cited words of Pliny; but the mirrors found in Egypt are made of mixed metal, chiefly copper. So admirably did the skill of the Egyptians succeed in the composition of metals, that their mirrors were susceptible of a polish which has been but partially revived at the present day. The mirror was nearly round, having a handle of wood, stone, or metal. The form varied with the taste of the owner. The same kind of metal mirror was used by the Israelites, who, doubtless, brought it from Egypt. In Exo_38:8, it is expressly said that Moses 'made the laver of brass of the looking-glasses (brazen mirrors) of the women.'
It would be justifiable to suppose that the Hebrews brought glass, and a knowledge how to manufacture it, with them out of Egypt, were not the evidence of history so explicit that it was actually discovered and wrought at their own doors. Whether it was used by them for mirrors is another question. That glass, however, was known to the Hebrews appears beyond a doubt.
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.

1Co_13:12 (b) Here we may learn the lack of vision and inability to understand spiritual verities as one should.

2Co_3:18 (a) This no doubt is an illustration of the fact that we look into the Word of GOD and behold there the true picture of ourselves. GOD describes us perfectly in His Word. Having seen our need we hurry to the Saviour for cleansing. It probably also means that in the Word of GOD, which is the glass, we behold the beauty of the Lord, the precious Person of the Holy Spirit, the wonders of GOD the Father, and so we ourselves become more godly, more holy, more like CHRIST.

Jam_1:23 (b) This is a way of saying that a man sees in the Scripture the spots and the blemishes of his life but does not use the remedy to get rid of them.

Rev_4:6 (c). It probably indicates that the throne of GOD rests upon and is surrounded by such holiness and purity as is best illustrated by clear glass through which everything may be seen and nothing is hidden.

Rev_15:2 (c) GOD's angels and GOD's wrath are without spot, shadow, or sin of any kind. Everything about GOD's punishment of men is above reproach and is perfectly clear, clean and transparent.

Rev_21:18 (c) The misuse of gold on earth is often connected with wickedness, sinfulness, hypocrisy and pretense. This city of GOD is quite the opposite. The gold of that city covers no evil and hides no wickedness. Everything is transparent and the bottom may be seen from the top.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.

Glass
(the material is perhaps denoted by זְכוּכַית, zekukith', rock "crystal," Job_28:17; ὕαλος, crystal, "glass," Rev_21:18; Rev_21:21; and hence the adj. ὐάλινος, crystalline, "of glass," Rev_4:6; Rev_15:2 SEE CRYSTAL; the instrument or looking-glass by גַּלָּיוֹן, gillayon', a tablet, "roll," Isa_8:1; "glass," i.e., mirror, Isa_3:23; מִרְאָה, marah', a " vision," as usually rendered; "looking-glass," Exo_38:8; ἔσοπτρον, a mirror, “glass," 1Co_13:12; Jam_1:23 SEE MIRROR ), according to Pliny (H. Nat. 36:26), was discovered by what is termed accident. Some merchants kindled a fire on that part of the coast of Phoenicia which lies near Ptolemais, between the foot of Carmel and Tyre, at a spot where the river Belus casts the fine sand which it brings down; but, as they were without the usual means of suspending their cooking vessels, they employed for that purpose logs of nitre, their vessel being laden with that substance: the fire fusing the nitre and the sand produced glass. He proceeds to state that the Sidonians, in whose vicinity the discovery was made, took it up, and, having in process of time carried the art to a high degree of excellence, gained thereby both wealth and fame; other nations became their pupils; the Romans especially attained to very high skill in the art of fusing blowing, and coloring glass; finally, even glass mirrors were invented by the Sidonians. This account of Pliny is in substance corroborated by Strabo (16:15) and by Josephus (War, 2:9). But this account is less likely than the supposition that vitreous matter first attracted observation from the custom of lighting fires on the sand "in a country producing natron or subcarbonate of soda" (Rawlinson's Herod. 2:82). It has been pointed out that Pliny's story may have originated in the fact that the sand of the Syrian river Belus, at the mouth of which the incident is supposed to have occurred, "was esteemed peculiarly suitable for glass-making, and exported in great quantities to the workshops of Sidon and Alexandria, long the most famous in the ancient world" (Smith, Dict. of Class. Ant. s.v. Vitrum, where everything requisite to the illustration of the classical allusions to glass may be found). Some find a remarkable reference to this little river (respecting which, see Pliny, Hist. Nat. 5:17; 36:65; Josephus, War, 2:10, 12; Tacitus, Hist. 5:7) in the blessing to the tribe of Zebulun, "they shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of treasures hid in the sand" (Deu_33:19). Both the name Belus (Reland, Palest. page 267) and the Hebrew word חוֹל"sand," have been suggested as derivations for the Greek ὕαλος, which is, however, in all probability, from an Egyptian root. SEE BELUS. Some suppose that the proper name מַשְׁרְפוֹת מִיַם("burnings by the waters") contains an allusion to Sidonian glass-factories (Meier on Jos_11:8; Jos_13:6), but it is much more probable that it was so called from the burning of Jabin's chariots at that place (Lord A. Hervey, On the Genealogies, page 228), or from hot springs. SEE MISREPHOTH-MAIM
Yet, notwithstanding the above explicit statement, it was long denied that the ancients were acquainted with glass properly so called; nor did the denial entirely disappear even when Pompeii offered evidences of its want of foundation. Our knowledge of Egypt has, however, set the matter at rest. Wilkinson, in his Ancient Egyptians (3:88 sq.), has adduced the fullest evidence that glass was known to and made by that ingenious people at a very early period of their national existence. Upwards of 3500 years ago, in the reign of the first Osirtasen, they appear to have practiced the art of blowing glass. The process is represented in the paintings of Beni-Hassan, executed in the reign of that monarch. In the same age images of glazed pottery were common. Ornaments of glass were made by them about 1500 years B.C.; for a bead of that date has been found, being of the same specific gravity as that of our crown glass. Many glass bottles, etc., have been met with in the tombs, some of very remote antiquity. Glass vases were used for holding wine as early as the Exode. In Egypt they had the advantage not only of an earlier application to the art, but also of a peculiar earth, which appears to have been necessary to the production of some of the more valuable and brilliant kinds of glass (Beckman, History of Inventions, "Colored Glass," 1:195 sq., Eng. transl.; also 3:208 sq.; 4:54). Yet the perfectly clear and transparent glass was considered the most valuable (Pliny, 36:26). Indeed, a great part of the glass-ware used at Rome about the Christian aera and subsequently came from Alexandria; and the emperor Hadrian was presented by an Egyptian priest with some vases which were reckoned so fine that they were produced only on grand occasions (Strabo, 1:17; Vopiscus in Vita Saturnini, c. 8). Wilkinson states respecting the Egyptians, "Such was their skill in the manufacture of glass, and in the mode of staining it of various hues, that they counterfeited with success the amethyst and other precious stones, and even arrived at an excellence in the art which their successors have been unable to retain, and which our European workmen, in spite of their imsprovements in other branches of this manufacture, are still unable to imitate. For not only do the colors of some Egyptian opaque glass offer the most varied devices on, the exterior, distributed with the regularity of a studied design, but the same hue and the same devices pass in right lines directly through the substance; so that in whatever part it is broken, or whereaver a section may chance to be made of it, the same appearance, the same colors, and the same device present themselves, without being found ever to deaviate from the direction of a straight line, from the external surface to the interior" (Ancient Egypt. 3:193). Winckelmann is of opinion that glass was employed more frequently in ancient than in modern times. It was sometimes used by the Egyptians even for coffins, and in wainscoting ("vitreae camerae," Hist. Nat. 36:64; Stat. Sylv.1:5, 42). They also employed it not only for drinking utensils and ornaments of the persons, but for mosaic work, the figures of deities, and sacred emblems, attaining to exquisite workmanship and a surprising brilliancy of color. Their imitation of precious stones in a manner which often defied detection (Pliny, Hist. Naturalis, 37:26, 33, 75) is probably the explanation of the incredibly large gems which we find mentioned in ancient authors; e.g. Larcher considers that the emerald column alluded to by Herodotus (2:44) was "du verre colore, dont l'interieur etaite eclairei par des lampes." The art, too, of cutting glass was knoewn to them at the most remote periods; for which purpose, as we learn from Pliny (Hist. Naturalis, 37:4), the diamond was used. SEE ENGRAVE
The art of manufacturing glass was also known to the ancient Assyrians (Layard, Ninev. 2:42), and a glass bottle was found in the northwest palace of Nimraud which has on it the name of Sargon, and is therefore probably older than B.C. 702 (id. Nin. and Bab. page 167). This is the earliest known specimen of transparent glass. Opaque colored glass was manufactured by the Assyrians at a much earlier period, and some specimens exist of the 15th century B.C. The Sargon vase had been blown in one piece, and turned and hollowed out afterwards. In the mounds of Babylon were likewise found in glass bottles, some colored, others ribbed and otherwise ornamented, and vases of earthen-ware of various forms and sizes, sometimes glazed with a rich blue color (ib. page 429).
Other glass vessels of the Roman period were else. where discovered (ib. page 504). With the glass bowls was discovered a rock-crystal lens, which must have been used as a magnifying or burning-glass (ib. page 167). In later times glass was abundant for similar purposes among the Romans, as is evident from the specimens disinterred from the ruins of Pompeii. SEE BOTTLE.
That glass was known to the Hebrews appears beyond a doubt; but whether they brought a knowledge of its manufacture with them omit of Egypt, or learned it from their Sidonian neighbors, is uncertain. Whether they used it for mirrors is doubtful. In Job_28:17, זְכוּכַיתis believed to mean, glass, though it is rendered "crystal" in the English version. It comes from זָכִךְ(to be pure), and, according to the best authorities, means a kind of glass which in ancient days was held in high esteem (J.D. Michaelis, Hist. Vitri apud Hebr.; and Hamberger, Hist. Vitrsi ex antiquitate eruta, quoted by Gesenius, s.v.). Symmachus renders it κρύσταλλος, but that is rather intended by גָּבַישׁ(Job_28:18, A.V. " pearls," Sept. γάβις, a word which also means " ice ;" comp. Pliny, H.N. 37:2) and קֶרִח(Eze_1:22). It seems, then, that Job_28:17 contains the only allusion to glass found in the O.T., and even this reference is disputed. Besides Symmachus, others also render it διαυγῆ κρύσταλλον (Schleusner, Thesaur. s.v. ὔαλος), and it is argued that the word ὔαλος frequently means crystal. Thus the Schol. on Aristoph. Nub. 764, defines ὔαλος (when it occurs in old writers) as διαφανὴς λίθος ἐοικὼς ὑάλῳ, and Hesychius gives as its equivalent λίθος τίμιος. In Herodotus (3:24) it is clear that ὔελος must mean crystal, for he says, ἡ δέ σφι πολλὴ καὶ εὔεργος ὀρύσσεται, and Achilles Tatius speaks of crystal as ὕαλος ὀρωρυγμένη (2:3; BAhre, On Haerod. 2:44; Heeren, Ideen, II, 1:335). Others consider זְכוּכַיתto be amber, or electrum, or alabaster (Bochart, Hieroz. II, 6:872). In the New Testament the word employed is ὕαλος (compare Aristoph. Nubes, 768). In Rev_21:18 we read, “The city was pure gold, like unto clear glass;" Rev_21:21, "as it were transparent glass" (compare 4:6). Mention is made in Rev_4:6; Rev_15:2, of a sea of glass like unto crystal, concerning the meaning of which interpreters vary; but it is probably an allusion to the brazen sea spoken of in 1Ki_7:23, and elsewhere, containing water for the priests to wash with, that they might not minister before God under any pollution. "Molten looking-glass" also occurs in Job_37:18; but the original רְאַיtspeculusn, and its corresponding word in Exo_38:8, authorize the translation "mirror" — that is, of some metal. Indeed, Beckman (Beitrage zur Gesch. der Erfindung, 3:319) erroneously denies that glass mirrors were known till the 13th century, adding that they are still seldom seen in the East. It is certain, however, that glass was not applied in ancient times to windows; when these were not, as they commonly were in the East, simply open apertures by day, with wooden doors placed on them by night, a kind of semi-transparent stone, a sort of talc, called lapis specularis, was generally used, and continued to be so for centuries after the Christian temra. SEE WINDOW. power of glass, and although the Sidonians used it for mirrors (Pliny, H.N. 36:66), yet for some unexplained reason mirrors of glass must have proved unsuccessful, since even under the Roman empire they were universally made of metal, which is at once less perfect, more expensive, and more difficult to preserve. See Smith, Dict. of Class. Ant. s.v. Speculum. Accordingly, the mirrors found in Egypt are made of mixed metal, chiefly copper. So admirably did the skill of the Egyptians succeed in the composition of metals, that their mirrors were susceptible of a polish which has been but partially revived at the present day. The mirror was nearly round, having a handle of wood, stone, or metal. The form varied with the taste of the owner. The same kind of metal mirror was used by the Israelites, who doubtless brought it from Egypt. In Exo_38:8 it is expressly said that Moses "made the laver of brass of the looking-glasses (brazen mirrors) of the women." In the East mirrors had a connection with the observances of religion; females held them before the images of the goddesses, thereby manifesting their own humility as servants of the divinities, and betokening the prevalence in private life of a similar custom (Callimach. Hymn. in Pallad. 21; Senec. Ep. 95; Cyril, De Adorat. in Spir. 2:64). That in the New Testament a mirror is intended in Jam_1:23, "beholding his natural face in a glass," appears certain; but the other passage, in which the word ἔσοπτρον occurs (1Co_13:12), seems to require an imperfectly transparent medium, through which objects are beheld. What the precise substance was which the apostle thought of when he used the words it may not be easy to determine. It could not well be ordinary glass, for that was transparent. It may have been the lapis specularis, or a kind of tale, of which the ancients made their windows. This opinion is confirmed by Scbleusner, who says that the Jews used a similar mode of expression to describe a dim and imperfect view of mental objects (Schottgen, Hor. Heb. ad loc.). (See Michaelis, Hist. Vitri ap. Heb. in Comment. Soc. Goetting. 4:57; also Dr. Falconer on "the Knowledge of the Aiccients respecting Glass," in the Memoirs of the Lit. and Philippians Soc. of Manchester, 2:96; Becker's Charicles, 1:132; Michaelis, Supplem. page 613; Pareau, Comment. on Job 28, page 316; Hamberger, Vitri Hist., in the Comment. Soc. Gott. 1754; Hirsch, Geschichte d. Baukunst, 3:66.) SEE LOOKING-GLASS.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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