Brass

Which is an alloy of copper and zinc, was not known till the thirteenth century. What is designated by this word in Scripture is properly copper (Deut. 8:9). It was used for fetters (Judg. 16:21; 2 Kings 25:7), for pieces of armour (1 Sam. 17:5, 6), for musical instruments (1 Chr. 15:19; 1 Cor. 13:1), and for money (Matt. 10:9). It is a symbol of insensibility and obstinacy in sin (Isa. 48:4; Jer. 6:28; Ezek. 22:18), and of strength (Ps. 107:16; Micah 4:13). The Macedonian empire is described as a kingdom of brass (Dan. 2:39). The "mountains of brass" Zechariah (6:1) speaks of have been supposed to represent the immutable decrees of God. The serpent of brass was made by Moses at the command of God (Num. 21:4-9), and elevated on a pole, so that it might be seen by all the people when wounded by the bite of the serpents that were sent to them as a punishment for their murmurings against God and against Moses. It was afterwards carried by the Jews into Canaan, and preserved by them till the time of Hezekiah, who caused it to be at length destroyed because it began to be viewed by the people with superstitious reverence (2 Kings 18:4). (See [75]NEHUSHTAN.) The brazen serpent is alluded to by our Lord in John 3:14, 15. (See [76]SERPENT.)

נחשת. The word _brass_ occurs very often in our translation of the Bible; but that is a mixed metal, for the making of which we are indebted to the German metallurgists of the thirteenth century. That the ancients knew not the art of making it, is almost certain. None of their writings even hint at the process. There can be no doubt that copper is the original metal intended. This is spoken of as known prior to the flood; and to have been discovered, or at least wrought, as was also iron, in the seventh generation from Adam, by Tubal-cain: whence the name _Vulcan_. The knowledge of these two metals must have been carried over the world afterward with the spreading colonies of the Noachidæ. Agreeably to this, the ancient histories of the Greeks and Romans speak of Cadmus as the inventor of the metal which by the former is called χαλκὸς, and by the latter _æs_; and from him had the denomination _cadmea_. According to others, Cadmus discovered a mine, of which he taught the use. The name of the person here spoken of was undoubtedly the same with Ham, or Cam, the son of Noah, who probably learned the art of assaying metals from the family of Tubal-cain, and communicated that knowledge to the people of the colony which he settled.