amber Summary and Overview

(Ezek. 1:4, 27; 8:2. Heb., hashmal, rendered by the LXX. elektron, and by the Vulgate electrum), a metal compounded of silver and gold. Some translate the word by "polished brass," others "fine brass," as in Rev. 1:15; 2:18. It was probably the mixture now called electrum. The word has no connection, however, with what is now called amber, which is a gummy substance, reckoned as belonging to the mineral kingdom though of vegetable origin, a fossil resin.

(Heb. chasmal) occurs only in #Eze 1:4,27; 8:2| It is usually supposed that the Hebrew word chasmal (denotes a metal) and not the fossil resin called amber.

AM'BER . Eze 1:4, Gen 1:27;Eze 8:2 (better electrum, or bright gold gum). Fossil gum, a beautiful bituminous substance, susceptible of a fine polish, varying in color, but chiefly yellow and orange. It is mined in Prussia, and also washed ashore by the waves of the Baltic Sea. The word here used probably denotes electrum, a metal composed of gold and silver and held in high estimation among the ancients. In the passages cited the allusion is simply to the color of amber, and does not necessarily imply that it is indestructible by fire.

Hebrew; chasmal. Ezekiel 1:4; Ezekiel 1:27; Ezekiel 8:2. Not our amber, a bituminous substance or fossil resin, but a metal. Smooth polished brass (Gesenius). Compare Ezekiel 1:7, brass in a glow or white heat; Ezra 8:27 margin; Revelation 1:15, "His feet like unto glowing brass" (chalcolibanus; from libben, "whiten;" brass in a white heat), "as if made red hot in a furnace.". Else a composed of gold and silver, symbolizing the dazzling brightness of God's glory. From Hebrew mal (or else melala, "gold") nechash, "smooth brass."