lead Summary and Overview

This is one of the most common of metals, found generally in veins of rocks, though seldom in a metallic state, and most commonly in combination with sulphur. It was early known to the ancients, and the allusions to it in Scripture indicate that the Hebrews were well acquainted with its uses. The rocks in the neighborhood of Sinai yielded it in large quantities, and it was found in Egypt. In #Job 19:24| the allusion is supposed to be to the practice of carving inscriptions upon stone and pouring molten lead into the cavities of the letters, to render them legible and at the same time preserve them from the action of the air.

LEAD , a metal known to the ancients from a very early period, and alluded to in Ex 15:10 on account of its weight. It is mentioned several times in Scripture as entering into the process of purifying more precious metals, Jer 6:29; Eze 22:18, Ruth 4:20; for which purpose quicksilver is now used. The words of Job 19:24, "That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!" refer to the custom of pouring molten lead into letters carved in the rock in order to make them more striking to the eye.

Exodus 15:10, "they sank as lead," heavily falling down in their panoply, helpless and motionless, the waters closing over them. Used for the plumb line (Amos 7:7). Zechariah 5:7-8, "the weight of lead" upon the ephah's mouth, covering personified wickedness, implies the impossibility of her escape from beneath the ponderous load weighing her down. Job 19:24 "Oh that my words were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever." The lead was poured into the graven characters to make them better seen and (which is Job's thought) more durable; not leaden plates, for it was "in the rock" they were to be engraved.. May my pen be of iron, and the ink lead poured into the writing on the everlasting rock! Perhaps the hammer was of "lead," as sculptors find more delicate incisions are made by it. Jeremiah 6:28-30 accords exactly with scientific fact; lead applied to purify in the furnace "silver" alloyed with "iron" and "copper" ("brass") fails to do so, in the absence of the purifying blast blowing upon the silver. So Jehovah's casting of the Jews into fiery affliction avails not to purify them without the breath of God's Holy Spirit (compare Ezekiel 22:18-22). Remains of ancient lead mines have been found in the mountains E. of the Nile toward the Red Sea. It was among the spoil taken from Midian (Numbers 31:22). Tyre got it from Tarshish (Ezekiel 27:12).