tin Summary and Overview

Heb. bedil (Num. 31:22; Ezek. 22:18, 20), a metal well known in ancient times. It is the general opinion that the Phoenicians of Tyre and Sidon obtained their supplies of tin from the British Isles. In Ezek. 27:12 it is said to have been brought from Tarshish, which was probably a commercial emporium supplied with commodities from other places. In Isa. 1:25 the word so rendered is generally understood of lead, the alloy with which the silver had become mixed (ver. 22). The fire of the Babylonish Captivity would be the means of purging out the idolatrous alloy that had corrupted the people.

Among the various metals found in the spoils of the Midianites, tin is enumerated. #Nu 31:22| It was known to the Hebrew metal-workers as an alloy of other metals. #Isa 1:25 Eze 22:18,20| The markets of Tyre were supplied with it by the ships of Tarshish. #Eze 27:12| It was used for plummets, #Zec 4:10| and was so plentiful as to furnish the writer of Ecclesiasticus, Ecclus. 47:18, with a figure by which to express the wealth of Solomon. Tin is not found in Israel. Whence, then. did the ancient Hebrews obtain their supply "Only three countries are known to contain any considerable quantity of it: Spain and Portugal, Cornwall and the adjacent parts of Devonshire, and the islands of Junk, Ceylon and Banca, in the Straits of Malacca." (Kenrick, "Phoenicia," p. 212.) There call be little doubt that the mines of Britain were the chief source of supply to the ancient world, [See TARSHISH] ("Tin ore has lately been found in Midian." --Schaff.)

TIN , a well-known metal in use at a very early period, Num 31:22, and an article of Tyrian commerce, probably obtained from Spain or England. Eze 27:12. Captain Burton has recently found tin-ore in the land of Midian. In Isa 1:25 the word "tin" doubtless means a sort of dross.

bedil; Greek kassiteres, from whence comes Cassiterides, the name given to the Scilly isles by the Greeks and Romans. who did not know that the tin came from the mainland of Cornwall. Arabic kasdeer, Sanskrit kastira, Egyptian khasit. The Hebrew bedil, means "substitute" or alloy, its principal use being then to make bronze. In Egypt and Assyria 10 or 20 parts of tin went to 80 or 90 of copper to make bronze. Found among Midian's spoils (Numbers 31:22). Centuries before Israel's Exodus bronze was made by the mixture of tin and copper in Egypt, which proves the very ancient use of tin. Isaiah (Isaiah 1:25) alludes to it as an alloy separated, by smelting, from the silver. Bedell took his motto from Isaiah 1:25. In Ezekiel 22:18; Ezekiel 22:20, "Israel is to me become dross ... tin ... therefore I will gather you into the furnace," i.e., as Israel has degenerated from pure silver into a deteriorated compound, I must throw them into the furnace to sever the good from the bad (Jeremiah 6:29-30). The Phoenicians conveyed much tin probably to Tartessus or Tarshish in Spain, thence to Tyre; Jeremiah 27:12," Tarshish was thy (Tyre's) merchant with tin." Zechariah (Zechariah 4:10 margin) mentions tin as used for plummets. Spain and Portugal, Cornwall and Devonshire, and the islands Junk, Ceylon, and Banca in the straits of Malacca (Kenrick, Phoenicia, 212), were the only three countries known to possess tin in quantities.