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from me, O Lord: let thy loving-kindness and thy truth continually preserve me” (Ps.
40:11).
COPPER
(
"
, 5178), “copper; bronze; bronze chains.” Cognates of this word
appear in Phoenician, Aramaic, Arabic, and Ethiopic. It is attested about 136 times in
biblical Hebrew and in all periods.
:
basically means “copper.” This word refers to the metal ore: “A land
wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land
whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig [copper]” (Deut. 8:9). The
word can also represent the refined ore: “And Zillah, she also bare Tubal-cain, an
instructor of every artificer in copper [
KJV
, “brass”;
NASB
, “bronze”] and iron” (Gen.
4:22).
Inasmuch as it was a semiprecious metal,
is sometimes listed as a spoil of
war (2 Sam. 8:8). In such passages, it is difficult to know whether the reference is to
copper or to copper mixed with tin (i.e., bronze). Certainly, “bronze” is intended in 1
Sam. 17:5, where
refers to the material from which armor is made. Bronze is
the material from which utensils (Lev. 6:21), altars (Exod. 38:30), and other objects were
fashioned. This material could be polished (1 Kings 7:45) or shined (Ezra 8:27). This
metal was less valuable than gold and more valuable than wood (Isa. 60:17).
Still another meaning of
appears in Judg. 16:21: “But the Philistines took
[Samson], and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with
fetters of [bronze]; and he did grind in the prison house.” Usually, when the word has this
meaning it appears in the dual form (in the singular form only in Lam. 3:7).
Deut. 28:23 uses
to symbolize the cessation of life-giving rain and
sunshine: “And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be [bronze], and the earth that is
under thee shall be iron.”
CORD
(
, 2256), “cord; rope; tackle; measuring line; measurement; allotment;
portion; region.” Cognates of this word appear in Aramaic, Syriac, Ethiopic, Arabic, and
Akkadian. The word appears about 50 times in the Old Testament.
)
primarily means “cord” or “rope.” “Then she let them down by a rope through
the window, for her house was built into the city wall” (Josh. 2:15,
RSV
). The word is
used of “tent ropes” in Isa. 33:20: “… A tabernacle that shall not be taken down …
neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.” A ship’s “tackle” is the meaning of
in Isa. 33:23.
Used figuratively,
emphasizes “being bound.” In 1 Kings 20:31, we read that
the Syrians who fled into Aphek proposed to put sackcloth on their heads as a sign of
repentance for attacking Israel, and to put “ropes” about their necks as a sign of
submission to Israel’s authority. Snares used “cords” or “ropes,” forming a web or a
noose into which the prey stepped and was caught. In this manner, the wicked would be
caught by God (Job 18:10). In many passages, death is pictured as a hunter whose trap