GOLD
916
GOLD
18, 21), the most valuable of metals, from its color, lustre, weight, ductility, and other useful jjroperties (I'linv, //. -V. xxxiii, 19). As it is only procured in .small (luantilies, its value is less liable to change than that of otlier metals, and this, with its other qualities, lias in all ages rendered it peculiarly available for coin. There are six Hebrew words used to denote it, and four of them occur in Job xxviii, 15, IC, 17. These are :
1. ^HT, zahah' , the common name, connected with nn^, tsaliah' (to he yello^o), as Germ, f/eld, from gelb, j'ellow. Various epithets are applied to it, as "line" (2 Chron. iii, 5), "refined" (1 Chron. xxviii, 18), "pure" (Exod. xxv, 11). In opposition to these, "beaten gold" (bJ^iri'^IJ T) is probabh' mixed gold; Sept. 'cXciToQ ; used of Solomon's shields (1 Kings x, 10). In Job xxxvii, 22 it is rendered in the A.V. "fair weather;" Sept. v'i^t) xpvaavyovpTa (comp. Zech. iv, 12). The corresponding Chald. word is SriT, dehab' (Dan. ii, 32 ; iii, 1, 5, 7).
2. "i^p, segor' (Job xxviii, 15), elsewhere as an ep- ithet, 1130, sagur' (Sept. KetixtXiov), either from its compactness, or as being inclosed or treasured, i. e. fine gold (1 Kings vi, 20; vii, 49, etc.). IMany names of precious substances in Hebrew come from roots sig- nifying concealment, as ')1"2w'5 (Gen. xliii, 23, A. V. "treasure").
3. 7Q, paz', pure or native gold (Job xxviii, 17 ; Psa. xix, 10 ; XX, 3 ; ex, 127 ; Prov. viii, 19 ; Cant. V, 11, 15 ; Isa. xiii, 12 ; Lam. iv, 2 ; invariably "fine" fonce "pure"] gold), probably from TTQ, ^;tfZ(73', to separate. Eosenmiiller (AltertJimnsk. iv, 49) makes it come from a Syriac root meaning solid or massj- ; but "lllli: (2 Chron. ix, 17) corresponds to 1'S^'C (1 Kings X, 18). The Sept. render it by \i9og rifiiog, xpvaiov aTTiipov (Isa. xiii, 12 ; Theodot. uTrKpOoi' ; comp. Thuc. ii, 13; Pliny, xxxiii, 19, obnissd). In Psa. cxix, 127, the Sept. render it to-ttc'iuoi' (A.V. "fine gold"); but Schleusner happilj' conjectures to Trni'ioi', the Hebrew word being adopted to avoid the repetition of Ypi'crof (Thes. s. V. roTTtts ; Hesych. s. v. ■KciZior').
4. *1JJ3, betsar' (Job xxxvi, 19, fig. of Tiches), or "liJ3, he'lse?; gold earth, or a mass of raw ore (Job Sxii, 24; Sept. anvpov ; A.V. " gold as dust").
The poetical names for gold are :
5. DPS, ke'them (also implying something concealed or separated, Job xxviii, IG, 19 ; xxxi, 24 ; Psa. xlv, 9 ; Prov. xxv, 12 ; Cant, v, 11 ; Lam. iv, 1 ; Dan. x, 6 ; Sept. xpvciov ; and in Isa. xiii, 12 XiQoq TroXvri- X»ji).
6. ]'1'^'7, charuts' = ^^Aug out" (Prov. viii, 10, 18), a general name (Prov. iii, 14 ; xvi, 16 ; Zech. ix, 3) which has become special (Psa. Ixviii, 13, where it cannot mean gems, as some suppose, Bochart, Hicroz. ii, 9). Michaelis connects the Avord with the Greek Xpvrjoc.
Gold was known from the very earliest times (Gen. ' ii, 11). Plin}' attributes the discovert' of it (at Mount i PangiEUs), and tlie art of working it to Cadmus (//. | K. vii, 57) ; and his statement is adopted by Clemens | Alexandriiius (Stromut. i, SG.'J, ed. Pott.). It was at first chiefly used for ornaments, etc. ((Jen. xxiv, 22) ; and altliough Abraham is said to Iiave been "very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold" (Gen. xiii, 2), yet no mention of it, as used in purchases, is made till after his return from Egj-pt. Coined money was not known to the ancients (e. g. Homer, Jl. vii, 473) till a coMiparativel}' late period ; and on the Egyptian tombs gold is rciiresented as being weighed in rings for com- mercial purposes (comp. Gen. xliii, 21). No coins are found in the ruins of Egypt oj: Assyria (Ltjyard's A7n. ii, 418). "Even so late as the time of David gold was not used as a standard of value, but was considered
merely as a very precious article of commerce, and was toeighed like other articles" (Jahn, Bibl. Arch. § 115; comp. 1 Chron. xxi, 26).
Gold was extremely abundant in ancient times (1 Chron. xxii, 14 ; Nah. ii, 9 ; Dan. iii, 1) ; but this did not depreciate its value, because of the enormous quan- tities consumed by the wealthy in furniture, etc. (1 Kings vi, 22 ; x, passim ; Cant, iii, 9, 10 ; Esth. i, 6 ; Jer. X, 9; comp. Homer, Od. xix, 55 ; Herod, ix, 82). Probably, too, the art of gilding was known extensive- ly, being applied even to the battlements of a city (Herod, i, 98 ; and other authorities quoted V)y Layard, ii, 204). Many tons of gold were spent in the build- ing of the Temple alone, though the expression plen- teous as stones (2 Chron. i, 15) may be considered as hyperbolical. It is, however, confirmed by the historj' of the other Asiatic nations, and more especially of the Persians, that the period referred to realh' abound- ed in gold, which was imported in vast masses from Africa and the Indies (Hceren, Idecit, i, 1, 37 sq.). The queen of Sheba brought with her (from Arabia Felix), among other presents, 120 talents of gold (2 Chron. ix, 9).