130. "An Artificer in Brass and Iron"
"An Artificer in Brass and Iron"
Tubal-cain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron," or "a whetter of every instrument of copper and iron." His brother, Jubal, was "the father of all such as handle the harp and organ." Tools were required for the construction of these instruments, and therefore the smith’s art must have taken precedence. The preparation of iron for use in war, agriculture or domestic purposes, was one of the earliest applications of labor, and, along with this was the use of copper alloyed with tin, that is, bronze, the "brass" of the Bible. The construction of so huge a vessel as Noah’s ark shows us clearly that the smith’s art made great progress at a very early age; but whether the metal used then was bronze or iron, we do not know. In the construction of the tabernacle no iron was found, though bronze is frequently mentioned.
After the children of Israel took possession of the land, the occupation of a smith became a very important trade. In the days of Saul it is mentioned that "there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel (1 Samuel 13:19), the reason being that the Philistines had either destroyed or removed all who followed that craft, likely to prevent them from possessing themselves of swords and spears. Nebuchadnezzar did the same. We read that he "carried away ... all the craftsmen and smiths; and left only the poorest sort of the people of the land" (2 Kings 24:14; Jeremiah 24:1). The Jewish artificers were not, as the Romans and Greeks, servants and slaves, but men of some rank and wealth: In the New Testament we find that St. Paul, though of noble birth, was brought up to the craft of tent-making; and even now, almost every Jew, no matter what his prospects are, is instructed in some trade or profession. The art of overlaying with gold was also known to the ancient Egyptians, as was proved some time ago by the discovery at Thebes of a mummy, which was entirely wrapped in plates of gold.