Topical Bible: Brass: Figurative

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In the Bible, brass, also known as bronze, is often used figuratively to convey various symbolic meanings. This metal, an alloy of copper and tin, is noted for its strength and durability, making it a fitting symbol in biblical literature.

1. Strength and Judgment: Brass is frequently associated with strength and judgment. In the book of Job, the rhetorical question, "Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze?" (Job 6:12, BSB) uses bronze to symbolize enduring strength. Similarly, in the prophetic visions of Daniel, the legs of the statue in Nebuchadnezzar's dream are made of iron and its feet partly of iron and partly of clay, but the belly and thighs are of bronze (Daniel 2:32-33, BSB), representing the Medo-Persian Empire, known for its might and power.

2. Divine Judgment and Wrath: Brass is also used to symbolize divine judgment and wrath. In Revelation, the feet of the glorified Christ are described as "like polished bronze refined in a furnace" (Revelation 1:15, BSB), indicating His purity and the righteous judgment He brings. This imagery underscores the idea of Christ's authority and the inevitability of His judgment.

3. Impenetrability and Obstinacy: The prophet Isaiah uses brass to describe the obstinacy and impenetrability of the people. "I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze" (Leviticus 26:19, BSB) is a warning of the consequences of disobedience, where the heavens and earth become unyielding and unresponsive, symbolizing a hardened heart and the resulting divine judgment.

4. Endurance and Resilience: In Ezekiel, the prophet is made as "unyielding and hardened as they are" (Ezekiel 3:8-9, BSB), with his forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint, which can be understood as a metaphor for resilience and steadfastness in the face of opposition. This use of brass-like imagery emphasizes the prophet's strength and determination to deliver God's message despite resistance.

5. Purification and Refinement: The process of refining brass is often used metaphorically to describe purification and refinement through trials. In the book of Malachi, the Lord is described as a refiner and purifier of silver, which can be extended to the refining of metals like brass, symbolizing the purification of the people (Malachi 3:3, BSB).

Throughout Scripture, brass serves as a powerful symbol of strength, judgment, and resilience. Its figurative use underscores the themes of divine authority, the consequences of disobedience, and the process of spiritual refinement.

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Leviticus 26:19
And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:
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Deuteronomy 33:25
Your shoes shall be iron and brass; and as your days, so shall your strength be.
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Isaiah 48:4
Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow brass;
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Jeremiah 1:18
For, behold, I have made you this day a defended city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.
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Ezekiel 1:7
And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the color of burnished brass.
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Daniel 2:32,39
This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,
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Daniel 7:19
Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet;
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Daniel 10:6
His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in color to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.
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Zechariah 6:1
And I turned, and lifted up my eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass.
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Revelation 1:15
And his feet like to fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
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Library

The Figurative Language of Scripture.
... of this class of expositors, the maiming of the body is figurative language, and ...
the four chariots coming out from between two mountains of brass with horses ...
/.../barrows/companion to the bible/chapter xxxv the figurative language.htm

Whether Sufficient Reason Can be Assigned for the Ceremonies ...
... There was also a figurative reason for these precepts ... Wherefore the Lord commanded
the altar of holocausts to be made of brass, and to be conspicuous to all the ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether sufficient reason can be.htm

Note to the Following Treatise 1. The Following Letter
... as, in order that there may be a brazen seal, there must be brass, and in ... Three Persons
in the Trinity, is so; and I think that this expression is figurative. ...
/.../note to the following treatise.htm

Gifts no Certain Evidence of Grace.
... of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a ... saints are
represented as written in Heaven, This language is figurative, accommodated to ...
/.../lee/sermons on various important subjects/sermon xiv gifts no certain.htm

The Second Commandment
... incense to it, Hezekiah defaced, and called it Nehushtan, mere brass; and God ... his
power, yet it is absurd, from such metaphors and figurative expressions, to ...
/.../watson/the ten commandments/2 2 the second commandment.htm

Greek Plagiarism from the Hebrews.
... and silver in the case of those who are helpers; and steel and brass in the ... to the
descent of the Lord into the flesh he also applies the figurative term sleep ...
/.../clement/the stromata or miscellanies/chapter xiv greek plagiarism from the.htm

The Angels of the Seven Churches.
... eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if ... to construct
a system of ecclesiastical polity from such a highly-figurative portion of ...
//christianbookshelf.org/killen/the ancient church/chapter iv the angels of.htm

The Potter and the Clay
... Some indeed content themselves with a figurative interpretation; but unless they
are made to ... I should only be like a sounding brass for any saving purpose, or ...
/.../whitefield/selected sermons of george whitefield/the potter and the clay.htm

The Teacher Come from God and the Teacher from Jerusalem - Jesus ...
... that Jesus pointed to repentance, as that which would give him the figurative standing
of ... Targum on the passage: And Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it ...
/.../the life and times of jesus the messiah/chapter vi the teacher come.htm

On Reconciling Religious Dissensions among Christians
... that of the oak, and by defenses more impregnable than those of triple brass. ... things
hard to be understood." (2 Peter 3:16.) The figurative expressions and ...
/.../the works of james arminius vol 1/oration v on reconciling religious.htm