Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

GLASS

Green glass flask with neck coil and s-corrugations on the body, from Karanis in the Egyptian Fayoum (3rd-4th century c.e.) (Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, University of Michigan)

Glass objects were first made at the end of the 3rd millennium b.c. Prior to the 1st century b.c. they were made by either casting or core forming. In order to cast glass, hot glass must be poured into molds or cold glass must be placed over a mold in a hot furnace. The most common cast glass objects were bowls and pendants. Core-formed vessels were produced by winding hot glass around a clay or dung core. When the glass cooled, the core was removed, leaving a hollow interior. Glassblowing was invented somewhere in Syria-Palestine in the 1st century b.c. and allowed the craftsmen to produce significantly larger quantities of glass than the casting or core-forming methods allowed, thereby reducing the cost of glass objects and making them more common.

Glass is mentioned as a precious commodity likened to gold (Job 28:17), as a possession of the daughters of Zion (Isa. 3:23; NRSV “garments of gauze”), and as a metaphor for the clearness of the gold in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:18, 21). References to glass as a luxury item reflect the costliness of glass objects prior to the Roman era.

A sea of glass appears in front of God’s throne (Rev. 4:6; 15:2), perhaps a reference to the bronze sea in Solomon’s temple (1 Kgs. 7:23-26) or to the division between the waters above and the waters below (Gen. 1:7).

Glass mirrors are referred to in Isa. 3:23; Exod. 38:8, where they are the possessions of women. They are also mentioned in relation to viewing God or seeing one’s true self (1 Cor. 13:12; 2 Cor. 3:18; Jas. 1:23). It is interesting that glass is mentioned, since prior to the Roman period mirrors were made of polished metal rather than glass.

Bibliography. M. Dayagi-Mendels, Perfumes and Cosmetics in the Ancient World (Jerusalem, 1989); D. F. Grose, Early Ancient Glass (New York, 1989).

Alysia Fischer

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

GLASS

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)