Beaten Silver

BEATEN SILVER (כֶּ֣סֶף מְרֻקָּ֞ע, beaten silver [RSV], silver spread into plates [KJV]).

Since ancient times men have known of the unusual malleability of silver. Phoenician colonies in the western Mediterranean area exported thin plates of hammered silver (Jer 10:9). An important use of these thin leaves of silver was the incrustation of idols. Hebrew writers spoke contemptuously of these idols covered with beaten silver (Isa 30:22; Hab 2:19). Some parts of the tabernacle court were overlaid with silver (Exod 38:17), and Proverbs 26:23 speaks of earthenware being covered with an impure silver. See Metals and Metallurgy

Bibliography

R. J. Forbes, Studies in Ancient Technology, Vol. 8, Metallurgy in Antiquity (1964).