From what I can tell, quenching was practiced during this time. Homer
mentions it in the "The Odyssey" when the Cyclops was killed:
"As when a man who works as a blacksmith plunges a screaming great axe
blade or adze into cold water, treating it for temper, since this is the
way steel is made strong, even so Cyclops' eye sizzled about the beam of
the
olive...." Odyssey 9.389-9394, translation by R. Lattimore
As I recall this was around 880BC. If there are other references, I
would love to see the citations.
Certainly, the idea of quenching the sword in the heavens to harden it
against the forces of evil has a nice symbolism in it...
Scott
D. Scott MacKenzie, PhD
Technical Specialist - Heat Treating Products
Houghton International, Inc.
Madison and Van Buren Aves.
484-467-0285 (cell)
610-666-4007 (office)
-----Original Message-----
From: Arch-Metals Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Bart Torbert
Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2009 10:16 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: "bathing" a sword
I looked in Strong's Bible concordance. The original Hebrew word used
in
Isaiah 34 is #7301 "raw-vaw". This word can be translated; bathe, make
drunk, satiate, satisfy, and soak.
It seems to be a good parrallel to "quench".
If we take into account the old idea of the "ether" (a fluid that filled
the
void of outer space), I think we can safely assume that there is a an
analogy made to normal metal processing.
Next question is when did the quenching of swords first begin. Was it
practiced in Isaiah's time, which would be about 700 B.C.?
Also do we have any lists of Hebrew metal working terms?
Bart
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