FLINT (flint), (Heb. t"r4t0, khal-law-meesh' , perhaps hardness). The Heb. word tsor, for -11V, tsoor, is rendered "rock" (Job. xxviii:9).
Flint is a form of silica, a mineral which occurs in its purest condition as quartz. Flint is found in bands and nodules in certain calcareous rocks, notably in chalk, in various parts of the world. It is exceedingly hard, and breaks with a glassy fracture and sharp edges. When pieces of it are struck together, or against steel, sparks are emitted, and this method of obtaining fire has been used from the earliest times. It is probably alluded to in 2 Mace. x :3. Flints are often dark colored owing to impurities. Their origin is one of the problems of geology not yet completely solved, but it is supposed that the siliceous frame work of certain marine organisms was dissolved, and afterward deposited in cavities, or actually substituted for the material of other organic re mains. (Jas. Patrick, Hastings' Bib. Diet.)
Flint proper was the material almost every where employed in early prehistoric time for edge tools and weapons, prior to the use of metals. Its hardness, and the peculiar sharpness of its edges when broken or "flaked," rendered it all im portant for such purposes to primitive man, and hence the science of prehistoric archwology has dealt very largely with the study of flint imple ments, in their wide distribution, their varied forms and their stages of evolution from ruder and more finished types. All this lies back of any Old Testament references. (Barnes' Bib. Dia.) FiguratiVe. In ls. 1:7 it signifies the firmness of the prophet against his persecutors. In Ezek.
the Hebrew tsor is translated "flint" in the same sense. The hoofs of horses are likened to flint (Is. v:28) in hardness.