GIZRITES (gTz'rites). See GERZ1TES, THE. GLASS (glis), (Heb. ghil-hzw-yone., Is.
iii:234 mirrors, polished metal plates.
(1) How Discovered. Glass, according to Pliny (Hist. Nat. xxxvi :26), was discovered by what is termed accident. Some merchants kindled a fire on that part of the coast of Phoenicia which lies near Ptolemais, between the foot of Carmel and Tyre, at a spot where the river Belus casts the fine sand which it brings down ; but, as they were without the usual means of suspending their cooking vessels, they employed for that purpose logs of niter, their vessel being laden with that substance; the fire fusing the niter and the sand produced glass. The Sidonians, in whose vicini ty the discovery was made, took it up, and hav ing in process of time carried the art to a high degree of excellence, gained thereby both wealth and fame. Other nations became their pupils ; the Romans especially attained to very high skill in the art of fusing, blowing, and coloring glass.
(2) Known to the Egyptians. Wilkinson,in his Ancient Egyptians (iii :88, sq.), has adduced the fullest evidence that glass was known to and made by the Egyptian people at a very early period of their national existence. Upward of 3,5oo years ago, in the reign of the first Osirtasen, they appear to have practiced the art of blowing glass. The process is represented in the paintings of Beni Hassan, executed in the reign of that monarch. In the same age images of glaced pot tery were common. Ornaments of glass were made by them about 1,5oo years B. C.; for a bead of that date has been found, being of the same specific gravity as that of our crown glass. Many glass bottles. etc., have been met with in the tombs, some of very remote antiquity. Glass vases were used for holding wine as early as the exodus. Such was the skill of the Egyptians in this manufacture,that they successfullycounter felted the amethyst, and other precious stones. It was sometimes used by the Egyptians even for coffins. They also employed it, not only for drinking utensils, and ornaments of the person, but for mosaic work, the figures of deities, and sacred emblems, attaining to exquisite workman ship, and a surprising brilliancy of color. The art too of cutting glass was known to them at the most remote periods; for which purposc, as we learn from Pliny (Hist. Nat. xxxvii :4), the diamond was used. That the ancients had mirrors of glass is clear from the above cited words of Pliny ; but the mirrors found in Egypt arc made of mixed metal, chiefly copper. So admirably did the skill of the Egyptians succeed in the com position of metals. that their mirrors were sus ceptible of a polish which has been hut partial ly revived at the present day. The mirror was nearly round, having a handle of wood. stone, or metal. The form varied with the taste of the owner. The same kind of metal mirror was used by the Israelites, who, doubtless, brought it from Egypt'. In Exod. xxxviii :8, it is expressly said that Moses 'made the laver of brass of the looking-glasses (brazen mirrors) of the wom en.' (3) Known to the Hebrews. It would be justifiable to suppone that the Hebrews brought glass, and a knowledge how to manufacture it, with them out of Egypt, were not the evidence of history so explicit that it was actually dis covered and wrought at their own doors. Whether
it was used by them for mirrors is another ques tion. That glass, however, was known to the Hebrews appears beyond a doubt. In Job xxviii: 17, IT:. 1:T„ zek-oo-keeth, is believed to mean glass, though it is rendered 'crystal' in the English Ver sion.
(4) New Testament References. In Rev. xxi :18, we read 'The city was pure gold, like unto clear glass;' ver. 21, 'as it were transparent glass' (compare c. iv:6). 'Molten glass' also occurs in Job xxxvii:18, but the original is Heb.
raw-deed,' spreading. Winer, referring to Beck man (Beitrage stir Gcsch. der Erfindung, 319), expressly denies that glass mirrors were known till the thirteenth century—adding that they are still seldom seen in the East. That in the New Testament a mirror is intended in Jam. i:23, 'beholding his natural face in a glass, ap pears certain; but the signification of the other passage in which the word 'lcorrpor, mirror, oc curs, is by no means so clear. If by gcrorrpov a metal mirror is to be understood, the language employed is not without difficulties. The preposi tion ad, 'through,' is in such a case improper; 'face to face' presents an equally improper con trast, for in a mirror 'face answers to face (Prov. xxvii:19). So the general import of the passage seems to require an imperfectly transparent medi um, through which objects are beheld. It may have been the icipis speru/aris, or a kind of talc, of which the ancients made their windows. This opinion is confirmed by Schleusner, who says that the Jews used a similar mode of expression to describe a dim and imperfect view of mental objects. J. R. B.
There are instances, however, both in the classic Greek of Sophocles and Xenophon, and often in the Greek of the New Testament, wherein dia means by means of, and expresses mere instru mentality. See Acts xx :28 ; Eph. i :7; Col. i :22; Heb. ix :26; many more may be cited.
FiguratiVe. The figurative use of glass al ready referred to may be further amplified as follows: (1) The word and ordinances of God are a glass; in them we see our own sins, wants, or graces; have imperfect views of Jesus and his Father, and of eternal things, and have our heart warmed by them (Jam. i :23, 25 ; Cor. :18). (2) When the ceremonial and gospel ordinances are compared, the former are called a shadow, which gives a very imperfect view of the thing represented ; but the latter are called a glass. in which we see spiritual things much more clearly (Col. ii :17; Heb. x :I; 2 Cor. :18). (3) The new Jerusalem is like unto transparent glass, for its beauty and glory, and the delightful views of Divine things enjoyed in it (Rev. xxi:18, 21). (4) The sea of glass mingled with fire before the throne of God, on which the saints stand, may denote the righteousness of Jesus mingled with flaming love and fiery sufferings, and which in deed is the support and encouragement of the saints before God;. or the glorious gospel, at tended with the influences of the Holy Ghost, to uphold and embolden them; or a pure and holy church actuated with burning zeal for the glory of God (Rev. iv:6, and xv :2).