Refiner, Refining
Refiner, Refining
REFINER, REFINING.The ancient Egyptians purified gold by putting it into earthen crucibles with lead, salt, a little tin, and barley bran, sealing the crucibles with clay, and then exposing them to the heat of a furnace for five days and nights. Refining silver by cupellation is a very old process. The silver mixed with lead is put into a crucible made of bone earth, and placed in a reverberatory furnace. As the oxide of lead forms, it is blown off by bellows, and towards the end of the process the thin covering of oxide becomes iridescent and soon disappears, and the pure bright surface of the silver flashes out. This process of refining silver is referred to in Jer 6:29. The reference in Mal 3:2 f. is to the purifying influence of affliction on the people of God; their sinful Impurities gradually disappear, and at last the Divine image is reflected from the soul, as the face of the refiner from the surface of the purified silver.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Refiner, Refining
re-fner, re-fning: Two Hebrew words have been translated refine: (1) , caraph, literally, to fuse (Zec 13:9; Isa 48:10; Mal 3:2, Mal 3:3, etc.). The same word is rendered also tried (Psa 66:10); melt (Jer 6:29 the King James Version); purge (Isa 1:25). (2) , zakak, literally, to strain or sift. In the case of silver and gold the term probably referred to some washing process in connection with refining, as in Mal 3:3 both caraph and zakak are used (1Ch 28:18; 1Ch 29:4; Job 28:1). The same word in Isa 25:6 referred to the straining of wine. Greek , puroo, in the passive, literally, to be ignited, is translated refined, in Rev 1:15; Rev 3:18.
The ancient process of refining gold has already been described under METALLURGY (which see). Most of the Bible references are to the refining of silver (Pro 25:4; Zec 13:9; Isa 48:10). The silver used by the ancients was probably obtained by smelting lead sulfide ore, rich in silver (argentiferous galena). After the ore had been reduced to a metallic condition, the lead was separated from the silver by blowing hot air over the surface of the melted metal. The lead was thus changed to lead oxide which, in a powdered condition, was driven away by the air blast. The resulting lead oxide, called in the Bible silver dross, was used for glazing pottery (Pro 26:23), a use to which it is still put by Syrian potters. The description of refining in Eze 22:18-22 may indicate that a flux (compare as with lye, Isa 1:25 the American Revised Version margin) was sometimes added to the melted metal to dissolve the oxides of copper, lead, tin and iron as they formed, thus leaving the silver pure. Crude processes similar to those described above are used in the Taurus Mountains today.
Figurative:
In the various Bible references the refining of precious metals is used figuratively to illustrate the kind of trial God’s children are called upon to go through. If they are of the right metal the dross will finally be blown away, leaving pure, clear, shining silver. If of base metal they will be like the dross described in Jer 6:29, Jer 6:30. The refiner may blow fiercely, but in vain, for nothing but lead dross appears.