Flint
Flint [1]
flint ( חלמישׁ , ḥallāmı̄sh ( Deuteronomy 8:15; Deuteronomy 32:13; Job 28:9; Psalm 114:8 ), צר , cōr ( Exodus 4:25; Ezekiel 3:9 ), צר , cēr ( Isaiah 5:28 ), צוּר , cūr ( Job 22:24; Psalm 89:43 ), צרים , curı̄m ( Joshua 5:2 f); κόχλαξ (= κάχληξ , káchlēx "pebble"), kóchlax (1 Macc 10:73)): The word ḥallāmı̄sh signifies a hard stone, though not certainly flint, and is used as a figure for hardness in Isaiah 50:7 , "Therefore have I set my face like a flint." A similar use of cōr is found in Ezekiel 3:9 , "As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead," and Isaiah 5:28 , "Their horses' hoofs shall be accounted as flint"; and of ṣela‛ in Jeremiah 5:3 , "They have made their faces harder than a rock." The same three words are used of the rock from which Moses drew water in the wilderness: ḥallāmı̄sh ( Deuteronomy 8:15; Psalm 114:8 ); cūr ( Exodus 17:6; Deuteronomy 8:15; Psalm 78:20; Isaiah 48:21 ); ṣela‛ ( Numbers 20:8; Nehemiah 9:15; Psalm 78:16 ). Cūr and ṣela‛ are used oftener than ḥallāmı̄sh for great rocks and cliffs, but cūr is used also for flint knives in Exodus 4:25 , "Then Zipporah took a flint (the King James Version "sharp stone"), and cut off the foreskin of her son," and in Joshua 5:2 f, "Yahweh said unto Joshua, Make thee knives of flint (the King James Version "sharp knives"), and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time." Surgical implements of flint were used by the ancient Egyptians, and numerous flint chippings with occasional flint implements are found associated with the remains of early man in Syria and Palestine. Flint and the allied mineral, chert, are found in great abundance in the limestone rocks of Syria, Palestine and Egypt. See Rock .
