* the laver.
30:18-21 40:7,30-32 1Ki 7:23-26,38 Ps 26:6 Zec 13:1 Joh 13:10
Tit 3:5,6 Heb 9:10 1Jo 3:7 Re 1:5
* looking glasses. or, brazen glasses.
The word {maroth,} from {raah,} to see, denotes reflectors,
or mirrors, of any kind. That these could not have been
looking glasses, as in our translation, is sufficiently
evident, not only from the glass not being then in use, but
also from the impossibility of making the brazen laver of
such materials. The first mirrors known among men, were the
clear fountain and unruffled lake. The first artificial ones
were made of polished brass, afterwards of steel, and when
luxury increased, of silver; but at a very early period, they
were made of a mixed metal, particularly of tin and copper,
the best of which, as Pliny informs us, were formerly
manufactured at Brundusium. When the Egyptians went to their
temples, according to St. Cyril, they always carried their
mirrors with them. The Israelitish women probably did the
same; and Dr. Shaw says, that looking-glasses are still part
of the dress of Moorish women, who carry them constantly hung
at their breasts.
* assembling. Heb. assembling by troops.
It is supposed that these women kept watch during the night.
Among the ancients, women were generally employed as
door-keepers. See 1; Sa 2:22.
Pr 8:34 Mt 26:69 Lu 2:37 Joh 18:16 1Ti 5:5
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