Tin. Not ten, as in the number, but tin, the metal.
Metals. Nearly 75% of the Periodic Table is made of metal. 118 elements and 75% of them are metals.
Saying this, most of the elements, the things that compose Earth, mentioned in their purest forms in the Bible are-
Metals.
Tin has special mentions within the Word of God.
Tin was a means of currency (Ezekial 27:12). Much like gold, silver, and copper (all which are also found in the Bible) are and were.
It had a value. It has value today. If you don’t believe me, run by your local hardware store and look how much a sheet of it costs.
The Hebrew word, bᵊḏîl, denoted “tin” as a precious metal. In a more figurative sense, tin was regarded as the material purged away when Israel was under judgement (Ezekial 22:18; Isaiah 1:25). Tin was ascertained by “smelting.”
Smelting is defined as a process used to remove metal by adding heat and or melting out other metals.
And like all things precious, God requires that it be purified (Numbers 31:22).
We too are like Tin. We are first made pure by the blood of Christ, justified by His resurrection. But we are tried many times over by the trials of life (Romans 5:3-5; 2 Timothy 2:20-21).
Likewise, tin, when refined becomes a beautiful metal and despite the processes that are applied, becomes extremely functional.
It malleable, moldable, and strong!
Christians, through trials, become ” a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work” (2 Timothy 2:21).
Oh, to be like tin! To look into the face of a furnace and relish the beauty to be!
Christ makes us even more precious than a precious metal, and trials, functionally turn up the heat, making us strong and pure.