11-09-2011, 08:10 PM
chalkolibano is not found anywhere in greek literature, biblical or otherwise, except in Revelation and appears to be a word invented by the author of Revelation. He seems to know that his readers may need help with the term so he gives an explanation - (1:15) "his feet were like chalkolibano (something related to bronze), as glowing in a furnace". Bronze in a molten state is white-hot, and the Hebrew word for white is laban, so it may be that this writer, who is clearly a non-Greek speaker and whose work is riddled with Hebraisms, combined the Greek word for bronze - chalko, with a Hellenized form of the Hebrew adjective for white - libanos, to describe molten bronze. This makes far more sense than 'brass of Lebanon' or 'yellow frankincense', and explains why Jerome would not have a clue as to the exact meaning of this hapax legomenon, and renders it olichalcos - yellow copper alloy, another Latin word for bronze. The feet shimmering mysteriously like glowing white-hot metal would conjur images of the brightness of God's glory.