Glass

Glass appears as a costly material in wisdom literature and as a recurring image in apocalyptic vision. The word's narrow set of occurrences runs from a Job comparison weighing wisdom against precious things to the cityscape and throne-room scenes of Revelation.

A Costly Material

In Job's hymn on the place of wisdom, glass takes its place beside gold among substances that cannot be exchanged for what is sought: "Gold and glass can't equal it, Neither will it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold" (Job 28:17). The pairing treats glass as a precious commodity, set alongside fine gold and rare stones.

The Glassy Sea

In the Apocalypse, glass becomes the surface of the heavenly court. Before the seven last plagues are poured out, the seer reports: "And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and those who come off victorious from the beast, and from his image, and from the number of his name, standing by the sea of glass, having harps of God" (Re 15:2). The image places the conquerors on a transparent floor that reflects the surrounding fire of judgment.

The City of Glass

The same transparency is recast in the description of the new Jerusalem. The wall and the street alike are described in glass-terms: "And the building of her wall was jasper: and the city was pure gold, like pure glass" (Re 21:18); and "the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the several gates was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass" (Re 21:21). The metaphor presses gold beyond opacity — gold so refined that light passes through it as if through glass.