There are two parts to this question. And as to the former, indeed, there is a question about lead, tin, orichalc [aurichalcum, “brass”], and steel [chalybs]. These too seem to have been laid up in the Lord’s treasury, because for these the same cause seems [to hold] as for the other metals — whether we consider use and opportunity, or God’s own honor and worship. Whence also Num. 31, vv. 22, 23, [names] by name lead and tin; but under the general name of those “which can bear fire,” orichalc and steel [are reckoned] among those things which can be repurged and expiated of their former filth for the worship of God, — [and thus can serve the worship] of God, they are reckoned [in]. But they are not numbered here. Perhaps this was done because, [by naming] the chief and the extreme kinds of metals, the rest also were indicated. For the highest and chief is gold; the lowest and vilest of all, iron — concerning which there exists a fine Dialogue of Nicolaus Manardus. And of old they denoted the kinds of metals by these three letters, a. a. a. [= aurum, argentum, æs: gold, silver, bronze — all beginning with “a”], which, as [pertaining] to Egyptian matters, Ammianus relates (book 17): [namely,] gold, silver, and bronze were current. Indeed, in this very matter Josephus (book 5, ch. 1) sometimes names only gold and silver, sometimes adds bronze alone, never iron. Or truly, because — as I have said — the reasoning was equal for all, the consecration also was the same. Yet I would not rush here. For since these [others] could as easily have been named as the rest, the silence of the Holy Spirit in this place is for me a matter of reverence. For perhaps the Lord willed in this matter to exercise the obedience and abstinence of the Israelites, so that [only] the things which had been named should be brought into the Lord’s treasury [gazophylacium], and nothing besides, however useful, good, and excellent. For thus, for the virtue of our first parents, the distinction of the trees in paradise was, as it were, a kind of material — that they should eat of some, [and] abstain from others. Otherwise we could even say that gems too were brought into the Lord’s treasury, [gems] which the Kings of the East are not wont to be without. Perhaps also in the omitted metals there is something by which the Lord willed to signify certain useful things not yet perceived by me. Lead is the heaviest, and yet the easiest to melt. Tin is like silver, yet is not silver. Orichalc likewise is like gold, yet is not gold. Steel is a certain whetstone [cos] for the iron itself, for cutting and wounding. Who would not see them [worldly men] to be leaden — [those] who, fixed with their whole soul upon the desires of earthly and fleeting things, and weighed down with excessive cares, at the least fire of calamities straightway melt away, forsake God, cast off the Catholic faith and every duty? Are not all hypocrites tin and orichalc? — especially since orichalc, too, is a factitious [artificial] thing. Are they not steel who delight in slaughters, who stir up quarrels and wraths, who sharpen daggers and swords? These things do not pertain to the treasures of the Lord; these do not enter the kingdom of heaven. Nay, they deserve to be driven even from this earthly Church too, by excommunication and anathematizing.
In the other part of the question two things beget difficulty. One is that most grave prohibition of the Lord, Deut. 7:25: Their graven images you shall burn with fire: you shall not covet the gold and silver of which they are made, neither shall you take anything of it for yourself, lest you be offended [ensnared], because it is an abomination to the Lord your God. Nor shall you bring anything of the idol into your house, lest you become an anathema, as it also is. As filth shall you detest it, and as uncleanness and dregs shall you hold it in abomination, because it is an anathema. Yet we see that David did this (1 Chron. 14:25 [Paralip. 14]), although he elsewhere gathered gold, silver, bronze, and iron from every side for the building of the future temple, and heaped it up from the spoils of enemies, as was said above at question 40. It can be answered, First: that in that precept of the Lord [the Israelite] is only forbidden — that none of them should take anything of them for himself, and bring it into his own
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house — not, however, that he take [it] for the Lord, and consign it to his treasury. Secondly, it can be granted that it was generally forbidden that anything of golden or silver images and the like should be received by the Israelites in that manner — neither for private, nor for public and divine use. First, because that [reading] is more in keeping with the aim of that precept: namely, that the Israelites should above all detest and abhor them. Whence also in the same Deut. ch. 7, in the last verse, the Lord uses a heap of many words which signify the utmost abomination. Secondly, because through the appearance [of turning them into] the Lord’s treasures there would be left a certain ordinary occasion for detestable sacrileges of this kind; and thus those who (2 Macc. 12) were slain on account of the anathema-spoils they had taken could have been excused, on the ground that they had wished to confer them into the Lord’s treasures. But this general prohibition being laid down, it would have to be said here either that from it, at this time and on this occasion, the Lawgiver himself willed an exception to be made — which, had he not himself commanded it, no man would have dared to make; or that, even now, the precept holding good, and gold and silver having been brought into the Lord’s treasures, [it was] not just any [gold and silver], but that, namely, which the Lord’s law did not forbid: of which sort was everything that had not gone into the foul construction of the images.
The other thing which begets some difficulty is a diversity in the manner of speaking. For whereas at v. 19 [and] ch. 24 [it is said], in the general way I have already stated, that gold and silver are claimed for the Lord, bronze and iron are not so claimed; but, in the Hebrew and the Latin, vessels of bronze and of iron. So that it seems to be signified that, if there were bronze or iron which had not been expended and shaped into vessels, that ought by no means to be received. It must be said that vessels are called “of bronze and of iron” for this reason: because commonly these two metals are not wont to be kept unworked, but are straightway cast into vessels; and therefore, for all bronze and iron, this state of bronze and iron — which is the more usual — has been put. And this the interpreter seems to hint, when here at verse 24 he renders without the vessels of bronze, and the iron: unless perhaps, as it is in the Hebrew, he had rendered without the vessels of bronze and of iron. Yet, as I have already said, this is strongly confirmed by the Seventy [LXX], who never make mention of vessels, but render v. 19: πᾶν ἀργύριον ἢ χρυσίον, ἢ χαλκὸς ἢ σίδηρος ἅγιον ἔσται τῷ κυρίῳ [pan argyrion ē chrysion, ē chalkos ē sidēros hagion estai tō kyriō, “all silver or gold, or bronze or iron, shall be holy to the Lord”]. And afterward, πλὴν ἀργυρίου, καὶ χρυσίου, καὶ χαλκοῦ καὶ σιδήρου ἔδωκαν εἰς θησαυρὸν κυρίου εἰσενεχθῆναι [plēn argyriou, kai chrysiou, kai chalkou kai sidērou edōkan eis thēsauron kyriou eisenechthēnai, “except the silver, and the gold, and the bronze and the iron, [which] they gave to be brought into the treasury of the Lord”]. And so Josephus, in the place cited, just as [he reckons in] ἄργυρον καὶ χρυσὸν [argyron kai chryson, “silver and gold”], so also he counts in χαλκὸν [chalkon, “bronze”]. And indeed, just as all gold and silver is received — whether it were worked or unworked, whether it were cast into dishes and bowls — so bronze and iron are understood [to be received], whether it were already wrought into columns, plates, swords, spears, axes, pots and cauldrons, or not. Now weigh this, O my soul: that by these various kinds of metals are signified various kinds of talents and gifts, with which the Lord deigns to adorn whom he will. Gold, indeed, and silver can both be built into vessels and also, by themselves — even if they have no form or use of a vessel — bring honor and adornment to the House of God. But bronze and iron, unless they be vessels, what grace can they confer? You, therefore, since you are iron, and indeed the vilest [iron] — of the sort that nearly that [iron] is from which among us today, by a rather new invention, hypocaust-furnaces are made — you must resolve: first, that you are to be signally purged of your former filth; then, that you ought — after the manner of an axe, a pot, a pan, and other vessels of that kind — to be always ready for cutting, cooking, frying, or performing some other service of this sort, which is neither great, nor splendid, nor honorable; and likewise that you must suffer yourself to be handled by woodcutters, smiths, cooks, and the like, who are commonly reckoned the more abject and sordid — so that your fellowship and habitual company, that is, may be with the humble and the truly poor in spirit, whom the world holds for a mockery and for a byword of reproach [Wisd. 5:3–4; printed “in similitudinem imperij,” apparently for improperii, “reproach”] — and that you may gladly obey the commands and counsels of such men, [and] apply yourself to the ministries and actions which the Lord wills. Only be you in the treasures of the House of the Lord, and let nothing be a care to you. Nay rather, labor, and strive as much as you can, that you never allow yourself to cease, but, after the manner of a vessel of bronze and iron, be applied frequently to use.
“Bronzes shine with use; a good garment asks to be worn: / iron laid aside is gnawed and rough with rust.” [Ovid, Amores 1.8.51–52]
Finally, hear the Apostle, 2 Tim. 2, v. 20: In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of earthenware: and some indeed unto honor, but some unto dishonor. If anyone shall have cleansed himself from these, he shall be a vessel sanctified unto honor, and useful to the Lord, prepared for every good work. Of myself [I am] a vessel unto dishonor: make me, O God, by thy grace a vessel unto honor, and useful.