mirrors

Reflective devices used primarily to view one’s face. During the biblical period mirrors were made not of glass, but of highly polished metal, e.g., silver, gold, copper, or bronze. Textual references also suggest this, since mirrors were even melted down (Exod 38:8; Job 37:18; Isa 3:23). The poor quality of the mirror, used metaphorically by Paul to denote a cloudy reflection (1Cor 13:12), seems also to suggest metal, rather than glass.