HEBREW WORD STUDY – TIN – BADAL  בדל  

Isaiah 1:25: “I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all they tin.”

I am always amazed at watching old silent movies where you see an old Model T Ford bouncing over roads that would cause a modern vehicle to break down and yet the old Ford just keeps truckin’. Few people in that day knew what the T in Model T stood for (Models A- S were prototypes, Model was the first production model). However, everyone knew its nickname – Tin. That is because even though it was made of high-quality Vanadium steel, it shook, rattled and made one wonder why they ever stayed together and didn’t fall apart on it’s first run.  When compared to other luxury cars of the day, such as the Duesenburg, Ford’s Model T appeared to be nothing but a hunk of tin. 

The word for tin in the Hebrew is badilik from the root word badal meaning to cause a separation, to depart or make a division, hence you have the word evolving to mean tin as tin is a very unreliable metal. This was written in the midst of the bronze age where more reliable metals were created such that anything put together with tin would fall apart or separate much quicker than other metals.  How many Christians feel like they are spiritually put together like an old Model T that looks like it will fall apart just leaving the showroom?  Yet, like the Model T, God puts us spiritually together with best there is, His Son Jesus Christ.  

People laughed at the old Model T mockingly calling a Tin Lizzie. Yet, it was not put together with tin. Maybe the Models A-S had some time, but Henry Ford purged away the tin leaving a quality product.  People mocked his hunk of tin, but he laughed all the way to the bank as his product endured the harsh roads of its day.

How many of us as Christians feel like we are an old Tin Lizzie that will fall apart before we even leave our home.  Yet Isaiah is teaching that God makes a quality product that will amaze the onlookers as transverse the rough roads of life without falling apart.  God will purge us of all our badals cheap, unreliable tin and fill us with His Holy Spirit made of the highest quality steel. We may look fragile on the outside, but inside we have a powerhouse.