Iron

(Gen. 4:22; Prov. 27:17). The use of this well-known metal, so necessary to civil life, dates from the most remote antiquity. “And Zillah, she also bare Tubal-cain,” it is already said at the beginning of the book of Genesis, “an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron” (Gen. 4:22). Og, king of Bashan, had an iron bedstead in his court (Deut. 3:11). The Canaanites had iron chariots in their army (Josh. 17:16). Iron was further used for making axes (2 Kings 6:5, 6), for the fashioning of weapons of war (1 Sam. 17:7), for making fetters (Ps. 105:18 [104:18]), prison doors (Acts 12:10), and other things.

By “iron from the north” (Jer. 15:12) is probably meant a kind of iron ore, notable for its hardness, found in a country bordering the Euxine Sea (the Black Sea), and undoubtedly to the north of Judea. From the context it is natural to suppose that by the expression “a land whose stones are iron” (Deut. 8:9) is meant the abundance of iron found in that land. Iron in Holy Scripture often carries a figurative meaning. It serves as an image now of strength (Job 41:27 [41:19]), now of sorrow and bitterness (Ps. 107:10 [106:10]), now of hardness and stubbornness (Isa. 48:4). The expression “the iron furnace” (1 Kings 8:51) is a metaphorical expression, denoting the weight of the bondage in which the Hebrews languished in Egypt.