Iron

Tubal-Cain is the first-mentioned worker in iron ( Genesis 4:22 ). The Egyptians wrought it at Sinai before the Exodus. David prepared it in great abundance for the temple ( 1 Chronicles 22:3 : 29:7 ). The merchants of Dan and Javan brought it to the market of Tyre ( Ezekiel 27:19 ). Various instruments are mentioned as made of iron ( Deuteronomy 27:5 ; 19:5 ; Joshua 17:16 Joshua 17:18 ; 1 Samuel 17:7 ; 2 Sam. 12:31 ; 2 Kings 1 Samuel 6:5 1 Samuel 6:6 ; 1 Chronicles 22:3 ; Isaiah 10:34 ).

Figuratively, a yoke of iron ( Deuteronomy 28:48 ) denotes hard service; a rod of iron ( Psalms 2:9 ), a stern government; a pillar of iron ( Jeremiah 1:18 ), a strong support; a furnace of iron ( Deuteronomy 4:20 ), severe labour; a bar of iron ( Job 40:18 ), strength; fetters of iron ( Psalms 107:10 ), affliction; giving silver for iron ( Isaiah 60:17 ), prosperity.

(pious ), one of the cities of Naphtali, ( Joshua 19:38 ) hitherto totally unknown.

is mentioned with brass as the earliest of known metals. ( Genesis 4:22 ) The natural wealth in iron of the soil of Canaan is indicated by describing it as a land whose stones are iron." ( 8:9 ) (Recent explorations have shown that iron ore is abundant in the northern part of Palestine. --ED.) The book of Job contains passages which indicate that iron was a metal well known. Sheet-iron was used for cooking utensils. ( Ezekiel 4:3 ) cf. Levi 7:9 That it was plentiful in the time of David appears from ( 1 Chronicles 22:3 ) The market of Tyre was supplied with bright or polished iron by the merchants of by Dan and Javan. ( Ezekiel 27:19 ) The Chalybes of the Pontus were celebrated as workers in iron in very ancient times. The product of their labor is supposed to be alluded to in ( Jeremiah 16:12 ) as being of superior quality. Specimens of Assyrian iron-work overlaid with bronze were discovered by Mr. Layard, and are now in the British Museum. Iron weapons of various kinds were found at Nimroud, but fell to pieces on exposure to the air.

IRON (1)

i'-urn (barzel; sideros):

It is generally believed that the art of separating iron from its ores and making it into useful forms was not known much earlier than 1000 BC, and that the making of brass (bronze) antedates it by many centuries, in spite of the frequent Biblical references where brass and iron occur together. This conjecture is based upon the fact that no specimen of worked iron has been found whose antiquity can be vouched for. The want of such instruments, however, can be attributed to the ease with which iron corrodes. Evidence that iron was used is found, for example, in the hieroglyphics of the tomb of Rameses III, where the blades of some of the weapons are painted blue while others are painted red, a distinction believed to be due to the fact that some were made of iron or steel and some of brass. No satisfactory proof has yet been presented that the marvelous sculpturing on the hard Egyptian granite was done with tempered bronze. It seems more likely that steel tools were used. After the discovery of iron, it was evidently a long time in replacing bronze. This was probably due to the difficulties in smelting it. An old mountaineer once described to the writer the process of iron smelting as it was carried on in Mt. Lebanon in past centuries. As a boy he had watched his father, who was a smelter, operate one of the last furnaces to be fired. For each firing, many cords of wood, especially green oak branches, were used, and several days of strenuous pumping at the eight bellows was necessary to supply the air blast. As a result a small lump of wrought iron was removed from the bottom of the furnace after cooling. The iron thus won was carried to Damascus where it was made into steel by workers who kept their methods secret. This process, which has not been worked now for years, was undoubtedly the same as was used by the ancients. It is not at all unlikely that the Lebanon iron, transformed into steel, was what was referred to as "northern iron" in Jeremiah 15:12 (the King James Version). In many districts the piles of slag from the ancient furnaces are still evident.

Aside from the limited supply of iron ore in Mt. Lebanon (compare Deuteronomy 8:9), probably no iron was found in Syria and Palestine. It was brought from Tarshish (Ezekiel 27:12) and Vedan and Jayan (Ezekiel 27:19), and probably Egypt (Deuteronomy 4:20).

The first mention of iron made in the Bible is in Genesis 4:22, where Tubal-Cain is mentioned as "the forger of every cutting instrument of brass and iron." It is likely that the Jews learned the art of metallurgy from the Phoenicians (2 Chronicles 2:14) (see CRAFTS). Iron was used in Biblical times much as it is today. For a description of a smith at work see Ecclesiasticus 38:28. Huge city gates, overlaid with strips of iron (Psalms 107:16; Isaiah 45:2), held in place by crude square-headed nails (1 Chronicles 22:3), are still a familiar sight in the larger cities of Palestine and Syria (Acts 12:10). Threshing instruments were made of iron (Amos 1:3); so also harrows (2 Samuel 12:31), axes (ib; 2 Kings 6:6; see Ax), branding irons (1 Timothy 4:2), and other tools (1 Kings 6:7). There were iron weapons (Numbers 35:16; Job 20:24), armor (2 Samuel 23:7), horns (1 Kings 22:11), fetters (Psalms 105:18), chariots (Joshua 17:16), yokes (Jeremiah 28:14), breastplates (Revelation 9:9), pens (chisels) (Job 19:24; Jeremiah 17:1), sheets or plates (Ezekiel 4:3), gods (Daniel 5:4), weights (1 Samuel 17:7), bedsteads (Deuteronomy 3:11). Iron was used extensively in building the temple.

See METALS.

Figurative:

"The iron furnace" is used metaphorically for affliction, chastisement (Deuteronomy 4:20; Ezekiel 22:18-22). Iron is also employed figuratively to represent barrenness (Deuteronomy 28:23), slavery ("yoke of iron," Deuteronomy 28:48), strength ("bars of iron," Job 40:18), severity ("rod of iron," Psalms 2:9), captivity (Psalms 107:10), obstinacy ("iron sinew," Isaiah 48:4), fortitude ("iron pillar," Jeremiah 1:18), moral deterioration (Jeremiah 6:28), political strength (Daniel 2:33), destructive power ("iron teeth," Daniel 7:7); the certainty with which a real enemy will ever show his hatred is as the rust returning upon iron (Ecclesiasticus 12:10 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "brass"); great obstacles ("walls of iron," 2 Macc 11:9).

James A. Patch

IRON (2)

i'-ron (yir'on):

One of the fenced cities in the territory of Naphtali, named with Migdal-el and En-hazor (Joshua 19:38). It is represented by the modern Yarun, a village with the ruins of a synagogue, at one time used as a monastery, fully 6 miles West of Qedes.