ברזל; occurs first in Gen. iv, 22, and afterward frequently; and
the Chaldee פרזל, in Dan. ii, 33, 41, and elsewhere often in that book;
σίδηρος, Rev. xviii, 12, and the adjectives, Acts xii, 10; Rev. ii, 27;
ix, 9; xii, 5; xix, 15; a well known and very serviceable metal. The
knowledge of working it was very ancient, as appears from Genesis iv,
22. We do not, however, find that Moses made use of iron in the fabric
of the tabernacle in the wilderness, or Solomon in any part of the
temple at Jerusalem. Yet, from the manner in which the Jewish legislator
speaks of iron, the metal, it appears, must have been in use in Egypt
before his time. He celebrates the great hardness of it, Lev. xxvi, 19;
Deut. xxviii, 23, 48; takes notice that the bedstead of Og, king of
Bashan, was of iron, Deut. iii, 11; he speaks of mines of iron, Deut.
viii, 9; and he compares the severity of the servitude of the Israelites
in Egypt to the heat of a furnace for melting iron, Deut. iv, 20. We
find, also, that swords, Num. xxxv, 16, axes, Deut. xix, 5, and tools
for cutting stones, Deut. xxvii, 5, were made of iron. By the “northern
iron,” Jer. xv, 12, we may probably understand the hardened iron, called
in Greek χάλυψ, from the Chalybes, a people bordering on the Euxine sea,
and consequently lying on the north of Judea, by whom the art of
tempering steel is said to have been discovered. Strabo speaks of this
people by the name of Chalybes, but afterward Chaldæi; and mentions
their iron mines. These, however, were a different people from the
Chaldeans, who were united with the Babylonians.
the Chaldee פרזל, in Dan. ii, 33, 41, and elsewhere often in that book;
σίδηρος, Rev. xviii, 12, and the adjectives, Acts xii, 10; Rev. ii, 27;
ix, 9; xii, 5; xix, 15; a well known and very serviceable metal. The
knowledge of working it was very ancient, as appears from Genesis iv,
22. We do not, however, find that Moses made use of iron in the fabric
of the tabernacle in the wilderness, or Solomon in any part of the
temple at Jerusalem. Yet, from the manner in which the Jewish legislator
speaks of iron, the metal, it appears, must have been in use in Egypt
before his time. He celebrates the great hardness of it, Lev. xxvi, 19;
Deut. xxviii, 23, 48; takes notice that the bedstead of Og, king of
Bashan, was of iron, Deut. iii, 11; he speaks of mines of iron, Deut.
viii, 9; and he compares the severity of the servitude of the Israelites
in Egypt to the heat of a furnace for melting iron, Deut. iv, 20. We
find, also, that swords, Num. xxxv, 16, axes, Deut. xix, 5, and tools
for cutting stones, Deut. xxvii, 5, were made of iron. By the “northern
iron,” Jer. xv, 12, we may probably understand the hardened iron, called
in Greek χάλυψ, from the Chalybes, a people bordering on the Euxine sea,
and consequently lying on the north of Judea, by whom the art of
tempering steel is said to have been discovered. Strabo speaks of this
people by the name of Chalybes, but afterward Chaldæi; and mentions
their iron mines. These, however, were a different people from the
Chaldeans, who were united with the Babylonians.