IR-NAHASH (ir-na'h'ash), (Heb. eer naw-khawsh', city of the serpent), a city of Judah which some supposed to have been named from the abundance of serpents in its neighborhood, but more probably from a person named Nahash, or from an image of the animal worshiped here (1 Chron. ivn 2). It has been identified by Schwarz and Van de Velde with Deir-Nakhaz, east of Belt Jibrin.
IRON (i'ron). 1. (Heb. yir-ohn', place of alarm), a city of Naphtali (Josh. xix:38), probably identical with Zarun (Saulcy, A'arrat. 382; Robinson, Research., iii:6t, 62, notes).
2. (Heb.1:'.1..?; bar-zele'), a well-known and serv iceable metal.
Much stress has been laid upon the absence of iron among the most ancient remains of Egypt; but the speedy decomposition of this metal, espe cially when buried in the nitrous soil of Egypt, may account for the absence of it among the remains of the early 'monarchs of a Pharaonic age (Wilkinson's Ancient Egypt, iii:246).
(1) Early Mention. Tubal-Cain is the first mentioned smith, 'a forger of every instrument of iron' (Gen. iv :22). From that time we meet with manufactures in iron of the utmost variety (some articles of which seem to be anticipations of what are commonly supposed to be modern in ventions) as iron weapons or instruments (Num. xxxv:16; Job xx:24); barbed iron, used in hunting (Job xli:7); an iron bedstead (Deut. iii:11); chariots of iron (Josh. xvii:16, and elsewhere); iron weights (shekels) (t Sam. xvii:7); harrows of ..iron (2 Sam. xii:30; iron armor (2 Sam. xxiii:7); tools (1 Kings vi:7; 2 Kings vi:6); horns (1 Kings xxii:11); nails, hinges (1 Chron. xxii:3); fetters (Ps. cv:t8); bars (Ps. evii:16); iron bars used in fortifying the gates of towns (Ps. cvii:16; Is. xlv:2); a fien of iron (Job xix: 24; Jer. xvii:1), a pillar (Jer. i:18); yokes (Jer. xxviii:13; pan (Ezek. iv:3); trees bound with iron (Dan. iv:t5); gods of iron (Dan. v:4); threshing instruments (Amos i:3); and in later times, an iron gate (Acts xii:to); the actual cautery (I Tim. iv:2); breastplates (Rev. ix:9).
(2) Plentiful in Palestine. The mineral origin of iron seems clearly alluded to in Job xxviii :2. It would seem that in ancient times it was a plentiful production of Palestine (Deut. viii :9). There appear to have been furnaces for smelting at an early period in Egypt (Deut. iv: 2o). The requirement that the altar should be made of 'whole stones over which no man had lift up any iron,' reCorded in Josh. viii :3t, does not imply any objection to iron as such, but seems to be merely a mode of directing that, in order to prevent idolatry, the stones must not undergo any preparation by art. Iron was
prepared in abundance by David for the build ing of the temple (1 Chron. xxii :3), to the amount of one hundred thousand talents (t Chron. xxix :7), or rather 'without weight' (t Chron. xxii :14). Working in iron was consid ered a calling (2 Citron. ii :7). (See SMITH.) Iron seems to have been better from some coun tries, or to have undergone some hardening prgv aration by the inhabitants of them, such as were the people called Chalybes, living near the Euxine Sea (Jer. xv :12) ; to have been imported from Tarshish to Tyre (Ezek. xxvii :12), and 'bright iron' from Dan and Javan (ver. 19). The su perior hardness of iron above all other substances is alluded to in Dan. ii :4o. It was found among the Midianites (Num. xxxi :22), and was part of the wealth distributed among the tribes at their location in the land (Josh. xxii :8).
Figurative. Iron is metafthorically alluded to in the following instances : Affliction is signi fied by the furnace for smelting it (Deut. iv:2o). Under the same figure, chastisement (Ezek. xxii :18, 20, 22). Reducing the earth to total barrenness by turning it into iron (Deut. xxviii : 23). Slavery, by a yoke of iron (Deut. xxviii : 48). Strength, by a bar of it (Job x1:18) ; the extreme of hardness (Job xli :27) ; severity of government, by a rod of iron (Ps. ii :9) ; afflic tion, by iron fetters (Ps. cvii :to) ; prosperity, by giving silver for iron (Is. lx :17) ; political strength (Dan. ii :33) ; obstinacy, by an iron sinew in the neck (Is. xlviii :4) ; giving super natural fortitude to a prophet, making him an iron pillar (Jer. i :18) ; destructive power of empires, by iron teeth (Dan. vii :7) ; deteriora tion of character, by becoming iron (Jer. vi :28 ; Ezek. xxii :18), which resembles the idea of the iron age ; a tiresome burden, by a mass of iron (Ecclus. xxii :15) ; the greatest obstacles, by walls of iron (2 Macc. xi :9) ; the certainty with which a real enemy will ever show his hatred, by the rust returning upon iron (Ecclus. xii :to). Iron seems used, as by the Greek poets, metonymically for the sword (Is. x :34), and so the Sept. under stands it, pcixaya. Tbe following is selected as a beautiful comparison made to iron (Prov. xxvii :17). 'Iron (literally) uniteth iron ; so a man uniteth the countenance of his friend,' gives stability to his appearance by his presence. A most graphic description of a smith at work is found in Ecclus. xxxviii :28. J. F. D.