Tubal-Cain is the first-mentioned smith, 'a forger of every instrument of iron' (). 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 inventions); as iron weapons or instruments (; ); barbed irons, used in hunting (); an iron bedstead (); chariots of iron (, and elsewhere); iron weights (shekels, ); harrows of iron (); iron armor (); tools (; ); horns (); nails, hinges (); fetters (); bars (); iron bars used in fortifying the gates of towns (; ); a pen of iron (; ); a pillar (); yokes (); pan (); trees bound with iron (); gods of iron (); threshing-instruments (); and in later times, an iron gate (); the actual cautery (); breastplates ().
The mineral origin of iron seems clearly alluded to in . It would seem that in ancient times it was a plentiful production of Palestine (). There appear to have been furnaces for smelting at an early period in Egypt (). The requirement that the altar should be made of 'whole stones over which no man had lift up any iron,' recorded in , 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 building of the temple (), to the amount of one hundred thousand talents (), or rather 'without weight' (). Working in iron was considered a calling () [SMITH]. Iron seems to have been better from some countries, or to have undergone some hardening preparation by the inhabitants of them, such as were the people called Chalybes, living near the Euxine Sea (); to have been imported from Tarshish to Tyre (), and 'bright iron' from Dan and Javan (). The superior hardness of iron above all other substances is alluded to in . It was found among the Midianites (), and was part of the wealth distributed among the tribes at their location in the land ().
Iron is metaphorically alluded to in the following instances:—affliction is signified by the furnace for smelting it (); under the same figure, chastisement(;; ); reducing the earth to total barrenness by turning it into iron (); slavery, by a yoke of iron (); strength, by a bar of it (); the extreme of hardness (); severity of government, by a rod of iron (); affliction, by iron fetters (); prosperity, by giving silver for iron (); political strength (); obstinacy, by an iron sinew in the neck (); giving supernatural fortitude to a prophet, making him an iron pillar (); destructive power of empires, by iron teeth (); deterioration of character, by becoming iron (; ), which resembles the idea of the iron age; a tiresome burden, by a mass of iron (); the greatest obstacles, by walls of iron (); the certainty with which a real enemy will ever show his hatred, by the rust returning upon iron (). Iron seems used, as by the Greek poets, metonymically for the sword (). The following is selected as a beautiful comparison made to iron (): '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 .
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John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.
From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself.
One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.
A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.
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