Fire and Metals
"But the gold and the silver, the copper, the iron, the tin and the lead, everything that comes by fire...you shall pass it through fire and it will be purified " (Numbers 31:22-23) .
The six metals listed above have been known since antiquity and are mentioned in the Torah. Gold, silver, and copper were used for building the Mishkan, the movable sanctuary. Iron--even iron tools--was banned from this holy work. The reason was that iron makes the strongest weapons and thus brings death. Iron also makes the strongest plows and other tools vital for everyday life. But smelting and forging iron were specialized skills, and access to ironwork meant much more than military power. Imagine--Og, King of Bashan, had a bedstead made of iron! (Deuteronomy 3:11)
The Golden Menorah
Moses was a spiritual genius. He spoke with G-d face-to-face. He recorded G-d’s words in a timeless document, the Torah. The Divine Presence spoke through his mouth. Yet when G-d gave him the details for building a menorah—a candlestick of seven lamps—Moses, according to a Midrash, did not understand how to proceed. G-d’s instructions were [...]
The “Iron Furnace”
But you the L-rd took and brought forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be to Him a people of inheritance, as you are this day. (Deuteronomy 4:20) These words were spoken by Moses to the tribes of Israel as they stood on the verge of entering the Promised Land. The iron [...]