Research

The book of Genesis states that iron working existed in the prediluvian period (4:22). This statement has to be accepted in faith by the believer, as in all likelihood we shall never obtain archeological evidence of the level of culture existing before the Flood, which destroyed every human work so completely that no hope of any recovery can be maintained.

Other statements made in the Pentateuch regarding iron have been used frequently, either as evidence for a late date of the books concerned and the events described, or as proof that the passages mentioning iron have been inserted by later editors.

Radical statements on this subject made by critics in the nineteenth century have long been refuted on the basis of archeological evidence, and do not need to be quoted. Nevertheless, few modern scholars would admit that iron was in common use in the time of Moses and Joshua, as their writings imply, if these men lived before the thirteenth century B.C.

The books of Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, and Judges contain numerous references to the existence of all kinds of iron implements in the time of the sojourn of Israel in the Sinai deserts and during their early history in Palestine. Moses spoke of iron to be found in the conquered cities of Canaan (Num. 31:22), mentioned an iron bedstead of the king of Bashan (Deut. 3:11), and forbade the use of iron tools in the construction of an altar for the Lord (Deut. 27:5). Joshua reports that iron was among the spoils of Jericho (Joshua 6:24), and that the Canaanites possessed chariots of iron (Joshua 17:16, 18). The king of Hazor could muster nine hundred of these iron chariots a few years later in the early time of the Judges (Judges 4:3, 13), but was nevertheless defeated by the Israelites, who did not have similar machines of war.

Statements of this kind, of which only a few samples have been mentioned here, are taken as proof that either these Biblical books are late, projecting later existing conditions into earlier times, or that the events described happened later than is usually assumed.

The late Sir Flinders Petrie, famous father of scientific archeology, mentions iron as one of his proofs for a late date of the Exodus:

"The frequent references to iron being used in the time of Joshua, especially the 900 iron chariots at Hazor, are impossible before 1400 B.C., when iron never appears; not till 1350 was iron in use even £or special purposes, and it was not common till 1200 B.C. or rather later. This is compatible with the entry into Palestine at 1180 B.C." 1

And an authority such as Professor W. F. Albright of Johns Hopkins University uses the references to iron in the book of Deuteronomy to show that this book could not have been written before the ninth century B.C.:

"Iron is mentioned a number of times (the best cases are 8:9; 27:5; 33:25). In 8:9, moreover, there is evidently a reference to the iron mines of Lebanon, just as the allusion to copper implies knowledge of the copper mines of Edom. These iron mines cannot have been worked before the tenth century, at the earliest, since the Philistines could not have maintained their monopoly down to the time o£ Saul i£ iron had been conveniently accessible in a region outside of their control. ... It is not our purpose to enter into the vexed problem of the unity of composite origin of the book; in our judgment it was written down, substantially as a unit, in the ninth century B.C., and was edited in the reign of Josiah or later." 2

With views like these two, we fundamentalists take exception. Without entering into the problems involved in fixing the date of the Exodus, we dare say that the Exodus cannot have taken place later than the fifteenth century B.C. with out doing violence to clear-cut Bible statements. Furthermore, we Seventh-day Adventists, in agreement with many other fundamentalists, are not ready to divorce the book of Deuteronomy from the other writings of Moses and assign to it a late date of origin. The more so, since the inspired pen of Ellen G. White, agreeing with ancient tradition, recognizes Moses as the author of the book of Deuteronomy.3

This calls upon us to defend our position and find evidence for a successful defeat of the arguments brought up in favor of a late date of the Exodus or a late origin of Deuteronomy and other early books. This article limits itself to an attack against the argument that the refer ences to iron in the early books of the Bible are proofs of a late date. Of all the material collected by the writer in the course of years, only those objects are mentioned whose dates are established with a high degree of certainty and about whose provenience no doubts exist. The occurrence of iron in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and Syria-Palestine in the third and second millenniums B.C. will be traced in order to show that iron was in use during all historical periods.

Iron is more difficult to produce than copper or other metals with which the ancient world was familiar, a fact which probably accounts for a more limited use of iron in the earlier periods of this world's history than that of cop per and bronze or even of gold and silver. Furthermore, iron has only a short lifetime and oxidizes quickly, leaving not much more than a slight reddish discoloration of the surrounding material. This may be the reason that iron has not been found in many excavations. Nevertheless, the witnesses for a very early use of iron have been numerically increasing in recent years, making it possible to say with confidence that its production and use must have been known from the very earliest periods of the history of the ancient world.

Some of the earliest examples of iron products found are made of meteoric iron, recognizable from the contents of nickel, varying in proportion from about five to eight per cent. Since terrestrial iron and iron ore rarely contain nickel, and when present, only in very small amounts, the content of nickel in ancient iron products points to meteors as the source of the raw material.4 Its meteoric early origin is also implied by the Egyptian name for iron, bi3 pt (metal of heaven), and the cuneiform ideogram containing the sign for, heaven or divinity.

Iron in Ancient Egypt

The earliest iron products of ancient Egypt were found at prehistoric sites. Petrie discovered some iron beads of specular iron in predynastic tombs at Nagada.8 These beads have not been analyzed to the knowledge of the present writer; hence, it is uncertain whether they are made of terrestrial or meteoric iron. Wainwright found 9 beads of meteoric iron (7.5 per cent nickel) in two predynastic graves at Gerzeh strung together with beads of gold, carnelian, and agate.6 From the Great Pyramid of Cheops comes the fragment of an iron blade, now in the British Museum, which I. R. Hill found by opening one of the air channels. Although the statements of the discoverer and others who were on the spot at that time are very definite as to its origin,7 it has been doubted by some scholars that the blade, which proved to be made of terrestrial iron, really originates from the Fourth Dynasty 8 (2723-2563 B.C.).9 This doubt can be dismissed since the late Professor G. A. Reisner found a flint wand in the Mycerinus Valley Temple with an iron substance on it that proved by a spectroanalytic examination to be terrestrial. The wand bears the name of Cheops, the builder of the Great Pyramid, and shows that terrestrial iron was known at that early time.10

From the Sixth Dynasty comes a lump of terrestrial iron found by Petrie with other tools at Abydos,11 and from the Eleventh Dynasty an amulet made of meteoric iron (10 per cent nickel) and silver.12 This closes our list of iron: discoveries from Egypt coming from the third millennium B.C.

The middle of the second millennium B.C. saw the powerful Eighteenth Dynasty on the throne. The Annals of Thutmose III carved on the temple walls at Karnak mention among the tribute of the chief of Tinay, among other objects, one of iron, which is depicted as a vessel in the form of the aramp; A-sign with a lotus lid.14 John Garstang found an iron pin in an Eighteenth Dynasty deposit at Abydos," and Howard Carter discovered among the wealth of the famous tomb of Tutankhamen a beautiful dagger with an iron blade, two iron amulets, sixteen iron model chisels, and a headrest of solid iron.15

From that time on there is a gradual increase of iron objects found in Egypt until iron be came very common during the first millennium B.C.