In several passages translated “steel,” the original term more properly refers to copper or bronze. The biblical text does not clearly establish the use of modern steel by the ancient Israelites.
Definition
Steel is a hardened form of iron, but the passages translated “steel” in the Authorized Version generally refer more accurately to copper or brass. Whether ancient Hebrews knew true steel is uncertain, though hardened iron and steel may have been known in neighboring lands.
Biblical Usage
The “bow of steel” in several Authorized Version passages is rendered “bow of brass” or, more accurately according to the supplied material, copper in revised translations. A difficult passage in Nahum may refer to steel or hardened iron rather than torches.
Historical Background
Brass in the modern sense of copper alloyed with zinc was not known to the ancients. Hardened iron was practiced in Pontus, Lydia, and Laconia, and steel weapons are reported among Egyptian remains associated with Rameses III.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
The “bow of steel” in (A.V.) 2 Sam. 22:35; Job 20:24; Ps. 18:34 is in the Revised Version “bow of brass” (Heb. kesheth-nehushah). In Jer. 15:12 the same word is used, and is also rendered in the Revised Version “brass.” But more correctly it is copper (q.v.), as brass in the ordinary sense of the word (an alloy of copper and zinc) was not known to the ancients.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
In all cases were the word “steel” occurs in the Authorized Version the true rendering of the Hebrew is “copper.” Whether the ancient Hebrews were acquainted with steel is not perfectly certain. It has been inferred from a passage in (Jeremiah 15:12) that the “iron from the north” there spoken of denoted a superior kind of metal, hardened in an unusual manner, like the steel obtained from the Chalybes of the Pontus, the iron smiths of the ancient world. The hardening of iron for cutting instruments was practiced in Pontus, Lydia and Laconia. There is, however, a word in hebrew, paldah, which occurs only in (Nahum 2:3) (4) and is there rendered “torches,” but which most probably denotes steel or hardened iron, and refers to the flashing scythes of the Assyrian chariots. Steel appears to have been known to the Egyptians. The steel weapons in the tomb of Rameses III., says Wilkinson, are painted blue, the bronze red.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>stel: the Revised Version (British and American) substitutes "brass" for "steel" in 2Sa 22:35; Job 20:24; Ps 18:34; Jer 15:12, and "steel" for "torches" in Na 2:3.</p><p>See BRASS.</p>
