Iron and Copper

(19) and I will break your proud glory. I will make your skies like iron and your earth like copper,

(23) The skies above your head shall be copper and the earth under you iron.

I will make your heavens like iron and your land like copper. Moshe said the opposite (Devarim 28:23): “And the heavens above your head will be like copper and the earth that is beneath you, iron.” This is because most commentaries agree that this entire rebuke corresponds to the Destruction of the First Temple, and that of Parshas Ki Savo corresponds to the Destruction of the Second Temple. It is known that iron is harder than copper. In the First Temple period, their main sin was towards Heaven, through the worship of the stars and the constellations, as it says (Yirmiyahu 44:18), “But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven.” Therefore, the heavens were as hard as iron, as it says (Iyov 20:27), “The heavens shall reveal his iniquity and the earth shall rise up against him.” During the Second Temple period, however, they did not worship idolatry. Their main evil was in the earth through baseless hatred and disputes among themselves, and the earth was destroyed as in the generation of the flood. Therefore, the earth was harder [like iron] than the heavens [like copper].

ונתתי את שמיכם כברזל ואת ארצכם כנחשה AND I WILL MAKE YOUR HEAVEN AS IRON AND YOUR EARTH AS COPPER — This threat is even severer than that of Moses, because there it says, (Deuteronomy 28:23) “And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be copper, [and the earth that is under thee shall be iron]” which implies that the heaven will at least exude moisture (will give some humidity) just as the copper exudes moisture, whilst the earth will not exude just as iron does not exude, and so it will keep its fruit in good condition, since it will not be too humid. Here, however, Scripture threatens that the heaven will not exude moisture, just as iron does not exude, and there will therefore be draught in the world, whilst the earth will exude (be too humid) just as copper sweats, and it will consequently make its fruits perish (Sifra, Bechukotai, Chapter 5 3).

I will break the pride of your power, I will destroy the Temple. 10 This expression can also be interpreted as referring to the shattering of Israel’s sense of power and strength. Such a feeling might be due to various causes, including years of famine and hunger, as indicated by the continuation: And I will render your sky like iron, which does not drip, and your earth like bronze, from which nothing grows.

(9) a land where you may eat food without stint, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you can mine copper.

Moses singles out two examples of the earth's natural wealth which the land of Israel is blessed with, i.e. iron and copper. The reason Moses singles out these two examples is because they are basic to everybody's needs. After this (verse 10) Moses mentions that people would eat and be satisfied, etc. The reason Moses had to mention this cardinal fact was that the perfection of the land does not merely consist of its fruit, its harvests, but the land must also provide basic materials to enable its people to build their shelters and to generally provide the possibility of life in the city. Many successful farmers in various countries who employ outside labour, etc., nonetheless are forced to sell all their produce in order to acquire building materials, clothing and tools. To teach us that the land of Israel would not lack natural resources Moses adds the words לא תחסר כל בה, that nothing essential would be scarce in this land after he had described the seven most valuable foods and fruit the land would produce.

ארץ אשר לא במסכנות תאכל בה לחם, “a land where you will not eat bread in poverty.” A land in which all the good things of earth can be found such as the land of Egypt which the Torah compared to “a garden of the Lord,” nonetheless lacks certain ingredients found elsewhere so that people eat bread in such a land of plenty in poverty, not enjoying the affluence around them. This is why the Torah praises the Holy Land by comparison to the land of Egypt seeing it offers the same advantages without the accompanying drawbacks. None of the food products found anywhere in the world are not also available in the land of Israel. There are, however, agricultural products which are exclusive to the land of Israel and cannot be grown successfully elsewhere. This is the meaning of the words לא תחסר כל בה, “nothing is lacking in it (the land of Israel).” It is possible that the expression: “you will not eat bread in poverty in that land,” refers to something spiritual, i.e. that the word לחם, “bread,” does not refer to physical food. This would not be the first time that Torah has been compared to לחם. Compare Proverbs 9,5 where Solomon, quoting the Torah called “Wisdom,” says: “come eat my bread”. Seeing that it is impossible to acquire Torah and wisdom in the full sense of the word without proper preparation designed to facilitate its study, Moses may indicate here that the ideal such preparation is residence in the land of Israel, which possesses the physical conditions such as ideal climate to enable people to study Torah successfully. Scholars studying Torah in that land do not suffer from the handicaps which scholars in other countries suffer from. Those scholars belong to the category of people known as eating לחם העצבים, “the bread of troubles” (Psalms 127,2), in contrast to the people in Israel. The true wealth of the people in Israel is the quality of their Torah knowledge which was acquired with the help of the superior climate and therefore food produced in the Land of Israel. This is why Moses underlines this thought by adding לא תחסר כל בה, “nothing is lacking in that land.” The blessing is anchored in the word בכל; compare Genesis 24,1 “and the Lord had blessed Avraham בכל.” The reason Moses adds that the stones of the Land of Israel yield iron, is to tell us that in places where one expects to encounter only stone one will be surprised to find iron. A similar surprise awaits those who see nothing more than high piles of rock in the mountains of that land. These mountains are filled with copper. Seeing that copper and iron are used as raw materials for most of man’s utensils, a land which yields such raw material can aptly be described as “lacking nothing.” A people who have to import all these raw materials are at a serious disadvantage, aware of real shortcomings in their land. If the earth of a land does not yield silver or gold this is at best considered a minor shortcoming. Moses praised the availability of those ores which are needed daily in people’s lives. Moses includes this kind of blessing once more at the end of the last portion of Deuteronomy when he praises the soil of Asher’s section of Eretz Yisrael (33,25).
Our sages in Taanit 4 take a Midrashic approach to the words ארץ אשר אבניה ברזל by suggesting that instead of reading אבניה, “its stones,” we might read this as בוניה, “its builders,” i.e. the Torah scholars are possessed of a faith as strong as iron.

אשר אבניה ברזל, “whose stones yield iron, etc.” The place you choose to look for stones will surprise you by harbouring iron. According to the Jerusalem Targum, the meaning is that the stones in the Land of Israel will prove to be as strong as iron. In other words, the land is full of quarries from which valuable building stones can be hewn. These stones will be useful in the construction of walls and fortifications. The reason why Moses did not praise the land for the silver and gold one might find there, is that the stones he mentioned would prove more useful than the silver and gold, which are only luxuries, not necessities.

Rabbi Abba said to Rav Ashi: You learned the proof for this idea from that verse there; we learned it from here, as it is written: “A land whose stones [avaneha] are iron” (Deuteronomy 8:9). Do not read this phrase as “whose stones [avaneha],” rather, read it as whose builders [boneha], since Torah scholars build the land spiritually and are as tough as iron. With regard to these statements praising the toughness of a Torah scholar, Ravina said: And even so, one is required to teach himself to act gently, as it is stated: “And remove anger from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh” (Ecclesiastes 11:10).