The land is not only rich in water and food but also rich in minerals. Let us read:
Deuteronomy 8:9: A land whose stones are iron, and from whose mountains you can mine copper.
Please notice here that the iron is put together with the stones, and the copper, with the hills. This means that the iron has something to do with the stones, and the copper has something to do with the hills or the mountains.
Genesis 4:22: The forger of every cutting instrument of bronze and iron.
Bronze and copper are words used interchangeably for the same material in the Old Testament. Here the bronze and the iron are related to cutting instruments.
Deuteronomy 33:25: Your doorbolts shall be iron and copper; / And as your days are, so shall your strength be.
Here the bronze and the iron are related to the doorbolts of the gates and also to strength. The footnote in the American Standard Version gives “rest” or “security” for the word strength in this verse. Really the word security is better. As your days are, so shall your security be. Iron and bronze, therefore, are here related to our security. If you have strength, you have security, and if you have security, you have rest.
Jeremiah 15:12: Can one break iron, / Iron from the north, or bronze?
This verse shows the strength of iron and bronze. It means that no one can break iron and bronze.
1 Samuel 17:5-7: There was a bronze helmet upon his head; and he was clothed with scaled armor, and the weight of the armor was five thousand bronze shekels. And he had bronze greaves upon his legs and a bronze javelin slung between his shoulders. And the shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the head of his spear weighed six hundred iron shekels.
This giant warrior was covered from head to feet with bronze, and his weapon was made of iron. He himself was covered with bronze, and the weapon with which he fought the battle was of iron.
Revelation 1:15: His feet were like shining bronze, as having been fired in a furnace.
Psalm 2:9: You will break them with an iron rod; / You will shatter them like a potter’s vessel.
In Revelation 1 the bronze is related to the feet of the overcoming and judging Christ: His feet were like burnished bronze. And in the second Psalm the iron is related to the rod with which the Lord will rule the nations.
Matthew 5:14: You are the light of the world. It is impossible for a city situated upon a mountain to be hidden.
Psalm 2:6: I have installed My King / Upon Zion, My holy mountain.
In Matthew 5 the city is related to the hill, and in the second Psalm the hill of Zion is related to the anointed One.
1 Peter 2:4-5: Coming to Him, a living stone, rejected by men but with God chosen and precious, you yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Here we are told that the Lord is a living stone and that we too are living stones. All these living stones are for the building of a spiritual house for God.
Ezekiel 37:22: I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel, and one king will be king to all of them.
In this verse we see that the nation and the king are related to the mountain. The Lord said that He would make them a nation not only in the land but also on the mountains of Israel, the mountains of the land.
Psalm 87:1: His foundation is in the holy mountains.
Here the foundation of the building is related to the mountains.
Psalm 48:1-2: Great is Jehovah, / And much to be praised / In the city of our God, / In His holy mountain. / Beautiful in elevation, / The joy of the whole earth, / Is Mount Zion, the sides of the north, / The city of the great King.
We must notice here that the city of God is related to the holy mountain, and the city of the great King is related to Mount Zion.
There is much spiritual significance in all these relationships. There are four items altogether: stones, hills or mountains, iron, and copper. The stones are for the building, and the hills or the mountains are for the city which is the center of the nation, the center of the kingdom. The iron and copper are the materials for the weapons.