Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 15:12

"Can one break iron, even iron from the north, and brass?" — Jeremiah 15:12 (ASV)

Shall iron break ... ? The abruptness of the question and the boldness of the imagery make the interpretation difficult. The interpretation that best harmonizes with the context (assuming this verse is intended to carry on the thought of Jeremiah 15:1-9, after the interruption, possibly the interpolation, of Jeremiah 15:10-11) is that the prayer of the prophet, strong though it may be, cannot change the inflexible purpose of Jehovah to chastise His people’s sins. Some have, however, taken the words as declaring:

1. the powerlessness of Judah to resist the titanic strength of the Chaldaeans,
2. or the impotence of the prophet’s enemies to deter him from his work,
3. or the prophet’s lack of power against the obdurate evil of the people,
4. or the weakness of Pharaoh-nechoh as compared with Nebuchadnezzar.

Of these, interpretation (3) shows some plausibility from Jeremiah 1:18; Jeremiah 15:20, but it does not harmonize as well with what precedes and follows. The “northern iron” is probably that of the Chalybes of Pontus, mentioned as the “artificers in iron” by Aeschylus (Prometheus Bound, 733), as the coast of the Euxine is called by him the land which is “the mother of iron” (Ibid., 309), famous for being harder than all others. For “steel” we should read bronze. The word is commonly translated “brass,” but that compound, in its modern sense, was unknown to the metallurgy of Israel.