Iron 

The ancient city of Iron was located in the Galilee panhandle, the eastern part of Israel, and adjacent to the Lebanese border.

The city holds archeological importance due to the discovery of flint tool artifacts, which are the oldest stone tools found outside of Africa. The oldest evidence of early humans, dating back 1.5 million years, was excavated in Ubeidiya near the Sea of Galilee.

Iron is mentioned in the Old Testament, in Joshua 19:38, as one of the cities given by the tribe of Naphtali to their children as an inheritance. Some translations spell Iron as Jiron or Yiron.

The city of Iron was the site of extensive mineral mines, and iron became the metal of choice to produce tools and weapons, replacing bronze.

Jesus visited the city of Iron as part of his first public preaching tour of Galilee. During this tour of eleven cities over two months, Iron was visited near the middle point of the tour. He did not wait for the people to gather and then preach. Instead, he went to work as a miner to be close to them, experience what they were experiencing, and uplift them with his personal approach and sublime teachings.

Late one afternoon in Iron, Jesus encountered a man with leprosy. Having heard of Jesus' healing reputation, the man pleaded for a cure to enter the coming kingdom, as his condition barred him from public worship. Moved by compassion, Jesus healed him instantly with a touch, instructing him to quietly show himself to the priest and follow Moses' cleansing rituals without publicizing the miracle. However, the man disregarded Jesus' instructions and enthusiastically shared his cure with the town, making Jesus so sought after by the sick that he had to leave the village early the next morning.

Jesus stayed nearby for two more days, teaching the gospel to the miners. This event marked the first deliberate miracle performed by Jesus, involving a genuine case of leprosy.

A series of villages were established along the Lebanese border in 1940, and one was named Yir’on after the ancient biblical city of Iron. It is commonly identified with Yaroun, a Lebanese village 3 kilometers to the west. Yir’on is 26 miles north of Capernaum, which is just above the Sea of Galilee. It has a population of around four hundred.

The city is largely agriculture-based, including wine-making. Key industries are Paskal Technologies producing trellis accessories and providing modern agricultural solutions for greenhouses, Paskal Zippers, a zipper factory, and Rehitay Yir'on, specializing in ready-to-assemble furniture. In the area grows a 200-year-old hackberry tree, which is considered holy in Islamic tradition.