Part of Asher's allotted portion was hilly and rugged.

Common sandals, made of wood or leather, would not endure the wear and tear of the sharp, flinty rocks.

There was need, therefore, for some special kind of shoes.

Hence the form of the promise: "Thy shoes shall be iron." Even the Bible words which took the most vivid local coloring from the particular circumstances in which they were originally spoken, are yet as true for us as they were for those to whom they first came.

We have only to get disentangled from the local allusions the real heart of the meaning of the words, and we have an eternal promise which every child of God may claim.
Turning, then, this old-time assurance into a word for nineteenth-century pilgrims, we get from it some important suggestions.
For one thing it tells us that we may have some rugged pieces of road before we get to the end of our life-journey.