Brass and iron as in Isaiah 48:4 and Daniel 7:19 signify what is hard.

In Genesis 4:22, brass signifies natural good. (Arcana Coelestia 421)

In Numbers 21:9, this signifies the Lord's divine natural. (Apocalypse Revealed 49)

Brass also signifies the good in man's natural and the sensuous in the Lord. (Arcana Coelestia 197, Apocalypse Revealed 49, Apocalypse Explained 705)

(Odkazy: Apocalypse Explained 70)

3168. 'And they ate and drank' means making one's own the good and truth introduced in this way. This is clear from the meaning of 'eating' as being communicated and joined together, thus being made one's own, dealt with in 2187, 2343, and more specifically (since 'eating' has reference to bread and 'bread' means good, 276, 680, 2165, 2177, 2187) making good one's own; and from the meaning of 'drinking' as being communicated and joined together, thus being made one's own, dealt with in 3089, and more specifically (since 'drinking' has reference to wine and 'wine' means truth, 1071, 1798) making truth one's own. The situation is as stated above in 3167, namely that when truth is introduced into good in the rational, more so when it is joined to it, the good and truth of the spiritual man, that is, spiritual things, become made over to the natural as its own.