The yoke of Iron

Deuteronomy 28:48 - "Therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you."

In the days of Moses the Lord prophesied about their bondage, the yoke standing for a burden, a weight, slavery. This business of 'yoke of iron' is distinctive because you only see it one other place in the Bible:

Jeremiah 28:14 - "For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put upon the neck of all these nations an iron yoke to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they shall serve him, for I have given to him even the beasts of the field.'"

It's also something that ought to be kept in mind when we come to the NT:

"Take My yoke upon you, for My yoke is easy, and My burden is light."