I was with Margaret Barker in Washington, DC for the commemoration at the Library of Congress of the bicentennial of the birth of Joseph Smith. The night before she was going to give her talk, she was rereading 1 Nephi 8, and when she noticed the reference there to "an iron rod," she thought of the Septuagint Greek translation of Psalm 2:9. The King James Version of Psalm 2:9, following the Hebrew, states that the king will beat or break his people with a rod of iron. But, one might well wonder, is this really what a good king would do to his people? Maybe, if he wanted to punish or reprimand them. But in this instance, the ancient Greek version of Psalm 2:9 reads, "He will lead his people with a rod of iron." In the revelation given to Lehi, it is the iron rod that will lead us to the Tree of Life, which symbolizes the begotten Son, the King, and the Anointed One, mentioned in Psalm 2:2, 7. Indeed, for Lehi, the rod leads us to Him.
It is good that the narrow path has a rod of iron that can lead us, step by step, in the right direction. Along the way, we get rewards—we receive benefits. As you’re holding onto the rod, with the mist of darkness and the confusion all around, you can feel the stability of the rod. That’s a reward that helps you know that you are still on the right path. That kind of reinforcement applies not only to first-time investigators, but it still applies in my life and I assume it does so in yours as well.
Book of Mormon Central, "How Are Rod and Sword Connected to the Word of God? (1 Nephi 11:25)," KnoWhy 427 (April 24, 2018).
"In Nephi’s vision, the iron rod seems to function much like a shepherd’s staff—leading people to the Tree of Life just as a shepherd would use a ‘rod’ (Psalm 23:4) to lead his sheep to ‘green pastures’ and ‘still waters’ (v. 2). However, Nephi later quoted Isaiah’s prophecy that the Lord ‘shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked’ (2 Nephi 30:9; cf. Isaiah 11:4). Thus, the rod is used both as a symbol of loving guidance and of divine punishment in the Book of Mormon."
Harold B. Lee, "The Iron Rod," Ensign, June 1971, online at churchofjesuschrist.org.
"If there is any one thing most needed in this time of tumult and frustration, when men and women and youth and young adults are desperately seeking for answers to the problems which afflict mankind, it is an ‘iron rod’ as a safe guide along the straight path on the way to eternal life, amidst the strange and devious roadways that would eventually lead to destruction and to the ruin of all that is ‘virtuous, lovely, or of good report.’"