Reference: Coal
American
Usually in Scripture, charcoal, or the embers of fire. Mineral coal is now procured in mount Lebanon, eight hours from Beirut; but we have no certainty that it was known and used by the Jews. The following passages are those which most strongly suggest this substance, 2Sa 22:9,13; Job 41:21.
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There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled.
His breath kindleth coals, and a flame issueth from his mouth.
Easton
It is by no means certain that the Hebrews were acquainted with mineral coal, although it is found in Syria. Their common fuel was dried dung of animals and wood charcoal. Two different words are found in Hebrew to denote coal, both occurring in Pr 26:21, "As coal [Heb. peham; i.e., "black coal"] is to burning coal [Heb. gehalim]." The latter of these words is used in Job 41:21; Pr 6:28; Isa 44:19. The words "live coal" in Isa 6:6 are more correctly "glowing stone." In La 4:8 the expression "blacker than a coal" is literally rendered in the margin of the Revised Version "darker than blackness." "Coals of fire" (2Sa 22:9,13; Ps 18:8,12-13, etc.) is an expression used metaphorically for lightnings proceeding from God. A false tongue is compared to "coals of juniper" (Ps 120:4; Jas 3:6). "Heaping coals of fire on the head" symbolizes overcoming evil with good. The words of Paul (Ro 12:20) are equivalent to saying, "By charity and kindness thou shalt soften down his enmity as surely as heaping coals on the fire fuses the metal in the crucible."
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There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled.
His breath kindleth coals, and a flame issueth from his mouth.
There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire. The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.
As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife.
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; I have also baked bread upon its coals; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue of it an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?
Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.
Therefore if thy enemy hungereth, feed him; if he thirsteth, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire from hell.
Fausets
pecham, "a black coal," and gachelath, "burning coals." Pr 26:21; "as coals (fuel) are to burning coals," etc.; so we speak of quarrelsome men "adding fuel to the flame." "Coals of fire" in 2Sa 22:9,13, represent the lightning of God's wrath. In Pr 25:22, "heap coals of fire upon thine enemy's head" (Ro 12:20), the meaning is, melt him into burning shame at his own unworthy hatred, and love for thee who hast overcome his evil with thy good. Either he shall be like metals melted by fire or like clay hardened by it. In Ps 120:4 "coals of juniper" rather burning brands of broom, retamim. The Arabs regard the retem (broom) the best firewood.
As their slanders burnt like coals on fire, so, by righteous retribution in kind, God will give them hot coals. Ps 140:10; 18:12-13; compare the same image of the tongue, Jas 3:6. In 2Sa 14:7 "they shall quench my coal that is left," i.e., extinguish the only surviving light of my home, my only son. In Isa 6:6 and 1Ki 19:6 the "coals" are in the Hebrew (rezeph) hot stones, on which cakes were baked and flesh cooked. In Hab 3:5 (resheph) "burning coals" poetically and figuratively express "burning diseases," as the parallel "pestilence" shows; also compare De 32:24; Ps 91:6. In La 4:8 translate as margin darker than blackness." Mineral coal protrudes through the strata to the surface of parts of Lebanon, at Cornale, eight miles from Beirut, the coal seams are three feet thick; but it seems not to have been anciently known as fuel. Charcoal is what is meant by "coal."
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They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.
They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.
And behold, the whole family hath risen against thy handmaid, and they said, Deliver him that smote his brother, that we may kill him, for the life of his brother whom he slew; and we will destroy the heir also: and so they will quench my coal which is left, and will not leave to my husband neither name nor remainder upon the earth.
And behold, the whole family hath risen against thy handmaid, and they said, Deliver him that smote his brother, that we may kill him, for the life of his brother whom he slew; and we will destroy the heir also: and so they will quench my coal which is left, and will not leave to my husband neither name nor remainder upon the earth.
There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled.
Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled.
And he looked, and behold, there was a cake baked on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he ate and drank, and laid himself down again.
And he looked, and behold, there was a cake baked on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he ate and drank, and laid himself down again.
At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.
At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire. The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noon-day.
Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noon-day.
Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.
Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.
Let burning coals fall upon them: let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits, that they rise not again.
Let burning coals fall upon them: let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits, that they rise not again.
For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD will reward thee.
For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD will reward thee.
As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife.
As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife.
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.
Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.
Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.
Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.
Therefore if thy enemy hungereth, feed him; if he thirsteth, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
Therefore if thy enemy hungereth, feed him; if he thirsteth, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire from hell.
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire from hell.
Hastings
Mineral coal was unknown in Bible times. Wherever 'coal' (or 'coals') is mentioned, therefore, we must in the great majority of cases understand wood or charcoal. Several species of wood used for heating purposes are named in Isa 44:14-16, to which Ps 120:4 adds 'coals of broom' (Revised Version margin). In two cases, however, the 'live coal' of Isaiah's vision (Isa 6:6) and the 'coals' on which was 'a cake haken' for Elijah (1Ki 19:6), the Heb. word denotes a hot stone (so Revised Version margin
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And behold, the whole family hath risen against thy handmaid, and they said, Deliver him that smote his brother, that we may kill him, for the life of his brother whom he slew; and we will destroy the heir also: and so they will quench my coal which is left, and will not leave to my husband neither name nor remainder upon the earth.
And he looked, and behold, there was a cake baked on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he ate and drank, and laid himself down again.
Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.
The light of the righteous rejoiceth: but the lamp of the wicked shall be extinguished.
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
He heweth down cedars for himself, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it. Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take of it, and warm himself; indeed he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yes, he maketh a god, and worshipeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down to it. read more. He burneth part of it in the fire; with part of it he eateth flesh; he roasteth meat, and is satisfied: yes, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire:
Now the king sat in the winter-house in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him.
In that day will I make the governors of Judah like a hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people around, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.
Morish
Mineral coal is now known to exist in the Lebanon range, but was unknown in Biblical times. Fires were seldom needed for warmth, and were as a rule used only for the cooking of food: the fire named in Joh 18:18 was in the night; food was cooked by charcoal or by warming the ovens with any vegetable refuse. The coal generally referred to in the O.T. was charcoal; but other words are used which imply the hot or glowing stones on which cakes were cooked. 1Ki 19:6; Cant. 8:6; Isa 6:6; Hab 3:5.
Heaping coals of fire on an enemy's head by kindness (Pr 25:21-22; Ro 12:20) becomes a test to him (as metal is tested by the fire), the kindness shown him will either bring about contrition and friendship, or harden him yet the more.
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And he looked, and behold, there was a cake baked on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he ate and drank, and laid himself down again.
If thy enemy shall hunger, give him bread to eat; and if he shall thirst, give him water to drink: For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD will reward thee.
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.
And the servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals; (for it was cold) and they warmed themselves: and Peter stood with them, and warmed himself.
Therefore if thy enemy hungereth, feed him; if he thirsteth, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
Smith
Coal.
The first and most frequent use of the word rendered coal is a live ember, burning fuel.
In
coals of fire are put metaphorically for the lightnings proceeding from God.
In
fuel not yet lighted is clearly signified. The fuel meant in the above passage is probably charcoal, and not coal in our sense of the word.
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There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled.
There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire. The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
Let burning coals fall upon them: let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits, that they rise not again.
As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife.