Fire

"fire." Cognates of this word occur in Ugaritic, Akkadian, Aramaic, and Ethiopic. The 378 occurrences of this word in biblical Hebrew are scattered throughout its periods. In its first biblical appearance this word, ’esh, represents God's presence as "a torch of fire": "And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a [flaming torch]…" (Gen 15:17). "Fire" was the instrument by which an offering was transformed into smoke, whose ascending heavenward symbolized God's reception of the offering (Lev 9:24). God also consumed people with the "fire of judgment" (Num 11:1; Psa 89:46). Various things were to be burnt as a sign of total destruction and divine judgment (Exod 32:20). "Fire" often attended God's presence in theophanies (Exod 3:2). Thus He is sometimes called a "consuming fire" (Exod 24:17). The noun ’ishsheh, meaning "an offering made by fire," is derived from ’esh.

(akin to which are No. 2, pura, and puretos, "a fever," Eng., "fire," etc.) is used (besides its ordinary natural significance):

(a) of the holiness of God, which consumes all that is inconsistent therewith, Heb 10:27, Heb 12:29; cp. Rev 1:14, Rev 2:18, Rev 10:1, Rev 15:2, Rev 19:12; similarly of the holy angels as His ministers, Heb 1:7; in Rev 3:18 it is symbolic of that which tries the faith of saints, producing what will glorify the Lord:

(b) of the Divine judgment, testing the deeds of believers, at the judgment seat of Christ, 1Co 3:13, 1Co 3:15;

(c) of the fire of Divine judgment upon the rejectors of Christ, Mat 3:11 (where a distinction is to be made between the baptism of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and the "fire" of Divine retribution; Act 2:3 could not refer to baptism): Luk 3:16;

(d) of the judgments of God at the close of the present age previous to the establishment of the kingdom of Christ in the world, 2Th 1:8, Rev 18:8;

(e) of the "fire" of Hell, to be endured by the ungodly hereafter, Mat 5:22, Mat 13:42, Mat 13:50, Mat 1:18-9, Mat 25:41, Mar 9:43, Mar 9:48, Luk 3:17;

(f) of human hostility both to the Jews and to Christ's followers, Luk 12:49;

(g) as illustrative of retributive judgment upon the luxurious and tyrannical rich, Jam 5:3;

(h) of the future overthrow of the Babylonish religious system at the hands of the Beast and the nations under him, Rev 17:16;

(i) of turning the heart of an enemy to repentance by repaying his unkindness by kindness, Rom 12:20;

(j) of the tongue, as governed by a "fiery" disposition and as exercising a destructive influence over others, Jam 3:6;

(k) as symbolic of the danger of destruction, Jud 1:23.

Note: See also under FLAME.

from No. 1, denotes "a heap of fuel" collected to be set on fire (hence Eng., "pyre"), Act 1:28-3.

Note: In Mar 14:54, the italicized phrase "of the fire" is added in the Eng. versions to indicate the light as coming from the "fire."

"fiery" (akin to A, No. 1), is translated "of fire" in Rev 9:17. In the Sept., Eze 28:14, Eze 28:16.

is translated "being on fire" (Middle Voice) in 2Pe 3:12. See FIERY.

"to set on fire, burn up," is used figuratively, in both Active and Passive Voices, in Jam 3:6, of the tongue, firstly, of its disastrous effects upon the whole round of the circumstances of life; secondly, of satanic agency in using the tongue for this purpose.