FIRE (אֵשׁ֒, H836; πῦρ, G4786; see also א֥וּר, Isa 31:9; נוּר, H10471, Dan 3:22ff.; φῶς, G5890, Luke 22:55).

1. Instrument of service to man. Fire was used domestically for cooking, heating, and lighting. Abraham ordered Sarah to bake cakes for his angelic guests (Gen 18:6); Israelites ate roasted lamb on the night of the Exodus (Exod 12:9, 39); one cereal offering was to be “from fresh ears, parched with fire” (Lev 2:14); and when Jesus appeared to His disciples by Galilee after His resurrection, they “saw a charcoal fire there, with fish lying on it” (John 21:9). Isaiah, in rebuking unfaithful Israel, exclaimed, “No coal for warming one-self is this, no fire to sit before!” (Isa 47:14). When Jesus was before Caiaphas, “Peter was standing and warming himself” (John 18:25); and the natives of Malta “kindled a fire” for Paul and his shipwrecked fellowmen “because it had begun to rain and was cold” (Acts 28:2). A third domestic service of fire was to give light. This is reflected in Jesus’ parable of the woman who would “light a lamp and sweep the house” until she found her coin (Luke 15:8); and in the comparison He made to Christians, that “men light a lamp...and it gives light to all in the house” (Matt 5:15). Fire was used also occupationally as in processing crude metal ore. It served the dual purpose of burning out dross and melting the ore to be molded or minted for useful purposes. Ezekiel said, “As men gather silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into a furnace, to blow the fire upon it in order to melt it; so I will...” (Ezek 22:18-20; also, Exod 32:24; Num 31:22f.).

2. Instrument of destruction by man. Fire was employed as man’s ultimate means of destroying property and people. In the conquest of Canaan, Joshua and the Israelite army burned the cities of Jericho, Ai, and Hazor, wholly sacrificing the first to God, and they burned the chariots of the Canaanite coalition (Josh 6:24; 8:19; 11:9, 11). They also killed and burned the whole family of Achan (Josh 7:24f.). Later the men of Judah captured Jerusalem “and set the city on fire” (Judg 1:8). King Nebuchadnezzar tried to burn the three young Hebrews, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Dan 3:19-28).

Human sacrifice by fire was an ancient practice in some primitive religions. It may have some correlation with Abraham’s aborted effort to sacrifice Isaac (Gen 22:1-14). It was at times practiced by the Canaanites, for Moses warned the Israelites not to imitate them, “for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods” (Deut 12:31). He further commanded, “You shall not give any of your children to devote them by fire to Molech,” their heathen divinity (Lev 18:21). Molech (Milcom) was made their national god by the Ammonites, resulting in the contamination of Solomon’s religion (1 Kings 11:5-7). Later, Kings Ahaz and Manasseh both sacrificed their sons to Molech (2 Kings 16:3; 21:16). In the days from Ahaz to Manasseh Molech worship was centered in the Valley of Hinnom where a huge alter pyre (Topheth) stood. On it children were sacrificially burned (Isa 30:33). Josiah had it destroyed (2 Kings 23:10). This place of lowest human degradation served Jesus as a symbol of hell, which he called “Gehenna” (Matt 5:29mg.).

3. Emblem of divine presence. Though literal fire is a natural phenomenon, it has a quality of mystery, a factor invariably associated with deity. Consequently, it was an emblem of divine presence to the Hebrews. In the first Scripture reference to fire, as Abraham made sacrifice, “a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces” (Gen 15:17). Fire was an emblem of divine presence to Moses in the burning bush; to Israel in the “pillar of fire”; and to Moses and Israel on Mount Sinai when the law was given (Exod 3:2; 13:21; 19:18). Elijah called down fire to consume two contingents of soldiers; and he was taken to heaven by “a chariot of fire and horses of fire” (2 Kings 1:9-12; 2:11). Elisha asked God to open his servant’s eyes to see the mountain “full of horses and chariots of fire” (2 Kings 6:17). The most consistent expectancy of God’s presence was at the altar at the time when burnt offerings were made. There are more than a hundred references to altar fires in the OT, including laws governing burnt offerings (Lev, Num, Deut). There are singular instances of divine fire consuming sacrifices offered by Aaron (Lev 9:24); by David (1 Chron 21:26); by Solomon (2 Chron 7:1); by Elijah (1 Kings 18:38). Also, the guest angel made a holocaust in each case with the meals offered by Gideon and Manoah (Judg 6:21; 13:20).

4. Symbol of divine punishment. The metaphorical meaning of fire as the wrath of God is used abundantly throughout the Bible. God’s wrath, like fire, was both purifying and punitive. As in cooking fire destroys the harmful enzymes, making food more edible and tasty, and in smelting it burns out the dross and refines the metal for use, so God’s wrath conditions man for better use. In Moses’ song, God said, “a fire is kindled by my anger” (Deut 32:22). Jeremiah warned, “lest my wrath go forth like fire” (Jer 4:4; cf. 15:14). Ezekiel spoke of “the fire of my wrath” (Ezek 22:21). Zephaniah said, “In the fire of his jealous wrath, all the earth shall be consumed” (Zeph 1:18), and Nahum said, “His wrath is poured out like fire” (Nah 1:6). Moses said, “For the Lord your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God” (Deut 4:24). The invariable use of fire in this sense is punitive, whether literal or fig. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by “brimstone and fire from the Lord” (Gen 19:24). Fire from the Lord consumed 250 rebellious Levites making unauthorized offerings (Num 16:35).

The unquenchable fire (pur asbestos), the final reward of the wicked, was proclaimed by the prophets and emphasized by Jesus and John. Isaiah declared, “Their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched” (Isa 66:24; cf. Ezek 20:47). John said the chaff of humanity God “will burn with unquenchable fire” (Matt 3:12), and that Jesus “will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (Matt 3:11). Jesus said, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matt 7:19). In His statement, “I came to cast fire upon the earth” (Luke 12:49), He used fire as a symbol of judgment. The work of the Holy Spirit, by “tongues as of fire” through the proclamation of the Gospel, was to be, like Jesus, for salvation and for judgment (Acts 2:3). Jesus solemnly warned people not “to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire” (Mark 9:43).

Bibliography J. H. Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the NT (1889), 558; Price, Sellars, Carleson, Monuments and OT (1958), 158, 196-200; N. K. Gottwald, A Light to the Nations (1959), 142f., 148-150, 207, 253f., 327f.; B. Davies, Students Hebrew Lexicon (1960), 66; R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel (1962), 406-456; H. M. Buck, People of the Lord (1966), 50, 263f., 431.