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COAL.—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 Psa_120:4 adds ‘coals of broom’ (RVm [Note: 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 RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] —see Bread). The charcoal was generally burned in a brasier (Jer_36:22 ff. RV [Note: Revised Version.] , AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘hearth’) or chafing-dish, the ‘pan of fire’ of Zec_12:6 RV [Note: Revised Version.] . See, further, House, § 7.
Coal, or rather charcoal, supplies several Scripture metaphors, the most interesting of which is illustrated by the expression of the wise woman of Tekoa, ‘thus shall they quench my coal that is left’ (2Sa_14:7). By this she means, as shown by the following words, the death of her son and the extinction of her family, an idea elsewhere expressed as a putting out of one’s lamp (Pro_13:9).
A. R. S. Kennedy.