McClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Furnace

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McClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Furnace


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is the rendering in the Engl. Vers. of the following words. SEE BURNING.

1. àִúּåּïÓ , attun' (a Chald. term, of uncertain, prob. foreign derivation; Sept. êÜìéíïò ), a large furnace, with a wide opening at the top to cast in the materials (Dan_3:22-23), and a door at the ground by which the metal might be extracted (Dan_3:26). It was probably built like the Roman kiln for baking pottery-ware (Smith, Dict. of Class. Antiq. s.v. Fornax). The Persians were in the habit of using the furnace as a means of inflicting capital punishment (Daniel 3; comp. Jer_29:22; 2Ma_7:5; Hos_7:7; see Hoffmann, De flamma furni Babylonici, Jen. 1668). A parallel case is mentioned by Chardin (Voyage en Perse, 4:276), two ovens having been kept ready heated for a whole month to throw in any bakers who took advantage of the dearth. SEE PUNISHMENT.

2. ëַּáְùָׁï , kibshan' (so called from subduing the stone or ore), a smelting or calcining furnace (Gen_19:28), perhaps also a brick-kiln (Exo_9:8; Exo_9:10; Exo_19:18); but especially a lime-kiln, the use of which was evidently well known to the Hebrews (Isa_33:12; Amo_2:1). SEE BRICK;SEE LIME.

3. ëּåּø , kur (so called from its boiling up), a refining furnace (Pro_17:3; Pro_27:21; Eze_22:18 sq.), metaphorically applied to a state of trial (Deu_4:20; 1Ki_8:51; Isa_48:10; Jer_11:4). The form of it was probably similar to the one used in Egypt (Wilkinson, Anc. Eg. 2:137, abridgm.). The jeweller appears to have had a little portable furnace and blowpipe, which he carried about with him, as is still the case in India. SEE METALLURGY.

4. òָìַéì , alil' (perhaps so called from working over, Sept. äïêßìéïí , Vulg. probatum), according to some, a workshop; others a crucible (only in Psa_12:6, where it possibly denotes a mould in the sand for casting). SEE FINING-POT. 5. úִּðּåּø , tannur' (of uncertain etymology), an oven (as usually rendered) for baking bread ("furnace," Gen_15:17; Isa_31:9; Neh_3:11; Neh_12:38), perhaps sometimes in a more general sense (Gen_15:17; Isa_31:9). The tannur is still in use by the Arabs under the same name, being a large round pot of earthen or other materials, two or three feet high, narrowing towards the top; this being first heated by a fire made within, the dough or paste is spread upon the sides to bake, thus forming thin cakes (see Jahn, Bibl. Archaeol. § 140). Of the Gr. êëßâáíïò , by which the Sept. render this word, Jerome says, on Lam_5:10, "The clibanus, an extended round vessel of brass for baking bread, the fire being applied internally." SEE OVEN.

6. ÊÜìéíïò , a general term forfurnace, kiln, or oven (Mat_13:42; Mat_13:50; Rev_1:15; Rev_9:2); especially the potter's furnace (Sir_27:5; Sir_38:30), which resembled a chimney in shape, and was about five or six feet high, having a cylindrical frame, in which the fire was kindled at the bottom, and the narrow funnel produced a strong draught, thatraised the flame abov-e the top (Wilkinson, Ancient Egypt. 2:108, abridgment); also a blacksmith's furnace (Sir_38:28). The same al o describes the calci-lung furnace (Xenophon, Vectig. 4:49). It is iemetaphorically used in the N.T. in this sense (Rev_1:15; Rev_9:2), and. in Mat_13:42 with an especial reference to Dan_3:6. SEE POTTER.

The TOWER OF THE FURNACES ( îַâְּãִּì äִúִּðִּåּøַéí , Migdal' hat- Tannurim; Sept. ðýñãïò ôῶí èáííïõñåßì v.r. èáíïõñßì , Vulg. turrisfurnorumn), i.e., of the Ovens (Neb. 3:11; 13:38), was one of the towers on the second or middle wall of Jerusalem, at its N.W. angle, adjoining the "corner gate," and near the internsection of the present line of the Via Dolorosa with the Street of St. Stephen (Strong's Harm. and Expos. Append. page 17). It may have derived its name fronc "the Bakers Street" (Jer_37:21) or "bazaar," which probably lay in that vicinity (Josephus, War, 5:8, 1, init.), as similar shops still do (Barclay, City of the Great King, page 434). SEE JERUSALEM.