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Bible Dictionaries
Coal
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or 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 Isaiah 44:14-16 , to which Psalms 120:4 adds ‘coals of broom’ (RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ). In two cases, however, the ‘live coal’ of Isaiah’s vision ( Isaiah 6:6 ) and the ‘coals’ on which was ‘a cake haken’ for Elijah ( 1 Kings 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 ( Jeremiah 36:22 ff. RV [Note: Revised Version.] , AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘hearth’) or chafing-dish, the ‘pan of fire’ of Zechariah 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’ (2 Samuel 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 ( Proverbs 13:9 ).
A. R. S. Kennedy.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Coal'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/c/coal.html. 1909.
