hearth Summary and Overview

Heb. ah (Jer. 36:22, 23; R.V., "brazier"), meaning a large pot like a brazier, a portable furnace in which fire was kept in the king's winter apartment. Heb. kiyor (Zech. 12:6; R.V., "pan"), a fire-pan. Heb. moqed (Ps. 102:3; R.V., "fire-brand"), properly a fagot. Heb. yaqud (Isa. 30:14), a burning mass on a hearth.

One way of baking much practiced in the East is to place the dough on an iron plate, either laid on or supported on legs above the vessel sunk in the ground, which forms the oven. The cakes baked "on the hearth" #Ge 18:6| were probably baked in the existing Bedouin manner, on hot stones covered with ashes. The "hearth" of King Jehoiakim's winter palace, #Jer 36:23| was possibly a pan or brazier of charcoal. From this we see that the significance of the Hebrew words translated hearth is not the same as with us.

HEARTH . The Hebrew words so translated do not, any of them, mean what we call a hearth. Thus, the "hearth" of Gen 18:6 was the heap of ashes covering the hot stones on which the bread was baked, according to the Eastern custom. See Bread. The "hearth" of Ps 102:3 means fagot as fuel; in Isa 30:14, not the hearth, but the burning mass. When we read that King Jehoiakim threw the cut leaves of Jeremiah's prophecy into the fire that was on the hearth, we are to understand that before him was a portable furnace or brazier of charcoal, Jer 36:22-23.