By: Gen Jim – 3/1/26
Let’s do a quick study on the word “fire”, in the Hebrew & the Greek, fig./lit. The most common Heb. Word is esh or ēš, a Semitic word (with the exception of Arabic). This word means burning, fiery, flaming, hot etc. (Strong’s Heb./Gk. Concordance #784). We find this Heb. Word hundreds of times in the O.T., WITH THE EXCEPTIONS OF #1200, becerah; #3857, lanat; #215, owr; #217; uwr; these are used only a very few times.
Ugaritic
The ugaritic goddess ist, “fire”, grossed klbtilm, “Divine Bitch” (See M. Dietrich, O. Loretz & J. Sammartin, Die Kiel – alphabetische texte aus ugarit, 1:3 ¡ ¡ ¡: 45). She is listed among the deities defeated by Anat. Otherwise, she is unknown & has no role in Ugaritic religion. The Sumerian names for the ‘fire god’ are gibil or girra (AKK. Girra), the son of the ‘sky-god’ Anu; his mother, possibly Sala, is probably of Hurrian origin. Also associated with FIRE was the god Nuski (old Aram-nsk). Philo lists 3 Phoenician gods: 1) Phos = LIGHT, 2) Pyr = FIRE & 3) Phlox = FLAME (see Phoenician History in Eusebius, PEI 10,9) & the second can be identified with ug ist.
Old Testament
Looking at Ps. 104:4 we find this: “who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire” (NKJV). (See my articles on Angels posted).Wouldn’t you like to be a “flame of FIRE” FOR Christ? Too many ministers are mere smoldering, not burning! Profs. K. Toom, B. Becking, & P. W. Horst all agree that Yahweh’s ministers (msrt; here pl.) perhaps deny theologized minor deities, but more probably metaphors for lighting. More vivid, says Prof. W. G. E. Watson, is the phrase “Fire (es) walks ahead of Him & sets ABLAZE His enemies round about.” Ps. 97:3 says, “A fire goes before Him, & BURNS up His enemies round about.” The Psalmist goes on to state: “His lightnings light the world…”, vs.4. Joel 2:3 states, “A FIRE devours before them, & behind them a FLAME BURNS…Nothing shall escape them. This refers to the Day of the LORD (vs.1). God/Yahweh uses FIRE as a means of punishment (e.g., Gen. 19:24; Num. 11:1-3; Deut. 32:22; Amos 1:4 et al. And, lest we forget, “Hell Fire” (Gehenna) is prepared for the wicked, not “annihilation”. (See all my “Hell” articles). Fire is used both in the lit./fig. Sense in Scripture.
God: Humbaba-type
In 2 Sam. 22:9 we read. “Smoke went up from His nostrils, & devouring FIRE from His mouth; Coals were kindled by it”. I believe that there are natural cataclysms that are brought about by God Himself, e.g. Lightnings, thunders,, earthquakes, eruptions (volcanoes), floods, fires, etc. etc. His Spirit has told us so. They are used both as warnings & punishment. (Read all of 2 Sam. 22). Ps. 18:7 speaks of “the earth shook & trembled”, “the hills quaked, because He was ANGRY”. Vs 8 says that “Smoke went up from His nostrils, & devouring fire from His mouth”. Verse 13 says, “The LORD thundered…(He) uttered His voice, hailstorms & coals of FIRE”. (Read all of Ps. 18). Do you think the O.T God is the same N.T. God? Could all these terrorizing events in nature & among men be the hand of God…to WARN the world to STOP living so wickedly?
Isaiah 30:27: “Behold the name of the LORD comes from afar, BURNING with His anger…His lips are full of INDIGNATION, & His tongue like a DEVOURING FIRE.” Isaiah continues to describe the LORD in His ANGER: “…The breath of the LORD, like a stream of BRIMSTONE…” VS.33. This is not the end: “Now I will rise; says the LORD;….you shall bring forth stubble; your breath, as FIRE, shall devour….And people shall be like the BURNING of lime; like thorns cut up they shall be BURNED in the FIRE.” (VV. 10-12). We’re not finished! Isaiah 65 describes a people whom God “stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good….A people who provoke Me to anger continually to My face….who eat….abominable things….These are smoke in My nostrils, a FIRE that burns all the day.” Isa. 65: 2-5. So, it is true, God manifests Himself in fire! The greatest manifestation of this is found in Exodus 3 where the LORD sent His Angel to appear to Moses “…in a FLAME of FIRE from the midst of a bush….the bush was BURNING with FIRE, but the bush was no consumed”. Ex. 3:2. Verse 4 tells us that “…God called to him from the midst of the bush…” It is debated who was the Angel of the LORD. Another great manifestation is found in Ex. 13:21: “And the LORD went before them (Israel) by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, & by night in a pillar of FIRE to give light…” The CLOUD & FIRE = Miracles! Deut 9:3 states: “…the LORD your God is He who goes over before you as a CONSUMING FIRE…” Here God is seen as a “Warrior of FIRE” that will rid Canaan of wicked nations (vv.4,5). “Consuming Fire” (’s’klh).
FYI
Empedocles wrote about 4 roots of everything – bright = zeus, life-bearing, Hera, Aidoneus & Nestis who causes moisture – which are described in Fr. 17 as (1) Fire, (2) Earth, (3) Air, (4) Water. These 4 roots have always existed & change is produced by their intermingling – mixing together & separating from each other – according to the two opposing forces, e.g., Love & Strife. The 4 roots are elemental in the sense of being the original substances; they are original in the sense that everything else in the world is derived from them as compounds of the primary elements. Prof. L. J. Alderunk says that the cosmological motifs of Empedocles were connected to his interest in moral & religious issues. His rejection of bloodshed, be it social as in warfare or religious as in sacrifice, was fundamentally moral, because the consequences of “Strife” or “Hatred” included HARM done to animals as well as humans. Empedocles (495-435 B.C.) was a Gk. Philosopher & poet. Both Aristotle & Plato believed in the 4 cosmological elements – earth, water, air, & fire. Sepher Yetzirah identifies the boundaries of the universe: good & evil, height & depth, east & west, north & south. He who mentions “Three Mothers” which represent the fundamental elements of air, water, & fire…the structure of the universe (heaven/dimensions of space, time, & morality.) One of the earliest works of Kabbalistic literature, the Book of Brilliance (written in the late 12thcentury). This book draws its name from Job 37:21: “Even now men cannot look at the light when it is BRIGHT in the skies…” (See “Brightness” in Heb./Gk.) Ezekiel 1:4, 27, 28 speaks of both brightness & fire together (See also “Glory”). The Heb. word “hod” is used to describe YHWH’s majesty in FIRE & STORM in Isa. 30:30: “The LORD will cause His glorious voice to be heard, & show the descent of His arm, with the indignation of His anger & the FLAME of a devouring FIRE…” Isa. 29:6 We find “You will be punished by the LORD of Hosts with thunder & earthquake & great noise, with storm & tempest & the FLAME of devouring FIRE.”