Fuel

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

In preparing their victuals, the orientals are, from the extreme scarcity of wood in many countries, reduced to use cow dung for fuel. At Aleppo, the inhabitants use wood and charcoal in their rooms, but heat their baths with cow dung, the parings of fruit, and other things of a similar kind, which they employ people to gather for that purpose. In Egypt, according to Pitts, the scarcity of wood is so great, that at Cairo they commonly heat their ovens with horse or cow dung, or dirt of the streets; what wood they have, being brought from the shores of the Black Sea, and sold by weight. Chardin attests the same fact: "The eastern people always used cow dung for baking, boiling a pot, and dressing all kinds of victuals that are easily cooked, especially in countries that have but little wood;"

and Dr. Russel remarks, in a note, that "the Arabs carefully collect the dung of the sheep and camel, as well as that of the cow; and that the dung, offals, and other matters, used in the bagnios, after having been new gathered in the streets, are carried out of the city, and laid in great heaps to dry, where they become very offensive. They are intolerably disagreeable, while drying, in the town, adjoining to the bagnios; and are so at all times when it rains, though they be stacked, pressed hard together, and thatched at top." These statements exhibit, in a very strong light, the extreme misery of the Jews, who escaped from the devouring sword of Nebuchadnezzar: "They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets; they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills,"  Lamentations 4:5 . To embrace dunghills, is a species of wretchedness, perhaps unknown to us in the history of modern warfare; but it presents a dreadful and appalling image, when the circumstances to which it alludes are recollected. What can be imagined more distressing to those who lived delicately, than to wander without food in the streets? What more disgusting and terrible to those who had been clothed in rich and splendid garments, than to be forced, by the destruction of their palaces, to seek shelter among stacks of dung, the filth and stench of which it is almost impossible to endure? The dunghill, it appears from Holy Writ, is one of the common retreats of the mendicant. This imparts great force and beauty to a passage in the song of Hannah: "He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory,"  1 Samuel 2:8 . The change in the circumstances of that excellent woman, she reckoned as great, (and it was to her as unexpected,) as the elevation of a poor despised beggar from a nauseous and polluting dunghill, rendered tenfold more fetid by the intense heat of an oriental sun, to one of the highest and most splendid stations on earth.

2. Dung is used as fuel in the east only when wood cannot be had; for the latter, and even any other combustible substance, is preferred when it can be obtained. The inhabitants of Aleppo, according to Russel, use thorns and fuel of a similar kind for those culinary purposes which require haste, particularly for boiling, which seems to be the reason that Solomon mentions the "crackling of thorns under a pot," rather than in any other way. The same allusion to the use of thorns for boiling occurs in other parts of the sacred volume: thus, the Psalmist speaks of the wicked, "Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath." The Jews are sometimes compared in the prophets to "a brand plucked out of the burning,"

 Amos 4:11;  Zechariah 3:2; a figure which Chardin considers as referring to vine twigs, and other brushwood which the orientals frequently use for fuel, and which, in a few minutes, must be consumed if they are not snatched out of the fire; and not to those battens, or large branches, which will lie a long time in the fire before they are reduced to ashes. If this idea be correct, it displays in a stronger and more lively manner the seasonable interposition of God's mercy, than is furnished by any other view of the phrase. The same remark applies to the figure by which the Prophet Isaiah describes the sudden, and complete destruction of Rezin, and the son of Remaliah; only in this passage, the firebrands are supposed to be smoking; that is, in the opinion of Harmer, having the steam issuing with force from one end, in consequence of the fire burning violently at the other. The words of the prophet are: "Take heed and be quiet; fear not, neither be faint-hearted, for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah,"  Isaiah 7:4 . It is not easy to conceive an image more striking than this; the remains of two small twigs burning with violence at one end, as appears by the steaming of the other, are soon reduced to ashes; so shall the kingdoms of Syria and Israel sink into ruin and disappear.

3. The scarcity of fuel in the east obliges the inhabitants to use, by turns, every kind of combustible matter. The withered stalks of herbs and flowers, the tendrils of the vine, the small branches of myrtle, rosemary, and other plants, are all used in heating their ovens and bagnios. We can easily recognise this practice in these words of our Lord: "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, that Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?"   Matthew 6:28-30 . The grass of the field, in this passage, evidently includes the lilies of which our Lord had just been speaking, and, by consequence, herbs in general; and in this extensive sense the word χορτος is not unfrequently taken. These beautiful productions of nature, so richly arrayed, and so exquisitely perfumed, that the splendour even of Solomon is not to be compared with theirs, shall soon wither and decay, and be used as fuel to heat the oven and the bagnio. Has God so adorned these flowers and plants of the field, which retain their beauty and vigour but for a few days, and are then applied to some of the meanest purposes of life; and will he not much more clothe you who are the disciples of his own Son, who are capable of immortality, and destined to the enjoyment of eternal happiness?

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Isaiah 44:14-16 Jeremiah 36:22 John 18:18 Psalm 120:4 Ecclesiastes 7:6 Nahum 1:10 Matthew 6:30 Matthew 13:40 Ezekiel 15:4 15:6 John 15:6 Ezekiel 4:12 Isaiah 9:5 Matthew 25:3

Fuel is frequently used figuratively as a symbol of total destruction. Disobedient Israel is portrayed as “fuel for the fire” ( Isaiah 9:19;  Ezekiel 15:6;  Ezekiel 21:32 ). For Jesus, God's extravagant love evidenced in clothing grass destined to be burned as fuel with beautiful flowers illustrated even greater care for human beings ( Matthew 6:30 ).

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

FUEL . The principal ‘fuel [lit. ‘food’] of fire’ (  Isaiah 9:5;   Isaiah 9:19 ) in use among the Hebrews was undoubtedly wood, either in its natural state or, among the wealthier classes, as charcoal (see Coal). The trees which furnished the main supply (cf.   Isaiah 44:14 ff.) probably differed little from those so employed in Syria at the present day, for which see PEFSt [Note: Quarterly Statement of the same.] ., 1891, 118 ff. Among other sources of supply were shrubs and undergrowth of all kinds, including the broom (  Psalms 120:4 RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ) and the buck-thorn (  Psalms 58:9 ); also chaff and other refuse of the threshing-floor (  Matthew 3:12 ); and withered herbage, the ‘grass’ of   Matthew 6:30 . The use of dried animal dung as fuel, which is universal in the modern East, was apparently not unknown to the Hebrews (cf.   Ezekiel 4:12-15 ). See further, House, § 7 .

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) Any matter used to produce heat by burning; that which feeds fire; combustible matter used for fires, as wood, coal, peat, etc.

(2): ( n.) Anything that serves to feed or increase passion or excitement.

(3): ( v. t.) To feed with fuel.

(4): ( v. t.) To store or furnish with fuel or firing.

King James Dictionary

FU'EL, n. L. focus.

1. Any matter which serves as aliment to fire that which feeds fire combustible matter, as wood, coal, peat, &c. 2. Any thing that serves to feed or increase flame, heat or excitement.

FU'EL,

1. To feed with combustible matter.

Never, alas! the dreadful name, that fuels the infernal flame.

2. To store with fuel or firing.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Matthew 6:30 Psalm 58:9 Ecclesiastes 7:6 Ezekiel 4:12-15 15:4,6 21:32Coal

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

 Isaiah 9:5,  Isaiah 9:19 (a) By this figure the Lord is describing those ungodly, rebellious folk who are material for the fires of hell. (See  Psalm 9:17;  Ezekiel 15:4-6).

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

( אָכְלָה , Oklah' , and מִאֲכֹלֶת , Maako'Leth , both general terms for anything Consumed, whether by eating or combustion). From the extreme scarcity of wood in many places, the Orientals are accustomed to use almost every kind of combustible matter for fuel; even the withered stalks of herbs and flowers ( Matthew 6:28;  Matthew 6:30), thorns ( Psalms 58:9;  Ecclesiastes 7:6), and animal excrements are thus used ( Ezekiel 4:12-15;  Ezekiel 15:4;  Ezekiel 15:6;  Ezekiel 21:32;  Isaiah 9:19). Prof. Hackett speaks of seeing the inhabitants of Lebanon picking up died Grass, roots and all, for fuel, and says that it even becomes an article of traffic (Illust. Of Script. page 131). The inhabitants of Baku, a port of the Caspian, are supplied with scarcely any other fuel than that obtained from the naphtha and petroleum with which the neighboring country is highly impregnated. The Arabs in Egypt draw no inconsiderable portion of their fuel, with which they cook their victuals, from the exhaustless mummy-pits so often described by travelers. Wood or charcoal is still, as it was anciently, chiefly employed in the towns of Egypt and Syria. The roots of the Rothem, a species of the broom-plant (called in the English Bible "juniper"), which abounds in the deserts, are regarded by the Arabs as yielding the best charcoal ( Job 30:4;  Psalms 120:5). Although the coal of the ancients was that obtained from charring-wood (but fossil coal from Liguria and Elis was occasionally used by smiths, Theophrastus, Frag. 2:61, edit. Schneider), yet the inhabitants of Palestine now to some extent use anthracite coal, which crops out in some parts of Lebanon (Kitto, Phys. Hist. page 67). (See Coal). Wood, however, is their chief article of fuel, especially at Jerusalem, and it is largely brought from the region of Hebron (Tobler, Denkblatter Aus Jerusalem, page 180). (See Wood). As chimneys are but little known in the East, apartments are warmed in cold weather by means of pans, chafing-dishes, or braziers of valious kinds, and either of imetal or earthen-ware, which are set in the middle of the room after the fire of wood which it contains has been allowed to burn for some time in the open air, till the. flame and smoke have passed away. Charcoal is also extensively employed for the same purpose ( Jeremiah 36:22). Grates are not known even where chimneys are found, but the fuel is burnt on the hearth, or against the back of the chimney. In cottages, a fire of wood or animal dung is frequently burnt upon the floor, either in the middle of the room or against one of the side walls, with an opening above for the escape of the smoke. It is also common to have a fire in a pit sunk in the floor, and covered with a mat or carpet, so as not to be distinguished from any other portion of the floor. In all cases where wood is scarce, animal dung is used for fuel in the East. Cow-dung is considered much preferable to any other, but all animal dung is considered valuable ( Ezekiel 4:15). When collected it is made into thin cakes, which are stuck against the sunny side of the houses, giving them a curious and rather unsightly appearance. When it is quite dry and falls off, it is stored away in heaps for future use. It is much used for baking, being considered preferable to any other fuel for that purpose. (See Fire).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

fū´el ( אכלה , 'okhlāh , or מאכלת , ma'ăkhōleth , "food"): Is mentioned specifically only in the Old Testament, in  Isaiah 9:5 ,  Isaiah 9:19;  Ezekiel 15:4 ,  Ezekiel 15:6;  Ezekiel 21:32 . Its general, literal meaning in these connections is "food for fire," and might include any sort of combustible material. The common forms of fuel were wood of various sorts (even including thorns,  Psalm 58:9;  Psalm 118:12;  Ecclesiastes 7:6 ), and dried stalks of flowers or grass ( Matthew 6:30 ), charred wood as charcoal ( Leviticus 16:12;  Isaiah 44:19 , and frequently), and dried dung ( Ezekiel 4:12 ,  Ezekiel 4:15 ). There is no certain indication that our coal was known to the Hebrews as fuel, and their houses, being without chimneys, were not constructed for the extensive use of fuel for warmth.