Furnace

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

a fireplace for melting gold and other metals. "The fining pot is for silver, the furnace for gold,"  Proverbs 17:3 . It signifies also a place of cruel bondage and oppression, such as Egypt was to the Israelites, who there met with much hardship, rigour, and severity, to try and purge them,  Deuteronomy 4:20;  Jeremiah 11:4; the sharp and grievous afflictions and judgments, wherewith God tries his people,  Ezekiel 22:18;  Ezekiel 20:22; also a place of torment, as Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace,  Daniel 3:6;  Daniel 3:11 . On the last we may remark, that this mode of putting to death is not unusual in the east in modern times. After speaking of the common modes of punishing with death in Persia, Chardin says, "But there is still a particular way of putting to death such as have transgressed in civil affairs, either by causing a dearth, or by selling above the tax by a false weight, or who have committed themselves in any other manner: they are put upon a spit and roasted over a slow fire,  Jeremiah 29:22 . Bakers, when they offend, are thrown into a hot oven. During the dearth in 1668, I saw such ovens heated in the royal square in Ispahan, to terrify the bakers, and deter them from deriving advantage from the general distress."

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Furnace. Various kinds of furnaces are noticed in the Bible, such as...

a smelting or calcining furnace ,  Genesis 19:28;  Exodus 9:8;  Exodus 9:10;  Exodus 19:18,

especially A Lime-Kiln ,  Isaiah 33:12;  Amos 2:1,

a refining furnace ,  Proverbs 17:3,

Nebuchadnezzar's furnace, a large furnace built like a brick-kiln ,  Daniel 3:22-23, with two openings one at the top for putting in the materials, and another below for removing them;

the potter's furnace ,  Sirach 27:5;

the blacksmith's furnace .  Sirach 38:28.

The Persians were in the habit of using the furnace as a means of inflicting punishment.  Daniel 3:22-23;  Jeremiah 29:22.

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

 Genesis 15:17 (b) By this type we learn that the experiences of Israel in the land of Egypt would be one of suffering and of shame, of pain and of anguish as the Egyptians treated the Israelites as slaves. (See1Ki  8:51;  Jeremiah 11:4).

 Deuteronomy 4:20 (a) Here again the Word is used to describe the sorrows of Israel which they suffered through the four hundred years of their slavery.

 Psalm 12:6 (a) This symbol represents the testings and examinations of the Scriptures by wicked, hostile men as they sought to destroy GOD's words. It is a picture also of the carefulness and thoroughness with which GOD chose His words as they were placed in the Scriptures.

 Isaiah 31:9 (a) This picture is used to illustrate the terrible destruction which Judah and Jerusalem would bring upon Assyria.

 Isaiah 48:10 (b) The type in this place describes the great trials and sorrows that Israel would experience through and during her national history.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Furnace. Furnaces are noticed in the Bible, such as a smelting or calcining furnace,  Genesis 19:28;  Exodus 9:8;  Exodus 9:10;  Exodus 19:18; especially a lime-kiln,  Isaiah 33:12;  Amos 2:1; a refining furnace,  Proverbs 17:3; Nebuchadnezzar's furnace, a large furnace built like a brick-kiln,  Daniel 3:22-23, with two openings, one at the top for putting in the materials, and another below for removing them. The potter's furnace and the blacksmith's furnace are noticed in the Apocryphal books. Eccles. 27:5; 38:28. The Persians were in the habit of using the furnace as a means of inflicting punishment.  Daniel 3:22-23;  Jeremiah 29:22.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Furnaces were used for various purposes, as smelting the crude metal, and for crucibles to refine the metal; for lime and bricks; and as an oven.  Genesis 19:28;  Exodus 9:8,10;  Proverbs 17:3 . The fiery furnace in Babylon must have been very large for four persons to have walkedtherein. It may have been the furnace they used for their bricks.  Daniel 3:6-26 . The furnace is used figuratively for the oppression of Egypt, out of which God delivered the Israelites,  Deuteronomy 4:20; and for the afflictions God afterwards brought them into to purify them from their idolatry and sin.  Ezekiel 22:18,22 . In the N.T. the furnace of fire refers to the place of eternal punishment.  Matthew 13:42,50 .

King James Dictionary

FUR'NACE, n. L. fornax, furnus, either from burning, or the sense is an arch.

1. A place where a vehement fire and heat may be made and maintained, for melting ores or metals, &c. A furnace for casting cannon and other large operations is inclosed with walls through which a current of air is blown from a large bellows. In smaller operations a vessel is constructed with a chamber or cavity, with a door and a grate. 2. In scripture, a place of cruel bondage and affliction.  Deuteronomy 4 . 3. Grievous afflictions by which men are tried.  Ezekiel 22 . 4. A place of temporal torment.  Daniel 3 . 5. Hell the place of endless torment.  Matthew 13 .

FUR'NACE, To throw out sparks as a furnace.

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: Κάμινος (Strong'S #2575 — Noun Feminine — kaminos — kam'-ee-nos )

"an oven, furnace, kiln" (whence Lat. caminus, Eng., chimney), used for smelting, or for burning earthenware, occurs in  Matthew 13:42,50;  Revelation 1:15;  9:2 .

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

 Nehemiah 3:11;  Nehemiah 12:38, "the tower of the furnaces," i.e. of the (bakers') ovens.  Hosea 7:7. There were also the smelting furnace, the refining furnace, the type of affliction and testing probation ( Deuteronomy 4:20;  Proverbs 17:3;  Proverbs 27:21), the lime-kiln. The brick-kiln furnace had an opening at the top to cast in the materials, and a door at the bottom to extract the metal. The Babylonians used it to inflict their cruel capital punishments ( Daniel 3:22-26;  Jeremiah 29:22).

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Furnace . EV [Note: English Version.] tr. [Note: translate or translation.] of kibshân (  Genesis 19:28 ,   Exodus 9:8 etc.), ’ăl îl (  Psalms 12:6 ), kûr (  Deuteronomy 4:20 ,   1 Kings 8:51 etc.), ’attûn (  Daniel 3:8;   Daniel 3:11 etc.), which stand for either a brick-kiln or a smelting furnace; and of tannûr , which is better rendered ‘oven’ (see Bread).

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Gr. kamnos, a furnace, kiln, or oven (  Matthew 13:42,50;  Revelation 1:15;  9:2 ).

Copyright Statement These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., DD Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain.

Bibliography Information Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Furnace'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/f/furnace.html. 1897.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) To throw out, or exhale, as from a furnace; also, to put into a furnace.

(2): ( n.) A place or time of punishment, affiction, or great trial; severe experience or discipline.

(3): ( n.) An inclosed place in which heat is produced by the combustion of fuel, as for reducing ores or melting metals, for warming a house, for baking pottery, etc.; as, an iron furnace; a hot-air furnace; a glass furnace; a boiler furnace, etc.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Daniel 3:1  Deuteronomy 4:20 1 Kings 8:51 Jeremiah 11:4 Isaiah 48:10 Jeremiah 6:30 Ezekiel 22:17-22 Matthew 13:42 13:50

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

Copyright StatementThese files are public domain. Bibliography InformationMcClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Furnace'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/f/furnace.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

fûr´nā̇s  : The word is used in the Old Testament English Versions of the Bible to translate several Hebrew words:

Kibhshān , in  Genesis 19:28 , where the smoke of the destruction of the cities of the plain is said to have ascended "as the smoke of a furnace"; in  Exodus 9:8 , where Yahweh commands to take "handfuls of ashes of the furnace and ... sprinkle it toward heaven," etc.

Kūr , in  Deuteronomy 4:20 , where Yahweh is represented, when speaking of taking the children of Israel out of Egypt, as taking them "out of the iron furnace."

‛Alı̄l in  Psalm 12:6 , where "the words of Yahweh" are said to be "pure," "as silver tried in a furnace"; compare  Proverbs 17:3 , "furnace for gold."

‛Attūn , in  Daniel 3:6 , where mention is made of "a burning fiery furnace" into which Daniel and his companions were cast. There is good reason to believe that these words all stand for either a brick-kiln or a smelting furnace.

In the New Testament a notable figurative use is made of the word in the phrase "the furnace of fire," ἡ κάμινος τοῦ πυρός , hē káminos toú purós ̌ . It is found in the parable of the Tares ( Matthew 13:42 ) as part of the remarkable imagery of that parable; while in the companion parable of the Drag-Net ( Matthew 13:50 ) it stands as a symbol of the final destiny of the impenitent, a synonym of "hell"; compare  Jeremiah 29:22;  Daniel 3:6 ,  Daniel 3:22;  Revelation 20:14-15 , etc., and "eternal fire" ( Matthew 25:41 ), "unquenchable fire" ( Matthew 3:12 ), "the Gehenna of fire" ( Matthew 5:22 margin;   Matthew 18:9 parallel   Mark 9:43 margin, etc.). A fact which modern travelers speak of, that furnaces for punishment have been found in Persia as elsewhere in the East, sheds some light upon this use of the expression "the furnace of fire."