Hearth

Smith's Bible Dictionary

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",  Genesis 18:6, were probably baked in the existing Bedouin manner, on hot stones covered with ashes.

The "hearth" of King Jehoiakim's winter palace,  Jeremiah 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.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) The pavement or floor of brick, stone, or metal in a chimney, on which a fire is made; the floor of a fireplace; also, a corresponding part of a stove.

(2): ( n.) The house itself, as the abode of comfort to its inmates and of hospitality to strangers; fireside.

(3): ( n.) The floor of a furnace, on which the material to be heated lies, or the lowest part of a melting furnace, into which the melted material settles.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Jeremiah 36:23 Isaiah 30:14 Isaiah 30:14 Psalm 102:3 Jeremiah 36:22-23 Zechariah 12:6 Ezekiel 43:15-16  Leviticus 6:9Cooking And Heating

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Jeremiah 36:22,23

Heb. kiyor ( Zechariah 12:6; RSV, "pan"), a fire-pan.

Heb. moqed ( Psalm 102:3; RSV, "fire-brand"), properly a fagot.

Heb. yaqud ( Isaiah 30:14 ), a burning mass on a hearth.

King James Dictionary

HE`ARTH, n. harth. A pavement or floor of brick or stone in a chimney, on which a fire is made to warm a room, and from which there is a passage for the smoke to ascend.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Hearth . See House, § 7 .

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

harth  : Occurs 7 times in the King James Version:   Genesis 18:6;  Psalm 102:3;  Isaiah 30:14;  Jeremiah 36:22 ,  Jeremiah 36:23 bis  ;  Zechariah 12:6;  Zechariah 4:1-14 times in the Revised Version:   Leviticus 6:9;  Isaiah 30:14;  Ezekiel 43:15 ,  Ezekiel 43:16 ("altar hearth"); compare also   Isaiah 29:1 the Revised Version margin. It will be noted that the renderings of the two versions agree in only one passage (  Isaiah 30:14 ).

(1) The hearth in case of a tent was nothing more than a depression in the ground in which fire was kindled for cooking or for warmth. Cakes were baked, after the fashion of  Genesis 18:6 , in the ashes or upon hot stones. In this passage, however, there is nothing in the Hebrew corresponding to the King James Version "on the hearth." In the poorer class of houses also the hearth consisted of such a depression, of varying dimensions, in the middle or in one corner of the room. There was no chimney for the smoke, which escaped as it could, or through a latticed opening for the purpose (the "chimney" of  Hosea 13:3 ). While the nature of the hearth is thus clear enough, more or less uncertainty attaches to specific terms used in the Hebrew. In  Isaiah 30:14 the expression means simply "that which is kindled," referring to the bed of live coals. From this same verb ( yāḳadh , "be kindled") are formed the nouns mōḳēdh ( Psalm 102:3 (Hebrew 4)) and mōḳedhāh ( Leviticus 6:9 (Hebrew 2)) which might, according to their formation, mean either the material kindled or the place where a fire is kindled. Hence, the various renderings, "firebrand," "hearth," etc. Moreover, in   Leviticus 6:9 (2) The termination - āh of mōḳedhāh may be taken as the pronominal suffix, "its"; hence, the Revised Version margin "on its firewood."

(2) Two other terms have reference to heating in the better class of houses. In  Jeremiah 36:22 ,  Jeremiah 36:23 the word ( 'āḥ ) means a "brazier" of burning coals, with which Jehoiakim's "winter house" was heated. The same purpose was served by the "pan ( kiyyōr ) of fire" of  Zechariah 12:6 the Revised Version (British and American), apparently a wide, shallow vessel otherwise used for cooking (  1 Samuel 2:14 , English Versions of the Bible "pan"), or as a wash basin (compare  Exodus 30:18;  1 Kings 7:38 , etc., "laver").

(3) Another class of passages is referred to the signification "altar hearth," which seems to have been a term applied to the top of the altar of burnt offering. The mōḳedhāh of   Leviticus 6:9 (2), though related by derivation to the words discussed under (1) above, belongs here (compare also Ecclesiasticus 50:12, "by the hearth of the altar," παρ ̓ἐσχάρᾳ βωμοῦ , par' eschára bōmoú ). Again in Ezekiel's description of the altar of the restored temple ( Ezekiel 43:15 ,  Ezekiel 43:16 ), he designates the top of the altar by a special term (the Revised Version margin, ariel ), which is by most understood to mean "altar hearth" (so the Revised Version (British and American)). With this may be compared the symbolical name given to Jerusalem ( Isaiah 29:1 ), and variously explained as "lion (or lioness) of God," or "hearth of God."

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

is the representative in the Eng. Version of several Heb. words. אָח , Ach (Sept. Ἐσχάρα ,Vulg. Arula), a large Pot, like a brazier (Gesenius, Thes. p. 69), a portable furnace in which fire was kept in the king's winter apartment ( Jeremiah 36:22-23). At the present day the Orientals sometimes make use of such stoves instead of fireplaces for warming rooms; they are called in Persian and Turkish tannur. They have the form of a large pitcher, and are placed in a cavity sunk in the middle of the apartment. When the fire has done burning, a frame like a table is placed over the pot, and the whole is then covered with a carpet; and those who wish to warm themselves sit upon the floor, and thrust their feet and legs, and even the lower part of their bodies, under the carpet. כַּיּוֹר , Kiy '''''Ô''''' R''' a fire-pan or small Basin for holding fire ( Zechariah 12:6; elsewhere for roasting in,  1 Samuel 2:14; or generally for washing, "laver,"  Exodus 30:18, etc.). מוֹקֵד , moked', a Burning (as rendered in  Isaiah 23:14), hence a Jigot as fuel ("hearth,"  Psalms 102:4); and from the same root יָקוּד , Yak '''''Û''''' D''' (literally Kindled), a burning mass upon a hearth ( Isaiah 30:14). The Heb. word עֻגּוּת , Uggoth'; Sept. Ἐγκρυφίαι , refers to cakes baked in the ashes ( Genesis 18:6).' These cakes serve in the East at the present day for ordinary food, especially upon journeys and in haste. By the hearth we are to understand, according to the present usage in the East, that a fire is made in the middle of the room, and, when the bread is ready for baking, a corner of the hearth is swept, the bread is laid upon it, and covered with ashes and embers; in a quarter of an hour they turn it. Sometimes they use convex plates of iron (Arabic tajen, whence the Gr. Τήγανον ), which are most common in Persia and among the nomadic tribes, as being the easiest way of baking and done with the least expense, for the bread is extremely thin and soon prepared. See Bread This iron plate is either laid on, or supported on legs above the vessel sunk in the ground, which forms the oven. (See Oven). (Burckhardt, Notes On Bed. 1, 58; P. della Valle, Viaggi, 1, 436; Harmer, Obs. 1, 477, and note; Rauwolff, Travels, ap. Ray, 2, 163; Shaw, Travels, p. 231; Niebuhr, Descr. de l'Arabie, p. 45; Schleusner, Lex. Vet. Test. s.v. Τήγανον ; Gesenius, s.v. עֻגָּה p. 997). (See Fire).