FINISHER (Gr. reXeturrrjs, tel-i-o-tace', com pleter), spoken of Jesus (Heb. xii:2) as one who in his own person raised faith to its perfection and so set before us the highest example of faith (Grimm, Gr. Lex., s. v.).
FIR (Heb.11?, ber-osh'), probably the cyPress, Cufiressus senttevirens, L. This tree fulfills all the conditions of the various passages in whichfir occurs (1 Kings \Pi:15, 34; 2 Chron. iii:5; Ezek. xxvii:5). The tall trunk of this tree is well adapted for masts.
FIRE (fir), (Hcb. aysh; Gr. rip, poor).
The uscs of fire among the Hebrews were va rious :— (1) Domestic. The domestic use, for cooking, roasting, and baking. (See BREAD ; FOOD.) (2) Warmth. In winter they warmed them selves and their apartments, by 'a fire of coals' (Jer. xxxvi :22, 23 ; Luke xxii:55). In the rooms it would seem that a brazier with charcoal was usually employed, as is still the case in western Asia, although the ovens and fire-places used in baking brcad might have been, and doubtless were, as now, often employed to keep rooms properly warm. (Sce BREAD ; COAL.) (3) Religious. The religious use of fire was for consuming the victims on the altar of burnt offerings, and in burning the incense on the golden altar ; hence the remarkable phrase in Is. xxxi :9--`the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.' In the sacerdotal services no fire but that of the altar of burnt-offerings could lawfully be used. That fire was originally kindled supernaturally and was evcr after kept up. From it the fire used in the censers for burning incense was always taken ; and for neglecting this and using common fire, Nadab and Abiliu were struck dead by 'fire from heaven' (Lev. X :2, sq.; Num. iii:4; xxvi:6I).
(4) War. In time of war toiches were often carried by the soldiers; which explains the use of torches in the attack of Gideon upon the camp of the Midianites (judg. vii:t6). This military use of torches was very general among ancient nations, and is alluded to by many of their writ ers (Statius, Theb. iv :5, 7 ; Stobxus, Senn,. p. 194; Michaelis, in Symbol Liter. Bremcns, 25.4).
Towns were often destroyed by fire. This, as a war usage, belongs to all times and nations; but among the Hcbrews there were some par ticular notions connected with it, as an act of strong abhorrence, or of devotement to abiding desolation. The principal instances historically commemorated are the destruction by fire of Jeri cho (Josh. vi:24) ; Ai (Josh. viii :19) ; Hazor (Josh. xi :11) ; Laish (Judg. xviii :27) ; the towns of the Benjamites (Judg. xx :48) ; Ziklag, by the Amalekites 0 Sam. xxx :I) ; Jazer, by Pharaoh (I Kings ix :16) ; and the temple and palaces of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings xxv :9). Even the war-chariots of the Canaanites were burnt by the Israelites, probably on the principle of precluding the possibility of recovery, by the enemy, of instrumcnts of strength for which they had themselves no use. The frequency with
which towns were fired in ancient warfare is shown by the very numerous threats by the prophets that the towns of Israel should he burned by their forcign enemies. Some great towns, not of Israel, are particularly named ; and it would be an interesting task to trace, as far as the ma terials exist, the fulfillment of these prophecies in those more marked examples. Among the places thus threatened we find Damascus (Is. xliii:t2, i3), Gaza, Tyre, Teman (Amos i :7, to, It). The temples and idols of a conquered town or people were very often burned by the victors. and this was enjoined as a duty to the Israelites (Dem. vii:5, 25; xii:3; xiii:i6; Is. xxxiii:12).
(5) Special Regulations. (I) There were some special regulations respecting the use of fire among the Israelites. The most remarkable of these was the prohibition to light fire on the Sabbath (Exod. xxxv:3). As the primary de sign of this law appcars to have been to prevent the proper privileges of the Sabbath day from being lost to anyone through the care and time required in cooking victuals (Exod. xvi :23) it is doubted whether the use of fire for warmth on the Sabbath day was included in this interdiction. In practice it would appear that the fire was never lighted or kept up for cooking on the Sabbath day, and that consequently therc were no fires in the houses during the Sabbaths of the greater part of the year ; but it may be collected that, in winter, fires for warming apartments were kept up from the previous day. Michaelis is very much mistaken with respect to the climate of Palestine in supposing that the inhabitants could, without much discomfort, dispense with fires for warmth during winter (Mosaisches Recht, iv:195). The modern Jews, although there is no cooking in their houses, have fires on the Sabbath day, which are attended to by a Christian servant, or a char woman is hired to attcnd to the fires of several houses, which she visits repeatedly during the day. (2) Another law required the damage done by a conflagration in the fields to be made good by thc party through whose incaution it had been kindled (Exod. xxii :6). This was a most useful and necessary law in a country where the warmth and drought of summer soon render the herbage and underwood highly combustible, so that a fire once kindled often spreads most extensively, and produces disastrous consequences (Judg. ix :t5 ; xv :5). This law was calculated to teach caution in the use of fire to the herdsmen in the fields, who were the parties most concerned. And it is to be remembered that the herdsmen were gener ally substantial persons, and had their assistant shepherds, for whose imprudence they were made responsible. Still no inference is to be drawn from this law with regard to fires breaking out in towns, the circumstances being so very different.