FURNACE. The furnaces mentioned in the Bible were of various kinds. 1. onN, according to Ges., for Nnt..;, from the root pn, to smoke, with t: as a formative prefix. But Furst says, non ex 1))11Nt ortztm, seri ex radice addila ter : minatione nominali UN . . . Somniant, qui /mins nzoa'i vocabula e dzzobzis coaluz'sse arbitrantur (Con cord. Vet. Test. Heb. Chal.) Dan. iii. 6, t, 15. A large kind of furnace having a wide open mouth above, with an opening near the bottom to allow the metal, or other material, to run out. The em ployment of the furnace as an instrument of punish ment seems to have been a favourite method with the King of Babylon, as it has continued to be in Persia down to recent times. During the dearth of 1662,' says Chardin, I saw such ovens heated in the royal square at Ispahan to terrify the bakers, and to deter them from deriving advantage from the general distress ' (quoted by Kitto). Reference: to the same mode of punishment are found in Jer, xxix. 22, and Hos. vii. 7.
2. /tp], from the root t;;Z, to subdue, so called from its subduing metals or other materials thrown into it (Gen. xix. 2S ; Exod. ix. S, ro ; xix. IS). From the occurrence of this word in Exod. ix. it seems to denote a furnace or kiln for baking bricks, although it may have been also used for smelting metals.
3. from the verb of the same form, meaning to boil tris, although Ftirst takes it in the sense of boring, or hollowing out, a profunditate vel cavi tate,' a furnace for smelting metals certainly. Thus, Ezek. xxii. 20, 22, the house of Israel are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead in the midst of the fur nace,' -11Z. ; Prov. xvii. 3 ; xxvii. 21, ` the furnace,' "AZ, for gold.' See also Is. xlviii. I° ; Dent. iv. 2o; where the word is used metaphorically.
4. Ti.DT-1= a furnace of fire, compounded, ac cording to Ges., of 1/1, q., WW1, or nr,N, an
oven, and -1,11, Chal., a fire ; to which, however, Ffirst objects, maintaining that ex nl.), crebro illo Substantivorzun additanzento rite forma/um,' pro perly, an oven for bakino- bread, although it seems to have been used for otfier purposes. In its wider acceptation it occurs Gen. xv. 17 ; Is. xxxi. 9 ; Mal. iii. 19 (iv. i). In its special reference, it is found Ex. vii. 2S, (viii. 3) ; Lev. xxvi. 26 ; Hos. vii. 4. The M7171112' is a large round pot of earthen or other materials, two or three feet high, narrowing towards the top ; this being first heated by a fire made within, the dough or paste is spread upon the sides to bake, thus forming- thin cakes.' Of the Gr. KNAgavos, by which the LXX. render this word,' Jerome says, on Lam. V. 10, Clibanus est coquendis panibus aeni Vasculi diduc ta rotunditas, quae sub urentibus flammis ardet in trinsecus ' (Ges. in Verb.) ` The tower of the fur naces,' tymnri 9-ran, upon, or near the walls of Jerusalem (Nell. iii. ; xii. 3S), should perhaps rather be, tower of the ovens, if not taken as a proper name, Afistioi-Hattannurim.
5. KcipAvos., by which the first three of the pre ceding words are usually rendered by the LXX., (,ccurs in the Apocrypha and N. T. to denote fur naces of different sorts, e. g., the Potter's furnace (Sirach xxvii. 5 ; xxxviii. 3o). The Egyptian pot ter's furnace, as represented in Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptia.us, resembled a chimney in shape, and was about six feet high (ii. to8). It is also used of the .S'yndh's furnace (Sirach xxxviii. 2S ; Apoc. 15). The word is used indefinitely (Apoc. ix. 2), where there is a reference to Gen. xix. 2S ; and in Matt. xiii. 42, 5o, where there is an obvious reference to Dan. iii.—I. J.