Furnace

Furnace is the rendering in the Engl. Vers. of the following words. SEE BURNING.

1. אִתּוּן׃, attun' (a Chald. term, of uncertain, prob. foreign derivation; Sept. κάμινος), a large furnace, with a wide opening at the top to cast in the materials (Da 3:22-23), and a door at the ground by which the metal might be extracted (verse 26). It was probably built like the Roman kiln for baking pottery-ware (Smith, Dict. of Class. Antiq. s.v. Fornax). The Persians were in the habit of using the furnace as a means of inflicting capital punishment (Daniel 3; comp. Jer 29:22; Jer 2 Macc. 7:5; Ho 7:7; see Hoffmann, De flamma furni Babylonici, Jen. 1668). A parallel case is mentioned by Chardin (Voyage en Perse, 4:276), two ovens having been kept ready heated for a whole month to throw in any bakers who took advantage of the dearth. SEE PUNISHMENT.

2. כַּבשָׁן, kibshan' (so called from subduing the stone or ore), a smelting or calcining furnace (Ge 19:28), perhaps also a brick-kiln (Ex 9:8,10; Ex 19:18); but especially a lime-kiln, the use of which was evidently well known to the Hebrews (Isa 33:12; Am 2:1). SEE BRICK;SEE LIME.

⇒Bible concordance for FURNACE.

3. כּוּר, kur (so called from its boiling up), a refining furnace (Pr 17:3; Pr 27:21; Eze 22:18 sq.), metaphorically applied to a state of trial (De 4:20; 1Ki 8:51; Isa 48:10; Jer 11:4). The form of it was probably similar to the one used in Egypt (Wilkinson, Anc. Eg. 2:137, abridgm.). The jeweller appears to have had a little portable furnace and blowpipe, which he carried about with him, as is still the case in India. SEE METALLURGY.

4. עָלַיל, alil' (perhaps so called from working over, Sept. δοκίμιον, Vulg. probatum), according to some, a workshop; others a crucible (only in Ps 12:6, where it possibly denotes a mould in the sand for casting). SEE FINING-POT.

⇒Definition of furnace

5. תִּנּוּר, tannur' (of uncertain etymology), an oven (as usually rendered) for baking bread ("furnace," Ge 15:17; Isa 31:9; Ne 3:11; Ne 12:38), perhaps sometimes in a more general sense (Ge 15:17; Isa 31:9). The tannur is still in use by the Arabs under the same name, being 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 (see Jahn, Bibl. Archaeol. § 140). Of the Gr. κλίβανος, by which the Sept. render this word, Jerome says, on La 5:10, "The clibanus, an extended round vessel of brass for baking bread, the fire being applied internally." SEE OVEN.

6. Κάμινος, a general term forfurnace, kiln, or oven (Mt 13:42,50; Re 1:15; Re 9:2); especially the potter's furnace (Ecclus. 27:5; 38:30), which resembled a chimney in shape, and was about five or six feet high, having a cylindrical frame, in which the fire was kindled at the bottom, and the narrow funnel produced a strong draught, thatraised the flame abov-e the top (Wilkinson, Ancient Egypt. 2:108, abridgment); also a blacksmith's furnace (Ecclus. 38:28). The same al o describes the calci-lung furnace (Xenophon, Vectig. 4:49). It is iemetaphorically used in the N.T. in this sense (Re 1:15; Re 9:2), and. in Mt 13:42 with an especial reference to Da 3:6. SEE POTTER.

The TOWER OF THE FURNACES (מַגּדִּל הִתִּנִּוּרַים, Migdal' hat- Tannurim; Sept. πύργος τῶν θαννουρείμ v.r. θανουρίμ, Vulg. turrisfurnorumn), i.e., of the Ovens (Neb. 3:11; 13:38), was one of the towers on the second or middle wall of Jerusalem, at its N.W. angle, adjoining the "corner gate," and near the internsection of the present line of the Via Dolorosa with the Street of St. Stephen (Strong's Harm. and Expos. Append. page 17). It may have derived its name fronc "the Bakers Street" (Jer 37:21) or "bazaar," which probably lay in that vicinity (Josephus, War, 5:8, 1, init.), as similar shops still do (Barclay, City of the Great King, page 434). SEE JERUSALEM.