LlTBRATlTRB. — Newton, liixt. of Ditcov. at fjalicamanmui, Cnuiiu. etc., and TravtU and Didcoo. in the Lfvant, HuperHcdes all older dMcription*. \V. M. liAMSAY.
COAL (rhnf, d^s, .ipn, ^1, i^nv" ; AfSpai, ivSpaKtd). — The variety, esp. in uT, of the words rendered 'coal ' in AV makes it advisable to consider them separately, first of all. For philological details the lexicons must be consultcil.
1. Gahdcth (LXX uniformly d^Opai, Vulg. jiruna, carbo, scintilla) is the most frequently used, occur ring seventeen times. It designates qlmving fuel, live em/icrs, and is sometimes found in the full expressions ' coals of fire,' or ' burning coals of fire.' Its special meaning is well seen in Pr 26^" (RV eiTibers), where it evidently denotes burning, as contrasted with fresh unbumt fuel (see Peham below). In Pr 6=», Is 44>9 47>'', Ezk 24" it is used of a tire in reference to such ordinary etlects as burning, baking, warming, boiling. In 2 S 14' it describes figuratively the life of a family as embodied in the last surviving member of its line (Vulg. scintilla). In 2 S 22»- " and the parallel Ps 18*-'-, and also in Ezk 1" 10^ 'coals of fire' are associated with the manifestation of God, the reference being to lightning, or to the elemental fires from which lightning is supposed to proceed. Gahelcth occurs in Job 4P' in a inet.aphor (similar to that in Ps 18 above) descriptive of the fiery breath of leviathan. In Ps 120^ we find ' coals of broom ' (cnh, genista monospemui, not Juniper, which see) used to denote either the punishment of the false tongue's speech, or its devouring character, the embers of the plant in question being known to retain their heat for a specially long time. In Ps 140'" 'coals of fire' form one of the punishments of the wicked, as also in the famous figure of retribution by kindness in Pr 25^, repeated in NT Ro 12-".
2. Pchnm(ljXX /(rxipa, ivBpa.^ ■ Vul^. carbo, pruna) occurs three, perha]is four, times. In the passage referred to above (I'r 2G''") it clearly means unburnt coals put on live embers. In Is 44'- 54'", however, the reference is to the live coals used in smiths' work. In Ps 11', if the conjectural reading •?cs (for c'-5) be correct, we have' coals of fire' (so AVm) rained on the wicked, along with brimstone, instead of the less congruous ' snares, fire,' etc.
3. Rizpah is found twice, in the phrases ' a cake baken on the coals' (I K 19°), and 'a live coal . . . from oH' the altar' (Is 6"). It is probable that in both cases the word means a hot stone (RVm). In the latter, LXX has it>$pai and Vulg. calculus, while in the former both V.SS are less literal ( LXX ^Kpv<plat d\vpel-n]f, Vulg. subcinerici^is panis), with a general allusion to the process of Baking (which see).
i. Reshfph is twice ren<lered ' coal ' in AV, Ca 8' (LXX TcplTrTepov, Vulg. lampas, RV ' flash '), Hab3' (LXX omits the subject in clause b, Vulg. diabolus, AVm 'burning disea.ses,' RV ' fiery bolts'). The word occurs elsewhere in OT (I)t 32", Job 5', Ps 76' 78'*), and means 'a pointed, darting flame.' In Dt and Hab it seems to denote ' the fiery bolts by which J" was imagined to produce pestilence or fever' (Driver). In connexion with this it is suggestive that Resheph appears to have been the name of a Phoen. fire-gotl. He is referred to as an Asiatic deity in inscriptions found in Egypt and elsewhere, particularly in certain bilinguiu (Gr. and Phcen.) ones in Cypnis, where he is identified with Apollo. (For this noint see the note in Driver, Dcut.Mi. 367, 3G8, and tne authorities there given.)
5. Slichor is tr. ' coal ' in La 4*. The literal meaning of the word is ' blackness ' (RVm).
6. di-ffpaf (tr. ' carbuncle ' To 13", Sir .^2") means 'coal ' in Sir 8" {ivOpcKa^ d^iopruiXoD), Ro 12''*' (from Pr 2.5=2). i^OpaKii is found in Sir II*", 4 Mac 9*, Jnl8'»21».
' Co.il ' therefore is, strictly speaking, a correct rendering only of qnhclcfh and pc/irnn and their Gr. equivalents. G'ffi^i/c/A may denote the glowing embers of any kind of fuel (wood, bones, etc., Ezk 24"), but by it and pclntm, apart from their ])oetio and figurative use, we are generally to understand charcoal, which is a common artidi; of fuel in the E., and in the prejiaration of wlii<h the forests of Pal., as well as those of other districts, are rapidly
452
COAST
COCKLE
disappearing. The subject of fuel will be more fully dealt with under Fire.
True mineral coal has not been found in Pal. proper, where tlie geological formation as a wliole IS recent. The rocks of the carboniferous period, if they exist, are not near the s>irface. Two strata of this age, however, have been reco^inized. Tliey are those known as the Desert Sandstone and the Wady Nasb limestone, but they are not accom- panied by any coal. Coal of an inferior quality lias been found at Sidon, and coal-mining was also carried on for a time in Lebanon, but was abandoned after some 12,000 tons liad been extracted (Conder, Tent Wark in Pal. ii. 326. For the geology of Pal. see Il\ill, Survey of W. Pal. and the literature there mentioned, pp. 5, 6). James Patrick.