(5) In the Apocalj'pse the Lake of Fire is the place of final punishment to which are consigned (I) the Beast and the False Prophet (19-«), (2) Satan (2u"), (3) Death and Hades (20'-»), (4) the dupes of Satan, whose names are not written in the Book of Life (20i= ; cf. 138 14«'- IQ^" 208). xhe figure of ' the lake of fire,' otherwise described as ' the lake of fire burning with brimstone,' seems to have been suggested by a shallow pool (Kifivq) of blazing sulphur such as is sometimes found in volcanic districts. Nothing is said as to its locality. ' Volcanic forces, indicating the existence of sub- terranean fire, might well lead the ancients to place their Tartarus and Gehenna in the under- world ' (W. Boyd Carpenter, 'Rev.' in EUicott's NT Com. iii. [1S84] 622). Swete (Apoc. of St. John^, 1907, p. 258) remarks that the conception of ' the lake of fire' may have already been familiar to the Asian Churches, and that ' possibly it was a local expres- sion for the 7^£i';'a to\j Trvpds which was familiar to Palestinian Christians.' The expression does not occur in the apocalyptic writings, but in the Book of Enoch ' the abyss of fire ' is the doom in store for the fallen angels in the Day of Judgment (x. 13 ; cf. xxi. 7-10), and in the Seci^cis of Enoch (x. 2), among the torments of ' the place prepared for those who do not know God ' is ' a fiery river.' The terse out- line in the Apocalypse referring to the place of woe, appears in these waitings as a finished picture filled in with elaborate details. The refer- ence in the imagery to ' fire and brimstone ' is evidently derived from the historical account of the destruction of Sodom in Gn 19^'*, mediated by passages such as Is 30^, in which Topheth is a symbol of God's burning judgments, and Is 66^, in which the valley of Hinnom, with its fire con- tinually burning, is the scene of final judgment on God's enemies. In the interval between the close of OT prophecy and the time of Christ, the idea of penal fire, confined in the OT to the present world, was projected into the unseen world as an image of endless retribution. During this period the writers of the apocalypses sought relief from the glaring anomalj- presented by the contrast between character and condition in the present life, by transferring the scene of rewards and punishments to the world beyond the grave. In accordance with this view — the \'iew recognized throughout the NT — the enemies of God and Christ, who often escape His righteous judgments here, are reserved for the severer penalties of the world to come. There, deceivers and deceived together share one common doom in ' the lake of fire,' which is identified in 20^'' with ' the second death,' ' the nearest analogue [in the new order] of Death as we know it here ' (Swete, op. cit. p. 274). 'It is not certain,' says Swete again, in his commentary on v.^* (p. 270), ' that these terrible words can be pressed into the service of the doctrine of the Last Things. ... It is safer to regard them as belonging to the scenery of the vision rather than to its eschatological teach- ing. But beyond a doubt St. John intends at least to teach that the forces, personal or imper- sonal, which have inspin d mankind Avith false views of life and anta^onitm to God and to Christ will in the end be completely subjugated, and, if not annihilated, will at least be prevented from causing further trouble. From the Lake of Fire there is no release, unless evil itself should be ultimately con-
sumed; and over that possibility there lies a veil which our writer does not help us to lift or pierce.'
Literature. — Artt. ' Eschatology of NT' (S. D. F. Salmond) in HDB, ' Eternal Fire ' (A. Bisset), 'Eternal Punishment' (W. H. Dyson) in DCG, ' Eschatologv ' (R. H. Charles), 'Fire' (T. K. Cheyne), 'Theophany' (G. B. Gray) in EBi; Com- mentaries on the relevant passages. For the meaning of aiulvtos, and for the eschatological bearing of the passatres, see H. Cremer, Bib.-Tlieol. Lex. of NT Greek^, 1S80 ; F. W. Farrar, Eternal Hope, 1S78, Mercy and Judgment, ISSl ; J. A. Beet, The Last Thhuis, new ed. 1905 ; C. A. Row, Future Retribu- tion, 1SS7 ; J. Stephen, Easays in Ecclesiastical Biography, 1907, Epilogue ; A. Jukes, The Second Death and the liestitu- tion of All Thinys^2^ 1SS7. W. S. MONTGOMEUY.
FIRST AND LAST.— See Alpha and Omega.
FIRST-BORN, FIRST-BEGOTTEN (TrpuirdroKos ; Vulg. primogcnitus in the NT except in He IP^ j223)_ — 1, The privilege of the first-born: the birthright [to. irpwroTdKia, Y u\g. primitiva) is spoken of once in the NT, in He 12'^ which refers to Esau's act in selling it (Gn 25'^) ; the act was profanity, for the sacred privilege was despised. The first- born was the heir to the headship of the family, and received a double portion of his father's pro- perty (Dt 2P^); this was alwaj^s the case unless for some special cause the birthright was taken from him, as in the cases of Esau, Reuben (1 Ch 5^), and Manasseh (Gn 48"-'^). Ishmael, the eldest son of Abraham, had not the birthright because he was the son of a slave woman (Gn 21^"), though he was not, according to Hebrew ideas, a slave (see Roman Law).