Fir (the name of an extensive family of coniferous evergreens ; see Penny Cyclopadia, s. v. Abies ) is the uniform rendering in the Auth.Vers. of wT-S, berosh' (from its being cut into planks, Gesenius, T/ies. Ileh. p. 24G), which frequently occurs (2 Sam. vi, 5 ; 1 Kings v, 8, 10 ; vi, 15, 34 ; ix, 11 ; 2 Kings ix, 23 ; 2 Chron. ii, 8 ; iii, 5 ; Psa. civ, 17 ; Isa. xiv, 8 ; xxxvii, 24 ; xli, 19 ; Iv, 13 ; Ix, 13 ; Ezek. xxvii, 5 ; xxxi, 8 ; Hos. xiv, 8; Nah. ii, 3; Zech. xi, 2), and ri^3, bcrofh', which is said to be only the Aramaean form of the same word (in Cant, i, 17). In most of the passages the terms rendered cedar and fir in the Auth.Vers. are mentioned together. Berosh is translated variously in the Sept. TTiVcc, TrevKt], Kvirapicaoq, and (Ezek. xxvii, 5) KtCpoc; in Isa. xiv, 8, ^v\a Aifiavov; in the Vulg. chiefly ahies, cupressvs. It was a lofty tree (Isa. Iv, 13), growing on Lebanon (Isa. xxxvii, 24), and of an ornamental figure (Isa. Ix, 13). The passages from which any special account of its use can be derived are, 1. Of mu- sical instruments (2 Sam. vi, 5); 2. Of doors (1 Kings vi, 84) ; 3. Of gilded ceilings (2 Chron. iii, 5) ; 4. Boards or decks of ships (Ezek. xxvii, 5\ or planks for floor- ing (1 Kings vi, 15). Kosenmullor says, " In most of the passages where the Hebrew word occurs, it is by the oldest Greek and the Sjriac translators rendered cypress." Celsius, on the contrary, is of opinion that berosh indicates the cedar of Lebanon, and that erez, which is usually considered to have that meaning, is the connnon pine (Pinus syltesiris), apparently because he conceives berosh to be changed from sherhin, the Arabic name of ^wie. J. E. Fal cr, as quoted by Eo- senmiiller, conjectures tiiat the Hebrew name berosh included three different trees w hich resemble each oth- er, viz. tlie evergreen cypress, the thyine, and the sa- vine. The last, or Jtim'pei'vs sabina, is so like the cy- press that the ancients often called it by th;;t name, and the moderns have noticed the resemblance, espe- cially as to the leaves. "Hence, even among the Greeks, both trees bore the old Eastern names of be- 7-osh, leroth, bruiha, or braihy'' (Kosenmiiller, Boi. of the Bible, transl. p. 2C0). The word berosh or berofh is slightly varied in the Syriac and Chaldee versions, be- ing written beriitha in the former, and benith in the latter. All these are closely allied to hruta, a name of the sarine plant, which is the ftpcthv, ftiUiQvi', and l3apci9oi'c of the Greeks, and which the Arabs have converted into burnsi and htraii. By tliem it is ap- jilied to a species of juniper, which they call ahhul and arm or orus. It appears that many of these terms must be considered generic rather than specific in the modern sense, when so much caic is bestowed on the accurate discrimination of one species from another. Tlius arvs, ajiplied l)y the Arabs to a junijier, indicates a pine-tree in Scri|)ture, whether we follow tlie com- mon acceptation and consider it the cedar, or adopt the ojiinion of Celsius, that the Pinvs sylvesfris is indicated. So burati may have been applied by the Arabs, etc. not only to the savine and other species of juniper, but also to plants, such as the cypress, which resemble these. In many of those cases, therefore, where we are unable to discover any absolute identity or simi- larity of name, we must be guided by the nature of
FIRE
565
FIRE
the trees, the uses to which thej' were applied, and the situations in whicli they are said to have been found. Thus as we find erez and berosh so constantly associ- ated in Scripture, the former may indicate the cedar with the wild pine-tree, while the latter may compre- hend the juni])er and cypress tribe. See Cedar ; Cy- riiESS ; JuNU'EK. All these were extensively used for architecture, and are at this da}' found in Lebanon (Balfour, Trees of Scripture, p. 11 ; Thenius on 1 Kinr/s vi, 34; Saalschutz, Ilebr. Arch, i, 280, note 4; Miller, Gardener's Diet. s. v. Cupressus; Stephens, T/ies. Ling. Gr. s. V. TzivKt]; Belon, Ohs. c. 110, p. 1G5; Loudon, Arboretum, iv, 21G3).— Kitto, s. v.; Smith, s. v. In Hos. xiv, 8, the "stone-pine" (Pinus plnea), which. has a cone containing an edible nut, seems to be intended (Kitto, Pict. Bi'ile, in loc), although Henderson {Com- ment, in loc.) thinks that a fruitless tree is there re- ferred to bj' way of contrast. See T»ree.
Fire (properly dX, esk, ttvo). On the origin of fire, see Kitto's Daily Bible Illust. i, 94. The applications of fire in Scripture are susceptible of the following classification :
1. ReVrj'ious. — 1 . That which consumed the burnt sac- rifice and the inccnse-ofFering, beginning with tlie sac- rifice of Noah (Gen. viii, 20), and continued in the ever-burning fire on the altar, first kindled from heav- en (Lev. vi, 9, 13; ix, 24), and rekindled at tli« dedi- cation of Solomon's Temple (2 Chron. vii, 1, 3). See Sacrifice.
"Fire from heaven," "fire of the Lord," usuallj' denotes lightning in the Old Testament; but, when connected with sacrifices, the "fire of the Lord" is of- ten to be understood as the fire of the altar, and some- times the holocaust itself (Exod. xxix, 18; Lev. i, 9; ii, 3; iii, 5, 9; Numb, xxviii, 6 ; lSam.ii,28: Isa. xx, IG ; Mai. i, 10). See Lightning.