Sense: firelight
n. — the light of a fire.
Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he eats meat as he roasts a roast and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, “Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire [אוּר].”
Isaiah 44:16 (NASB)
The translation “fire” in Isaiah 44:16 masks the fact that the underlying Hebrew word (אוּר) is related to another more common Hebrew word for “light” (אוֹר). The Bible Sense Lexicon, on the other hand, labels this sense as “firelight” to capture both the reference to light and the fact that it is the light of a fire. Light is a powerful metaphor and symbol in other places in the Hebrew Bible. For example, we read in Psalm 27:1, “The Lord is my light (אוֹר) and my salvation.” The picture in Isaiah is one of a foolish person who does not realize that the wood used to fuel a fire for cooking and staying warm is the same dead thing the person worships. We see a bit of irony at the end then when we read, “I have seen the firelight.” In Psalm 27:1 Yahweh is conceived of as a light, but for the foolish person, their idol becomes an actual source of light for them—a source of light that is insubstantial because it burns out and is gone.
What is the Bible Sense Lexicon?
Sense of the Day is based on content from Logos’ Bible Sense Lexicon, which organizes biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek words by meaning based on a variety of semantic relationships. Sense of the Day provides examples of senses in context, along with insight into their application for theology and interpretation.
The Bible Sense Lexicon is a Logos dataset available in Logos 5 Gold and higher base packages. If you’re enrolled in the Logos Academic Discount Program, you can also find the Bible Sense Lexicon in the Biblical Languages base package. Take your studies even further by exploring semantic domains, engaging the biblical text like never before.
Learn more about the Bible Sense Lexicon.