Hearth

Heb. ah (Jer. 36:22, 23; R.V., “brazier”), meaning a large pot like a brazier, a portable furnace in which fire was kept in the king’s winter apartment. Heb. kiyor (Zech. 12:6; R.V., “pan”), a fire-pan. Heb. moqed (Ps. 102:3; R.V., “fire-brand”), properly a fagot. Heb. yaqud (Isa. 30:14), a burning mass on a hearth.

One way of baking much practiced in the East is to place the dough on an iron plate, either laid on or supported on legs above the vessel sunk in the ground, which forms the oven. The cakes baked “on the hearth” (Genesis 18:6) were probably baked in the existing Bedouin manner, on hot stones covered with ashes. The “hearth” of King Jehoiakim’s winter palace, (Jeremiah 36:23) was possibly a pan or brazier of charcoal. From this we see that the significance of the Hebrew words translated hearth is not the same as with us.

HEARTH. The Hebrew words so translated do not, any of them, mean what we call a hearth. Thus, the "hearth" of Gen 18:6 was the heap of ashes covering the hot stones on which the bread was baked, according to the Eastern custom. See Bread. The "hearth" of Ps 102:3 means fagot as fuel; in Isa 30:14, not the hearth, but the burning mass. When we read that King Jehoiakim threw the cut leaves of Jeremiah's prophecy into the fire that was on the hearth, we are to understand that before him was a portable furnace or brazier of charcoal, Jer 36:22-23.

HEARTH. The Hebrew words so translated do not, any of them, mean what we call a hearth. Thus, the "hearth" of Gen 18:6 was the heap of ashes covering the hot stones on which the bread was baked, according to the Eastern custom. See Bread. The "hearth" of Ps 102:3 means fagot as fuel; in Isa 30:14, not the hearth, but the burning mass. When we read that King Jehoiakim threw the cut leaves of Jeremiah's prophecy into the fire that was on the hearth, we are to understand that before him was a portable furnace or brazier of charcoal, Jer 36:22-23.

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. The pavement or floor of brick, stone, or metal in a chimney, on which a fire is made; the floor of a fireplace; also, a corresponding part of a stove. There was a fire on the hearth burning before him. Jer. xxxvi. 22. Where fires thou find'st unraked and hearths unswept. There pinch the maids as blue as bilberry. Shak.

2. The house itself, as the abode of comfort to its inmates and of hospitality to strangers; fireside.

3. The floor of a furnace, on which the material to be heated lies, or the lowest part of a melting furnace, into which the melted material settles. Hearth ends (Metal.), fragments of lead ore ejected from the furnace by the blast. -- Hearth money, Hearth penny Etym: [AS. heoredhpening], a tax formerly laid in England on hearths, each hearth (in all houses paying the church and poor rates) being taxed at two shillings; -- called also chimney money, etc. He had been importuned by the common people to relieve them from the . . . burden of the hearth money. Macaulay.