(Sept. and N.T. ἄνθραξ ) is a translation usually of one or the other of two Heb. words, viz., גִּחֶלֶת (gachleeth, literally a kindling, ruina), which signifies an ignited or live coal, and is of frequent occurrence (2 Samuel 14:7; 2 Samuel 22:9; Job 40:21; Psalms 18:8; Psalms 120:4; Isaiah 44:19; Isaiah 47:14; Ezekiel 24:11), often with the emphatic addition of "burning" or of "fire" (Leviticus 16:12; 2 Samuel 22:13; Psalms 18:12-13; Psalms 140:10; Proverbs 6:28; Proverbs 25:22; Proverbs 26:21; Ezekiel 2:13; Ezekiel 10:2), and פֶּחָם (pecham', literally black, carbo), which properly signifies a coal quenched and not reignited, or charcoal (Proverbs 26:21, where the distinction between this and the former term is clearly made, "as coals [pecham] are to burning coals [gacheleth]"), and hence an ignited coal (Isaiah 44:12; Isaiah 54:16). (See FUEL).
Two other Heb. terms (erroneously) rendered "coal" are, רַצְפָּה (ritspah', "live coal," Isaiah 6:6, literally a pavement, as elsewhere rendered), which appears to nave been a hot stone used for baking upon; רֶשֶׁ (re'sheph), properly flames (to which jealousy is compared, Song of Solomon 8:6), and hence pestilential fever (Habakkuk 3:5; "burning heat, "Deuteronomy 22:24; elsewhere a "spark," Job 5:7; thunderbolt," Psalms 78:48); and רֶצֶ (re'tseph, spoken of a cake "baken on the coals"), which appears to be cognate to both the preceding words and to combine their meaning, and may thus designate (as explained by the Rabbias a coal, Sept. ἐγκρυφία, Vulg. subcinericus) a loaf baked among the embers. (See BREAD).
In Lamentations 4:8, "their visage is blacker than a coal," the word is שֶׁחוֹר (shechor'), which simply means blackness, as in the margin. In the New Testament, the "fire of coals" (ἀνθρακία, John 18:18) evidently means a mass of live charcoal, used in a chafing-dish for warming in the East, and so explained by Suidas and parallel instances in the Apocrypha (Sirach 8:10; Sirach 11:32). The substance indicated in all the foregoing passages is doubtless charcoal, although anthracite or bituminous coal has been found in Palestine in modern times (see Browning's Report; also Elliot, 2:257). (See MINERAL).
"In 2 Samuel 22:9; 2 Samuel 22:13, ‘ coals of fire' are put metaphorically for the lightnings proceeding from God (Psalms 18:8; Psalms 18:12-13; Psalms 140:10). In Proverbs 25:22, we have the proverbial expression ‘ Thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head,' which has been adopted by Paul in Romans 12:20, and by which is metaphorically expressed the burning shame and confusion which men must feel when their evil is requited by good. (See the essays on this text by Heinrich [Lug-d. B. 1716], Wahner [Gott. 1740].), In like manner, the Arabs speak of coals of the heart, fire of the liver, to denote burning care, anxiety, remorse, and shame (Gesen. Thesaur. Heb. p. 280). In Psalms 120:4, ‘ coals' — burning brands of wood (not ‘ juniper,' but broom), to which the false tongue is compared (James 3:6). In 2 Samuel 14:7, the quenching of the live coal is used to indicate the threatened destruction of the single remaining branch of the family of the widow of Tekoah suborned by Joab; just as Lucian (Timothy § 3) uses the word ζώπυρον in the same connection." (See FIRE).