the Week of Proper 22 / Ordinary 27
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Bible Encyclopedias
Chimney
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
( אִרֻבָּה, arubbah´, a lattice, in the sing., Hosea 13:3; Sept. καπνοδόχη; Vulg. fumarium; elsewhere in the plur a window, as closed by lattice-work instead of glass, Ecclesiastes 12:3; a dove-cote, as sealed with lattice-work, Isaiah 60:8, especially in the phrase "windows of heaven" [q.v.]), an opening covered with lattice-work through which the smoke passes (Hosea 13:3). The same word is elsewhere rendered "window." Houses in the East are not furnished with stoves and fireplaces as among us. The fuel is heaped into a pot, which is placed in a part hollowed out for that purpose in the center of the paved floor. The smoke, therefore, escapes through the windows (Isaiah 44:16; Isaiah 47:14). (See HOUSE).
Sometimes the fire is placed directly in the hollow place, or hearth, in the middle of the floor, as mentioned by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 36:22). Chimneys appear to have been employed in the round towers for furnaces, but never in dwelling-houses. They were termed Cor-Ashan, a smoking furnace, which is the name of a city mentioned in 1 Samuel 30:30, probably where many workers in metal resided. Such appears to be referred to by the " chimneys in Sion" of the Apocrypha (2 Esdras 6:4, caminus). (See FURNACE).
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