a fireplace for melting gold and other metals. “The fining pot
is for silver, the furnace for gold,” Prov. xvii, 3. It signifies also a
place of cruel bondage and oppression, such as Egypt was to the
Israelites, who there met with much hardship, rigour, and severity, to
try and purge them, Deut. iv, 20; Jer. xi, 4; the sharp and grievous
afflictions and judgments, wherewith God tries his people, Ezek. xxii,
18; xx, 22; also a place of torment, as Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace,
Dan. iii, 6, 11. On the last we may remark, that this mode of putting to
death is not unusual in the east in modern times. After speaking of the
common modes of punishing with death in Persia, Chardin says, “But there
is still a particular way of putting to death such as have transgressed
in civil affairs, either by causing a dearth, or by selling above the
tax by a false weight, or who have committed themselves in any other
manner: they are put upon a spit and roasted over a slow fire, Jer.
xxix, 22. Bakers, when they offend, are thrown into a hot oven. During
the dearth in 1668, I saw such ovens heated in the royal square in
Ispahan, to terrify the bakers, and deter them from deriving advantage
from the general distress.”
is for silver, the furnace for gold,” Prov. xvii, 3. It signifies also a
place of cruel bondage and oppression, such as Egypt was to the
Israelites, who there met with much hardship, rigour, and severity, to
try and purge them, Deut. iv, 20; Jer. xi, 4; the sharp and grievous
afflictions and judgments, wherewith God tries his people, Ezek. xxii,
18; xx, 22; also a place of torment, as Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace,
Dan. iii, 6, 11. On the last we may remark, that this mode of putting to
death is not unusual in the east in modern times. After speaking of the
common modes of punishing with death in Persia, Chardin says, “But there
is still a particular way of putting to death such as have transgressed
in civil affairs, either by causing a dearth, or by selling above the
tax by a false weight, or who have committed themselves in any other
manner: they are put upon a spit and roasted over a slow fire, Jer.
xxix, 22. Bakers, when they offend, are thrown into a hot oven. During
the dearth in 1668, I saw such ovens heated in the royal square in
Ispahan, to terrify the bakers, and deter them from deriving advantage
from the general distress.”