גפרית, Gen. xix, 24; Deut. xxix, 23; Job xviii, 15; Psalm xi,
6; Isaiah xxx, 33; xxxiv, 9; Ezek. xxxviii, 22. It is rendered θεῖον by
the Septuagint, and is so called in Luke xvii, 29. Fire and brimstone
are represented in many passages of Scripture as the elements by which
God punishes the wicked; both in this life, and another. There is in
this a manifest allusion to the overthrow of the cities of the plain of
the Jordan, by showers of ignited sulphur, to which the physical
appearances of the country bear witness to this day. The soil is
bituminous, and might be raised by eruptions into the air, and then
inflamed and return in horrid showers of overwhelming fire. This awful
catastrophe, therefore, stands as a type of the final and eternal
punishment of the wicked in another world. In Job. xviii, 15, Bildad,
describing the calamities which overtake the wicked person, says,
“Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.” This may be a
general expression, to designate any great destruction: as that in Psalm
xi, 6, “Upon the wicked he shall rain fire and brimstone.” Moses, among
other calamities which he sets forth in case of the people’s
disobedience, threatens them with the fall of brimstone, salt, and
burning like the overthrow of Sodom, &c, Deut. xxix, 23. The Prophet
Isaiah, xxxiv, 9, writes that the anger of the Lord shall be shown by
the streams of the land being turned into pitch, and the dust thereof
into brimstone. See DEAD SEA.
BROOK is distinguished from a river by its flowing only at particular
times; for example, after great rains, or the melting of the snow;
whereas a river flows constantly at all seasons. However, this
distinction is not always observed in the Scripture; and one is not
unfrequently taken for the other,--the great rivers, such as the
Euphrates, the Nile, the Jordan, and others being called brooks. Thus
the Euphrates, Isaiah xv, 7, is called the brook of willows. It is
observed that the Hebrew word, נחל, which signifies _a brook_, is also
the term for a valley, whence the one is often placed for the other, in
different translations of the Scriptures. To deal deceitfully “as a
brook,” and to “pass away as the stream thereof,” is to deceive our
friend when he most needs and expects our help and comfort, Job vi, 15;
because brooks, being temporary streams, are dried up in the heats of
summer, when the traveller most needs a supply of water on his journey.
6; Isaiah xxx, 33; xxxiv, 9; Ezek. xxxviii, 22. It is rendered θεῖον by
the Septuagint, and is so called in Luke xvii, 29. Fire and brimstone
are represented in many passages of Scripture as the elements by which
God punishes the wicked; both in this life, and another. There is in
this a manifest allusion to the overthrow of the cities of the plain of
the Jordan, by showers of ignited sulphur, to which the physical
appearances of the country bear witness to this day. The soil is
bituminous, and might be raised by eruptions into the air, and then
inflamed and return in horrid showers of overwhelming fire. This awful
catastrophe, therefore, stands as a type of the final and eternal
punishment of the wicked in another world. In Job. xviii, 15, Bildad,
describing the calamities which overtake the wicked person, says,
“Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.” This may be a
general expression, to designate any great destruction: as that in Psalm
xi, 6, “Upon the wicked he shall rain fire and brimstone.” Moses, among
other calamities which he sets forth in case of the people’s
disobedience, threatens them with the fall of brimstone, salt, and
burning like the overthrow of Sodom, &c, Deut. xxix, 23. The Prophet
Isaiah, xxxiv, 9, writes that the anger of the Lord shall be shown by
the streams of the land being turned into pitch, and the dust thereof
into brimstone. See DEAD SEA.
BROOK is distinguished from a river by its flowing only at particular
times; for example, after great rains, or the melting of the snow;
whereas a river flows constantly at all seasons. However, this
distinction is not always observed in the Scripture; and one is not
unfrequently taken for the other,--the great rivers, such as the
Euphrates, the Nile, the Jordan, and others being called brooks. Thus
the Euphrates, Isaiah xv, 7, is called the brook of willows. It is
observed that the Hebrew word, נחל, which signifies _a brook_, is also
the term for a valley, whence the one is often placed for the other, in
different translations of the Scriptures. To deal deceitfully “as a
brook,” and to “pass away as the stream thereof,” is to deceive our
friend when he most needs and expects our help and comfort, Job vi, 15;
because brooks, being temporary streams, are dried up in the heats of
summer, when the traveller most needs a supply of water on his journey.