Bible Dictionary
Bellows
Bellows were leather devices used to force air into a furnace or refining fire. Jeremiah uses the image of fiercely blowing bellows to portray judgment and the corruption of the people.
Definition
Bellows are devices used to force air into a fire or furnace. In the biblical passage, they belong to the work of a refiner or metalworker and are used to make the fire burn fiercely.
Biblical Usage
Jeremiah uses the action of the bellows and the refiner’s fire as imagery for judgment upon a corrupt people and the coming destroyer.
Historical Background
The described bellows probably consisted of leather bags fitted into a frame, with pipes carrying air to the fire. They were worked by pressing the skins alternately with the feet.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Occurs only in Jer. 6:29, in relation to the casting of metal. Probably they consisted of leather bags similar to those common in Egypt.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
The word occurs only in (Jeremiah 6:29) where it denotes an instrument to heat a smelting furnace. Wilkinson in “Ancient Egypt,” iii. 338, says, “They consisted of a leather, secured and fitted into a frame, from which a long pipe extended for carrying the wind to the fire. They were worked by the feet, the operator standing upon them, with one under each foot, and pressing them alternately, while he pulled up each exhausted skin with a string he held in his hand.”
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>bel'-oz, bel'-us: The word occurs once only in English Versions of the Bible, in Jer 6:29, where the prophet is predicting the coming of the destroyer (verse 26), "a great nation" from "the north country" (verse 22), down upon Israel, because "all of them deal corruptly" (verse 28). "The bellows blow fiercely; the leads is of the fire." Here the imagery is drawn from the refiner's art, and the "bellows" are those used to make the refiner's fires burn fiercely.</p><p>See CRAFTS, II, 10.</p>