The meaning of Bolt in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)

bolt (na'al, "to bind up"): The ancient Hebrews had fastenings of wood or iron for the doors of houses (II Samuel 13:17-18; Song of Solomon 5:5), city gates (Nehemiah 3:3, Nehemiah 3:6, Nehemiah 3:13-15), prison doors, etc. (Isaiah 45:2), which were in the form of bolts. These were sometimes pushed back from within; but there were others which, by means of a key, could be unfastened and pushed back from without (Judges 3:23 ff.). These were almost the only form of locks known.

See BAR; LOCKS.

In Habakkuk 3:5, resheph (a poetic word for "flame") is rendered "fiery bolts" (the King James Version "burning coals"). It seems to denote "the fiery bolts, by which Yahweh was imagined to produce pestilence or fever" (Driver, Deuteronomy, 367).

M. O. Evans

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