Fire
![upraised arms bonfire Photo by Caleb Kerr](/bundles/ncbsw/media/upraised_arms_bonfire_by_CKerr87.webp)
Fire, in the spiritual sense, can mean either love or hatred depending on the context, just as natural fire can be either comforting in keeping you warm, or scary in burning down your house. Our language reflects this, too -- we use concepts like a smoldering hatred or a burning love. So fire signifies a love, either a good love of the neighbor and to the Lord, or, in a bad sense, selfish love of oneself that, if unchecked by conscience, leads to hatred of anyone that opposes it.
Isaiah 38:7-8
7
This shall be the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do this thing that he has spoken.
8
Behold, I will cause the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down on the sundial of Ahaz with the sun, to return backward ten steps. So the sun returned ten steps on the sundial on which it had gone down."'"