SUBJECT:  Fire before the flood.

QUESTION:  Was there fire before the flood.  I can’t seem to find any direct evidence of the world having fire before the flood.

ANSWER:

There are only five chapters in Genesis before we pick up with the account of the flood in Genesis 6.  This is just 3,260 words to give us historical information before the flood.  504 words [15%] are taken up with the generations of Adam as we see in chapter five.  The first three chapters [2124 words-65%] are taken up with creation and the account of Adam and Eve ending with them being driven from the garden.  We do get some historical information there.  The primary historical chapter then is chapter 4 with 632 words and less than 20% of the total text.  Therefore one is not going to get a “Thus saith the Lord” on every little invention, object, piece of technology or situation that existed then.  In addition, the Bible, more than a historical document, is a handbook for Salvation.  Mankind, beginning with the firstfruits, is being called to the Salvation Process.  The Word of God is a handbook to that process.

Whether mankind had fire prior to the flood of Noah’s time is a non-salvation subject.  This being stated, we can say without a doubt and by direct scriptural evidence that fire must have been present prior to the flood.  Spirit-driven logic could not result in any other conclusion.  Notice:

1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. 2 And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. 4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: –Genesis 4:1-4

The statement of the sacrifices is tantamount proof one could take into a court of law.  Then we have this:

And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: 23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. 24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. --Genesis 3:22-24

We also have...

And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. 20 And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. 21 And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. 22 And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah. --Genesis 4:19-22

Brass is made by combining copper and zinc.  One must melt the copper and the tin together to make bronze.  One must melt the copper [55% to 95%] with the zinc [40% down to 5%] to make brass.  You can only do this by fire.  One cannot do it with a hammer.  To melt these metals one needs a very hot fire of 1,920 degrees [F].  From sources on the Internet, I see that a typical fire in a fireplace ranges from 1,200 to 1,500 degrees.  Therefore they would have constructed simple furnaces to get the required heat.  If an open fire can get to 1,500, a furnace or oven, as it were, could easily get to 2,000, even in those days.  Remember that studies show that the civilization before the flood was quite advanced in technology.  This has even been our teaching in the church.

According to the Wikipedia on Fire: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire  a candle flame burns at 1,832 degrees [F].   Further...

Temperatures of flames by appearance

The temperature of flames with carbon particles emitting light can be assessed by their color: [A Book of Steam for Engineers", The Stirling Company, 1905 ]

• Red
  • Just visible: 525 °C (977 °F)
  • Dull: 700 °C (1290 °F)
  • Cherry, dull: 800 °C (1470 °F)
  • Cherry, full: 900 °C (1650 °F)
  • Cherry, clear: 1000 °C (1830 °F)
• Orange
  • Deep: 1100 °C (2010 °F)
  • Clear: 1200 °C (2190 °F)
• White
  • Whitish: 1300 °C (2370 °F)
  • Bright: 1400 °C (2550 °F)
  • Dazzling: 1500 °C (2730 °F)

Fire, by the way, is a chemical reaction.

Notice this commentary on Genesis 4:22 [Before the flood]

Tubal-cain—The first smith on record, who taught how to make warlike instruments and domestic utensils out of brass and iron.

Agricultural instruments must have been in use long before, for Cain was a tiller of the ground, and so was Adam, and they could not have cultivated the ground without spades, hooks, etc. Some of these arts were useless to man while innocent and upright, but after his fall they became necessary. Thus is the saying verified: God made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions. As the power to get wealth is from God, so also is the invention of useful arts.

M. De Lavaur, in his Conference de la Fable avec l'Histoire Sainte, supposes that the Greeks and Romans took their smith-god Vulcan from Tubal-cain, the son of Lamech. The probability of this will appear,

1.  From the name, which, by the omission of the Tu and turning the b into v, a change frequently made among the Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans, makes Vulcain or Vulcan.

2.  From his occupation he was an artificer, a master smith in brass and iron.

3.  He thinks this farther probable from the names and sounds in this verse. The melting metals in the fire, and hammering them, bears a near resemblance to the hissing sound of ‏צלה‎  tsillah, the mother of Tubal-cain; and ‏צלל‎  tsalal signifies to tinkle or make a sound like a bell, 1 Samuel 3:11 and 2 Kings 21:12. ~Adam Clarke's Commentary

We see clearly that Tubal-cain worked with fire and fire/melting comes before the hammering.  That which is hammered is that which comes out of the furnace or melting pot. "Artificer" is defined as a skilled worker, a craftsperson and one who contrives, devises, or constructs something....like an oven or furnace in this case.  These were not the so-called cavemen.  These were people of some technological advancement.  Witness the almost perfect construction of the Ark.