IN Genesis chapter 22, the Bible says that God told Abraham to travel to a place far away from his home to offer a sacrifice. It says: “Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac. Then he took in his hands the fire and the knife, and the two of them walked on together.”—Genesis 22:6.

The Bible does not explain how people in ancient times made fires. So did Abraham and Isaac light a fire and then carry that flame with them? One Bible commentator said that a flame probably could not have “kept going throughout the long journey.” Instead, Abraham and his son might have taken everything they would need to start a fire.

But others say that it was not easy to start a fire in those times. So whenever possible, people would make a fire by getting a hot coal from a fire that was already burning, perhaps a coal from a neighbor’s fire. Many scholars believe that Abraham took hot coals from a burning fire before his journey. He could have put them in a container, perhaps a pot hanging from a chain, and he would have carried the pot with him when he traveled. (Isaiah 30:14) Then he could have used the hot coals and small pieces of dry wood whenever he needed to make a fire.