ba'ar

At its center this word is the act of fire. Something blazes, or someone kindles it, and the picture moves naturally from the flame itself to what the flame does. A fire does not just glow; it eats, devours, and leaves nothing. So the same word that says a bush is on fire also says an enemy army is burned up, a field is grazed down to bare ground, and an evil thing is cleared out of the land.

The whole range hangs together as one idea: total consumption. To burn is to use up entirely, and to use up entirely is to remove. That is why the word can describe cattle eating a vineyard until nothing is left (the same effect as fire), and why it became Israel's standard term for purging evil. When the law says to burn the evil out from your midst, it does not mean a literal bonfire; it means to wipe the wrong away as thoroughly as fire wipes away stubble.

The word is also the Bible's favorite image for anger, especially God's. Wrath is fire that catches, blazes, and cannot be put out. This is not a separate meaning but the same fire seen as an emotion: it kindles, it burns hot, it consumes.

The senses below trace that movement, from the flame itself, to what is set alight, to what is consumed, to what is cleared away.

This is a separate word that happens to be spelled the same as the verb for burning. It has nothing to do with fire. It describes a person who is thick-headed, without insight, more like an animal than a thinking human being.

It almost always appears next to other words for foolishness, and it is the opposite of being wise or knowing God. The prophets use it as an insult for people who trust worthless idols, and for leaders who should have known better. It is a charge of willful dullness, not a comment on someone's intelligence at birth.