And, behold, the whole family is risen against thine handmaid, and they said, Deliver him that smote his brother, that we may kill him, for the life of his brother whom he slew; and we will destroy the heir also: and so they shall quench my coal which is left, and shall not leave to my husband neither name nor remainder upon the earth.
They shall quench my coal which is left. The life of man is compared in Scripture to a light. To quench the light of Israel (2 Samuel 21:17) is to destroy the king's life; to ordain a lamp for any one (Psalms 132:17) is to grant him posterity; to quench a coal signifies here the extinction of this woman's only remaining hope that the name and family of her husband would be preserved. The figure is a beautiful one: a coal, live, but lying under a heap of embers-all that she had to rekindle her fire-to light her lamp in Israel.