Feeling the heat

“The most likely reason for these connections between fire and anger is that both are related to heat. The most common verb for ‘anger’ in Biblical Hebrew is חרה [HRH] (in the Qal, Niphal, and Hithpael stems; see also the nouns חרון ,חרי [hry, hrwn). Both this root and its counterparts in Ugaritic, Akkadian, Arabic, and Aramaic carry the underlying meaning ‘burn’. Another very common word for ‘anger’ is חמה [HMH]. The root from which this word most likely derives (יחם [YHM]; see also חמם [HMM]) and its Semitic counterparts refer to ‘being warm’ or ‘being hot’. Both חרה [HRH] and חמה [HMH] appear to be ways of metonymically referring to anger by mentioning a perceived physiological effect of this emotion, namely, feeling hot.

Another reason for linking anger and fire is that the biblical text portrays both of them as destructive.”— From Fratricide to Forgiveness: The Language and Ethics of Anger in Genesis , page 70