Nettle

Two Heb. words are tr4 in AV anc. RV ‘nettle.’ (1) by hard occurs twice (Job 30°, Zeph 2), and in the plural form on hdrilim once (Pr 24%), (2) winp kimmédsh (Is 3438), or vin kimésh (Η 5 95. The pl. form onwap kimméshinim (Pr 24%) is tr4in EV ‘thorns.’ The sense and con- text of the first two passages in which kimmésh and kimésh occur are ae met by the rendering ‘nettle,’ and this rendering is supported by many versions and scholars.

If it be adopted, then kimméshinim should be also rendered ‘nettles’ instead of ‘thorns.’ In that case hetrdtim (Pr 2451) cannot be tr*‘nettles.’ This has led commentators to seek for another plant which will fulfil all the conditions. The ha@ral must grow in the wilderness, associated with the mailléah (mallows AV, saltwort RV), shih (bushes), and the retem, and must be large enough for the famine-stricken outcasts to gather beneath (Job 3087).

It must be something that would naturally be associated with salt pits as an emblem of desolation (Zeph 2°), It must be some- thing that covers the face of a waste field (Pr 2431), Celsius (Hierobot. ii. 165) gives a list of candidates, which he rejects in favour of Zizyphus Spina- Christi. Royle thinks that haril is the same as the Arab. py er ease This would require the supposition that 1 had been written b mistake ἴον τ.

The wild mustards would suit all the con- ditions, being plants which grow in neglected situa- tions (wildernesses), which cover deserted fields, and which grow large enough to enable several persons to gather under them. Still there is no proof that this is the correct rendering. ‘Wild vetches’ (RVm in all the passages ; cf. ‘ chick-pea’ of Oxf. Heb. Lex.) would hardly suit the conditions.

The present writer is Sialic to look upon the word as generic, and equivalent to thorn, scrub, or brush, either one of which would fulfil all the conditions. Such serubs are to be found every- where in the desolate places, and include a con- siderable number of such plants as the three indigenous species of boxthorn, Lycium Europeun, L., L. Arabicum, Schweinf., and Z. Barbarum, L. (all of which are known in Arab. as ‘ausaj), and Nitraria tridentata, Desf., the gharkad.

All of these are thorny shrubs, growing in waste places and in salty soil, and would furnish a sufficient shade to be welcome to a sun-stricken wretch such as Job describes. The thorny Zizyphus and At acia scrubs would also suit the generic meaning, NEW, NEWNESS NEW MOON 52] Admitting the soundness of the above considera- tions, we should confine the rendering ‘nettle’ to the second of the above Heb. terms. Of nettles we have Urtica urens, L., U. dioica, L., U. pilulifera, L., and U.

membranacea, Poir, all of which are known in Arab. as kurreig or kureig or kurds, which mean a stinging plant. ‘These are universal in neglected fields and gardens. In the deserts we find Forskahlea tenacissima, L., the /izzdk of the Arabs, the name of which signifies a plant which sticks or clings. It belongs to the same Order as Urtica. The signification of the Arab names of all these species is similar to that The Nazirite of days entered upon his vow with head newly shaven.

In matters of personal experience and religious symbolism, the same interest attaches to what is new. In the Bible Abraham and Jacob receive new names; so with Jerusalem Is 62* 4, the dis- ciples Jn 15", the saints Rev 2.

Among modern Orientals, the birth of a firstborn son gives a new name to the father ; among the Jews, new clothes are always worn at the Feast of Passover; the soul is believed to ascend during sleep to the presence of the Recording Angel and to return anew to the body in the moment of consciousness; so also the of kimmésh. G. E. Post. seraphim before the throne are thought of as cre- ated every day to feel and proclaim the glory of the