the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Encyclopedias
Myrtle
Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
or Myrtle occurs in several passages of the Old Testament, as in;;;; .
The myrtle has from the earliest periods been highly esteemed in all the countries of the south of Europe. By the Greeks and Romans it was dedicated to Venus, and employed in making wreaths to crown lovers, but among the Jews it was the emblem of justice. The note of the Chaldee Targum on the name Esther, according to Dr. Harris, is, 'they call her Hadassah because she was just, and those that are just are compared to myrtles.'
The repute which the myrtle enjoyed in ancient times it still retains, notwithstanding the great accession of ornamental shrubs and flowers which has been made to the gardens and greenhouses of Europe. This is justly due to the rich coloring of its dark green and shining leaves, contrasted with the white starlike clusters of its flowers, affording in hot countries a pleasant shade under its branches, and diffusing an agreeable odor from its flowers or bruised leaves. It is, however, most agreeable in appearance when in the state of a shrub, for when it grows into a tree, as it does in hot counties, the traveler looks under instead of over its leaves, and a multitude of small branches are seen deprived of their leaves by the crowding of the upper ones. This shrub is common in the southern provinces of Spain and France, as well as in Italy and Greece; and also on the northern coast of Africa, and in Syria. The poetical celebrity of this plant had, no doubt, some influence upon its employment in medicine, and numerous properties are ascribed to it by Dioscorides (i. 127). It is aromatic and astringent, and hence, like many other such plants, forms a stimulant tonic, and is useful in a variety of complaints connected with debility. Its berries were formerly employed in Italy, and still are so in Tuscany, as a substitute for spices, now imported so plentifully from the Far East. A wine was also prepared from them, which was called myrtidanum, and their essential oil is possessed of excitant properties. In many parts of Greece and Italy the leaves are employed in tanning leather. The myrtle, possessing so many remarkable qualities, was not likely to have escaped the notice of the sacred writers, as it is a well-known inhabitant of Judea.
Public Domain.
Kitto, John, ed. Entry for 'Myrtle'. "Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature". https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/kbe/m/myrtle.html.
