the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Encyclopedias
Rose
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or (חֲבִצֶּלֶת, chabatstseleth; Sept. κρίνον, ἄνθος; Aq. κάλυξ; Vulg. flos, lilium) occurs twice only in the canonical Scriptures; namely, first in Song of Solomon 2:1, where the bride replies, "I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley," and secondly in Isaiah 35:1, "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." There is much difference of opinion as to what particular flower is here denoted, and the question perhaps does not admit of definite determination. Tremellius and Diodati, with some of the rabbins, believe the rose is intended, but there seems to be no foundation for such a translation. The Sept. renders it simply by flower in the passage of the Canticles. In this it has been followed by the Latin Vulgate, Luther, etc. It is curious, however, as remarked by Celsius (Hierobot. 1, 489), that many of those who translate chabatstseleth by rose or flower in the passage of the Canticles render it by lily in that of Isaiah. The rose was, no doubt, highly esteemed by the Greeks, as it was, and still is, by almost all Asiatic nations; and as it forms a very frequent subject of allusion in Persian poetry, it has been inferred that we might expect some reference to so favorite a flower in the poetical books of the Scripture, and that no other is better calculated to illustrate the above two passages. But this does not prove that the word chabatstseleth or any similar one was ever applied to the rose. Other flowers, therefore, have been indicated, to which the name chabatstseleth may be supposed, from its derivation, to apply more fitly. Scheuzer refers to Hiller (Hierophyt. p. 2), who seeks chabatstseleth among the bulbous-rooted plants, remarking that the Hebrew word may be derived from chabab and batsal, a bulb, or bulbous root, of any plant, as we have seen it applied to the onion (q.v.). So Rosenmü ller remarks that the substantial part of the Hebrew name shows that it denotes a flower growing from a bulb, and adds in a note "that chabatstseleth is formed from betsel, or bulb, the guttural cheth being sometimes put before triliterals in order to form quadriliterals from them" (see Gesen. Gram. p. 863).
Some, therefore, have selected the asphodel as the bulbous plant intended, respecting which the author of Scripture Illustrated remarks, "It is a very beautiful and odoriferous flower, and highly praised by two of the greatest masters of Grecian song. Hesiod says it grows commonly in woods, and Homer (Odyss. 1, 24) calls the Elysian Fields ‘ meads filled with asphodel.'" Celsius (loc. cit.) has already remarked that Bochart has translated chabatstseleth by narcissus (Polyanthus narcissus), and not without reason, as some Oriental translators have so explained it. In the Targum (Song of Solomon 2:1), instead of chabatstseleth we have narkom (נרקו ם ), which, however, should have been written narkos (ניקוס ), as appears from the words of David Cohen de Lara, "Narkos is the same as chabatstseleth of Sharon." So in Isaiah 35:1, chabatstseleth is written chamzaloito in the Syrian translation, which is the same as narcissus (Cels. Hierobot. 1, 489). This, Rosenmü ller informs us (Bibl. Bot. p. 142), according to the testimony of Syriac-Arabic dictionaries, denotes the Colchicum autumnale, that is, the meadow saffron. That plant certainly has a bulb-like rootstock in form the flowers resemble those of the crocus, and are of a light violet color, without scent. Narkom and narkos are, no doubt. the same as the Persian nurgus, which throughout the East indicates the Narcissus tazetta, or the Polyanthus narcissus. The ancients describe and allude to the narcissus on various occasions, and Celsius has quoted various passages from the poets indicative of the esteem in which it was held. Since they were not so particular as the moderns in distinguishing species, it is probable that more than one may be referred to by them, and therefore that N. tazetta may be included under the same name as N. poeticus, which was best known to them. It is not unimportant to remark that the narcissus was also called Bulbus vomitorius, or the Emetic bulbus, in Greek and Latin; and the Arabic busl- al-kye no doubt refers to the same or a kindred species. It is curious, also, that an Eastern name, or the corruption of one, should be applied by gardeners even in England to a species of narcissus: thus, N. trewriamus and crenulatus (the former supposed by some to be a variety of N. orientalis) were once called "Bazalman major" and "Bazalman minor." That the narcissus is found in Syria and Palestine is well known, as it has been mentioned by several travelers, and also that it is highly esteemed by all Asiatics from Syria even as far as India (comp. Soph. (Ed. Col. p. 698 sq., Mosch. Idyl. 2, 65 sq.; Athen. 15, 679 sq.). Chateaubriand (Itineraire, 2, 130) mentions the narcissus as growing in the plain of Sharon; and Strand (Flor. Palest. No. 177) names it as a plant of Palestine, on the authority of Rauwolf and Hasselquist (see also Kitto, Phys. Hist. of Palest. p. 216). Hiller (Hierophyt. 2, 30) thinks the chabatstseleth denotes some species of asphodel (Asphodelus); but the finger-like roots of this genus of plants do not well accord with the "bulb" root implied in the original word. Thomson (Land and Book, 1, 161; 2, 269) suggests the possibility of the Hebrew name being identical with the Arabic khubbaizy, "the mallow, "which plant he saw growing abundantly on Sharon; but this view can hardly be maintained. The Hebrew term is probably a quadriliteral noun with the harsh aspirate prefixed, and the prominent notion implied in it is betsel "a bulb" and has therefore no connection with the above-named Arabic word. The narcissus alone is still called buseil by the natives of Palestine (Quar. Statement of the Palest. Explor. Soc. Jan. 1878, p. 46). (See SHARON).
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