OROTH (Or'oth), (Heb. 717N, a-raw.), is trans lated herb in the Authorized Version; it is gener ally supposed to indicate such plants as are em ployed for food.
With respect to the meaning of oroth, Rosen miiller says that it occurs in its original and general signification in Is. xxvi :19, viz.: green herbs. The future restoration of the Hebrew people is there announced under the type and figure of a revival of the dead. 'Thy dew is a dew of green herbs,' says the prophet, i. e. as by the dew, green herbs are revived, so shalt thou, be ing revived by God's strengthening power, flour ish again. The passage, however, appears an obscure one, with respect to the meaning of oroth Celsius has, with his usual learning, shown that mallows were much employed as food in ancient times. Of this there can be no doubt, but there is no proof adduced that oroth means mallows.
But it appears to us that oroth should be con sidered only in conjunction with pakyoth; for we find in 2 Kings iv that when Elisha came again to Gilgal, and there was a dearth in the land, he said unto his servant, 'Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets (verse 39) ; and one went out into the field to gather herbs (oroth), and found a wild vine, and gath ered thereof wild gourds (pakyoth) his lap full.
and came and shred them into the pot of pot tage, for they knew them not.' From this it would appear that pakyoth had been mistaken for oroth; and as the former is universally acknowl edged to be the fruit of one of the gourd tribe, so it is not unreasonable to conclude that oroth also was the fruit of some plant, for which the pakyoth had been mistaken. (See GRASS; HERBS, BITTF-R; LENTIL.) J. F. R.
ORPArt (Or'pah), (Heb. rir.F, or-paw', fawn, or mane), daughter-in-law of Naomi, who remained behind among her kindred in Moab, when Ruth returned with Naomi to Bethlehem (Ruth i:4-14). (See Rum.)