The "rose of Sharon" of modern writers is a rose-like species of cistus, while the "rose of Jericho" is a small woody plant with minute cru ciferous flowers. True wild roses are rarely seen except in the extreme north of Palestine.
Tournefort mentions fifty-three kinds of roses, of which the damask rose, and the rose of Sharon, are among the finest. The essence of damask roses is an excellent perfume.
Figurative. (1) Jesus Christ is called the Rose of Sharon; how unbounded his comeliness, delightfulness, and efficacy, for the healing of our souls (Cant. ii :1). (2) The wilderness blossoms as the rose; through the preaching of the gospel, the gentile world shall be converted to Christ, and flourish with saints and graces (Is. xxxv :I).
ROSH (rosh), (Heb. rosh, the head), oc curs in several places of the Old Testament.
1. The word is thought originally to signify 'poison,' and is therefore supposed to indicate a poisonous plant. But this has not yet been ascer tained. It is sometimes translated gall, some times bitter or bitterness, but is generally con sidered to signify some plant. This we may infer from its being frequently mentioned along with laanah or 'wormwood,' as in Deut. xxix :18, 'lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall (rash) and wormwood (laanah'); so also in Jer. ix :15 ; xxiii :15 ; and in Lam. iii :19, 'Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.' That it was a berry-bearing plant, has been inferred from Deut. xxxii :32, Tor their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and their grapes are grapes of gall (rosh), their clusters are bit ter.' In Jer. viii :14, 'water of gall' (rosh), is mentioned ; which may be either the expressed juice of the fruit or of the plant, or a bitter in fusion made from it : Rosch dicuntur, quia sent succns herby', qztam Rosch appellant.' That it was a plant is very evident from Hos. x :4, where it is said 'their judgment springeth up as hemlock (rash) in the furrows of the field.' Here we observe that rash is translated hemlock in the Authorized Version, as it is also in Amos vi :12, 'For ye have turned judgment into gall (laanah, `wormwood'), and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock' (rash).
Though rash is generally acknowledged to indi cate some plant, yet a variety of opinions have been entertained respecting its identification; some, as the Authorized Version, in Hos. x :4, and Amos vi :12, consider cicuta or hemlock to be the plant intended. Tremellius adopts this as the meaning of rash in all the passages, and is fol lowed by Celsius (Hierobot ii :49). The cicuta of the Romans, the kolnicion of the Greeks, is generally acknowledged to have been what we now call hemlock, the conium 7nacitiatuni of bot anists. There can be no doubt of its poisonous nature, but there does not appear any necessity for our considering rosh to have been more poi sonous than laanah or wormwood, with which it is associated so frequently as to appear like a proverbial expression (Deut. xxix :IS; Jer. ix :
15; xxiii :i5 ; Lam. iii :t9 ; Amos vi :12). Some have erroneously translated it wormwood, from which it is sufficiently distinguished in the above passages. The Septuagint translator renders it agrostis, intending some species of grass. Hence some have concluded that it must be lolium fe y/tile/awn, or darnel, the zizanium of the an cients, which is remarkable among grasses for its poisonous and intoxicating properties. It is, how ever, rather sweetish in taste, and its seeds being intermixed with corn, are sometimes made into bread. It is well known to grow in cornfields. and would therefore suit the passage of Hosea ; but it has not a berry-like fruit, nor would it yield any juice; the infusion in water, however, might be so understood. though it would not be very bitter or disagreeable in taste. Hiller. in his Mierophyticon (ii, 54), adduces the centaury as a bitter plant, which corresponds with much of what is required. Two kinds of centaury, the larger and smaller, and both conspicuous for their bitterness, were known to the ancients. The lat ter, the Erythr•a centaztrium, is one of the family of gentians, and still continues to be employed as a medicine on account of its bitter and tonic properties. We may also mention that an old name of this eentattry was Rha eapitatum.' From the extreme bitterness of taste, from growing in fields, and being a native of warm countries, some plant like centoury, and of the tribe of gentians, might answer all the passages in which rosh is mentioned, with the exception of that (Deut. xxxii :32) where it is supposed to have a berried fruit. Dr. Harris, .quoting Blaney on Jer. viii: 14, says, 'In Ps. lxix:21, which is justly consid ered as a prophecy of our Savior's sufferings, it is said, "they gave me rash to cat," which the Septuagint have rendered kholanc, gall, and ac cordingly it is recorded in the history(Matt. xxvii: 34). "They gave him vinegar to drink, min gled with gall." But in the parallel passage (Mark xv:23) it is said to be "wine mingled with myrrh," a very bitter ingredient. From whence I am induced to think that kholay, and perhaps rash, may be used as a general name for whatever is exceedingly bitter ; and, consequently, when the sense requires, it may be put specially for any bitter herb or plant, the infusion of which may be called Rosch. (See GALL; MYRRH.) J. F. R.
2. The seventh son of Benjamin, and head of a family in Israel (Gen. xlvi :21), B. C. about 1880. Perhaps identical with RAPHA, I ( I Chron. viii :2).
3. In Ezek. xxxviii :2, 3 ; xxxix :t the HebreW word rash, translated "prince," should be read, doubtless, as "prince of Rosh." It was applied probably to a northern nation, and according to Gesenius the name is an early form of Russ or Russia Roume.