GOMAR, FRANCIS, celebrated in church his tory as the leading opponent of Arminius, was born at Bruges, Jan. 30, 1563, and died at Gro ningen, Jan. r, 1641. His theolooical education was carried on partly in England', where he at tended the lectures of Dr. John Rainolds at Oxford, and of Dr. William Whittaker of Cambridge, and partly at Heidelberg. In 1594 Ile accepted one of the chairs of theology at Leyden, in which univer sity James. Arminius was also, in. 16o3, appointed a professor. Almost immediately a warm contro versy arose between the two professors. On the death of Arminius in 16o9, the friends of Gomar being unsuccessful in their opposition to the ap pointment of Vorstius to the vacant chair, Gomar resigned his office and retired to Middleburgh. In 1614. he became professor of theology at Saumur, and four years aftenvards accepted a similar ap pointment in the university of Groningen. Gomar was one of the members of the synod of Dort (1618), and took an active part in its proceedings. He enjoyed a high reputation for his Hebrew, scholarship, and in 1633 assisted at Leyden in the revision of the translation of the O. T. His col lected works were published at Amsterdam in 1644, fol. Those which relate to Biblical topics are the following-1. Ex Evazigelio Mizahai lo corum explicatio. 2. Selectorzinz Ev. Luny locorucz illustratio. 3. Selectorum Ev. 2ohannis locorunz illustratio. 4. Analysis et explicatio ebistalarum Pauli ad Rom., G'al., Philip., Colass., Philem., Hebroos. 5. Explicatio epistolarum Petri, yolzannis, et yudce. 6. Explicatio capitum priorum quingue Apocalypsis. 7. Dissertatio a'e Evangelic llialthcci quananz lingua sit Sem:plum. S. Davidis Lyra, seu nova Ebr.aa ars poetica canonibus suis a'cscripta et exenzplis .S'acris Pindari et Sophoclis parallelis descripta. The commentaries of Gomar are highly commended by R. Simon (Hist. Crit. du A'. T., p. 761).—S. N.
GOME (Nni), translated rush' and bulrush,' is mentioned in four places of Scripture, from which there is no doubt that it was a plant growing in moist situations in Eg,ypt, and employed in the construction of vessels of different kinds, intended to float upon the water, such as the ark in which Moses was hid, and vessels for transit (Job viii. ; Is. xxxv. 7 ; Exod. ii. 3 ; Is. xviii. 2). The name gome, according to Celsius (Ilierobat. vol. p. r3S), is derived from t.,n gimnze, absorbere, bi bere, quia in aqua nascitur, et aquam semper imbibit.' Though other plants are adduced by translators and commentators as the game of Scrip ture, yet it is evident that only the papyrus can be meant, and that it is well suited to all the passages. Being in some respects so obvious, it could not escape the notice of all translators. Hence, in the Arabic Version, and in the Annals of Ezetychius, the word bzerdec, isgiven as the synonym of gone in Exod. 3. The Sept. in Job (viii. t) gives 7z-dal-twos, in Isaiah (xviii. 2) [31[3Xtvas, and the Vulgate, in this last passage, papyrum. In Arabic
authors on Materia Medica, we find the papyrus mentioned under the three heads of A-ricer, Bur dee, and Chartas. lizfeer is said to be the Egyp tian name of a kind Of burdee (bur-reed) of which paper (ckarta) is made ; and of burdee, the word fafururs (evidently a corruption of papyrus) is given as the Greek synonym.
The papyrus is now well known : it belongs to the tribe of sedges or cyperaceer, and is not a rush or bulrush, as in the A. V. It may be seen grow ing to the height of six or eight feet, even in tubs, in the hothouses of this country, and is described by the ancients as growing in the shallow parts of the Nile. The root is fleshy, thick, and spread ing ; the stems triangular, eight or ten feet in height, of which two or so are usually under water, thick below but tapering towards the apex, and. destitute of leaves ; those of the base broad, straight, and sword-shaped, but much shorter than the stem. This last is terminated by an involucel of a.bout eight leaves, sword-shaped and acute, much shorter than the many-rayed umbel which they support. The secondary umbels are com posed only of three or four short rays, with an in volucel of three awl-shaped leaflets. The flowers are in a short spike at the extremity of each ray. Cassiodorus, as quoted by Carpenter, graphically described it as it appears on the banks of the There rises to the view this forest without branches, this thicket without leaves, this harvest of the waters, this ornament of the marshes.' The papyrus was well known to the ancients as a plant of the waters of Egypt. Papyrum nasci tur in palustribus iEgypti, aut quiescentibus Nili aquis, ubi evagatze stagnant ' ( Pliny, xiii. r1). Theophrastus, at a much earlier period, described it as growing, not in the deep parts, but where the water was of the depth of two cubits, or even less. It was found in almost every part of Egypt inun dated by the Nile, in the Delta, especially in the Sebennytic norne, and in the neighbourhood of Memphis, etc. By some it was thought peculiar to Egypt ; hence the Nile is called by Ovid am nis papyrifer.' So a modern author, Prosper Alpinus (De Plant. zEgypti, c. 36) :—` Papyrus, quam bera' tEgyptii nominant, est planta fluminis Nili.' By others it was thought to be a native also of India, of the Euphrates near Babylon, of Syria, and of Sicily. The genus cyperus, indeed, to which it is usually referred, abounds in a great variety of large aquatic species, which it is diffi cult for the generality of observers to distinguish from one another ; but there is no reason why it should not grow in the waters of hot countries, as, for instance, near Babylon or in India. In fact, modem botanists having divided the genus cyperus into several genera, one of them is called papyrus, and the original species P. nilotica. Of this genus pa_pyrus there are several species in the waters of India (Wight, Contributions to the .Botany of India, Cyperex, p. 88).