MERORIM (w-hn) occurs in two places in Scripture, and is in both translated bitter herbs in our A. V., as well as in several others (Exod. xii. 8 ; Num. ix. ii). The word merorim is uni versally acknowledged to signify bitter, and the word herbs has been supplied to complete the sense. By the Sept. it has been translated eat weicplawv, and by St. Jerome, cum lactucis agresti bus.' Several interpreters, however, render it simply amara ; which Celsius adopts, and considers that merorim has reference to the t's/3csuua which was eaten with the paschal lamb, and that it signifies cum amaritudinibus, vel rebus amaris.' In the Arabic a word similar to the Hebrew has also refer ence to bitterness, and, like the Greek word irucp6s, came to be applied to a bitter plant. Thus the Arabic mum bitter,' pl. murar, signifies a species of bitter tree or plant ; as does mare, a fragrant herb which has always some degree of bitterness. Marooa is in India applied both to the bitter Arte misia, or wormwood, and to the fragrant Oeynum fillosum, a species of Basil ; in Arabia, to the bitter Centaury, according to Forskal. It is extremely probable that a bitter herb of some kind is intended, but whether a particular species or any bitter herb, it is difficult to say. The Jews, as we learn from the Mishna (Tract. Pesachim, cap. ii. sec. 6, as quoted by Bochart, Hieraz. i. I. ii. c. 50), used five kinds of bitter herbs, thus given by Dr. Harris : 1. Chazareth, taken for lettuce ; 2. Ulyin, supposed to be endive, or succory ; 3. Tamca, probably tansy ; 4. Charubbinim, which Bochart thought might be the nettle, but Scheuchzer shows to be the camomile ; 5. Meror, the sow-thistle, orolent-delion, or wild lettuce.' All these translations betray their European origin. To interpret them with anything like accuracy, it is requisite, in the first place, to have a complete Flora of the countries, from Egypt to Syria, with the Arabic names of the useful plants, accompanied by a notice of their properties. Science is as yet far from having anything of the kind. We have seen that the succory or endive was early selected as being the bitter herb especi ally intended ; and Dr. Geddes justly remarks, that the Jews of Alexandria, who translated the Penta teuch, could not be ignorant what herbs were eaten with the paschal lamb in their days.' Jerome under stood it in the same manner ; and Pseudo-Jonathan expressly mentions horehound and lettuces. Forskal informs us that the Jews at Sana and in Egypt eat the lettuce with the paschal lamb. Lady Calcott
inquires whether mint was originally one of the bitter herbs with which the Israelites ate the pas chal, as our use of it with roast lamb, particularly about Easter time, inclined her to suppose it was. Ibn Ezra, as quoted by Rosenmiiller, states that the Egyptians used bitter herbs in every meal : so in India some of the bitter Cucurbitaceo, as kurella, are constantly employed as food [PAKYOTH]. It is curious that the two sets of plants which appear to have the greatest number of points in their fa vour are the endive or succory, and one of the fra grant and usually also bitter labiate plants ; because we find that the term marooa is in the East applied even in the present day both to the bitter worm wood and the fragrant Ocymum. Moreover the Chaldee translator, Jonathan, expressly mentions lettuce and horehound, or marrubium, which is also one of the Labiat. It is important to observe that the Artemisia, and some of these fragrant labi ate, are found in many parts of Arabia and Syria ; that is, in warm, dry, barren regions. The endive is also found in similar situations, but requires, upon the whole, a greater degree of moisture. Thus it is evident that the Israelites would be able to obtain suitable plants during their long wander ings in the Desert, though it is difficult for us to select any one out of the several which might have been employed by them.—J. F. R.
MEROZ (1i1}2 ; Sept. Ithipcbgl, a place in the northern part of Palestine, the inhabitants of which are severely reprehended in Judg. v. 23, for not having taken the field with Barak against Sisera. It would seem as if they had had an opportunity of rendering some particular and important service to the public cause which they neglected. The site is not known : Eusebius and Jerome (Onomast., s. v. Merus') fix it twelve Roman miles from Se baste, on the road to Dothaim ; but this position would place it too far south of the field of battle to agree with the history. [Meroz must have been near Kishon, and not far from Kedesh Naphthali. This would bring it close on the lake Merom, and Fiirst suggests it may have been the original name of this place which gave name to these waters (H. W. B., s. v.) Wilson (Lands of the Bible, ii. 89) identifies it with the Kefr-Zilesr on the southern slope of Mount Tabor, and this Van de Velde approves (Mem., P. 334)•]