Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
Hymn
a religious song or psalm. (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16) Our Lord and his apostles sung a
hymn after the last supper. In the jail at Philippi, Paul and Silas “sang hymns” (Authorized Version
“praises”) unto God, and so loud was their song that their fellow prisoners heard them.
Hyssop
(Heb. ezob.) The ezob was used for sprinkling in some of the sacrifices and purifications of the
Jews. In consequence of its detergent qualities, or from its being associated with the purificatory
Services, the psalmist makes use of the expression, “Purge me with ezob .” (Psalms 51:7) It is
described in (1 Kings 4:33) as growing on or near walls. (Besides being thus fit for sprinkling,
having cleansing properties and growing on walls, the true hyssop should be a plant common to
Egypt, Sinai and Palestine, and capable of producing a stick three or four feet long since on a stalk
of hyssop the sponge of vinegar was held up to Christ on the cross. (John 19:29) it is impossible
to precisely identify the plant because the name was given not to a particular plant but to a family
of plants associated together by Hyssop, qualities easily noticed rather than by close botanical
affinities. Different species of the family may have been used at different times. The hyssop of the
Bible is probably one (or all) of three plants:—
•The common hyssop is “a shrub with low, bushy stalks 1 1/2 feet high, small pear shaped,
close-setting opposite leaves all the stalks and branches terminated by erect whorled spikes of
flowers of different colors in the varieties. It is a hardy plant, with an aromatic smell and a warm,
pungent taste; a native of the south of Europe and the East.”—ED.)
•Bochart decides in favor of marjoram, or some plant like it, and to this conclusion, it must be
admitted, all ancient tradition points. (This is the Origanum maru, the z’atar of the Arabs. The
French consul at Sidon exhibited to Dr. Thomson (“The Land and the Book,” i. 161) a specimen
of this “having the fragrance of thyme, with a hot, pungent taste, and long slender stems.” Dr. Post
of Beirut, in the American edition of Smith’s large Dictionary, favors this view.—ED.)
•But Dr.Royle, after a careful investigation of the subject, arrives at the conclusion that the hyssop
is no other than the caperplant, or Capparis spinosa of Linnaeus. The Arabic name of this plant,
asuf, by which it is sometimes though not commonly, described, bears considerable resemblance
to the Hebrew. “It is a bright-green creeper, which climbs from the fissures of the rocks, is supposed
to possess cleansing properties, and is capable of yielding a stick to which a sponge might be
attached.”—Stanky, “Sinai and Palestine,” 23.—It produces a fruit the size of a walnut, called the
mountain pepper.
Ibhar
(whom God chooses), one of the sons of David, (2 Samuel 5:15; 1 Chronicles 3:6; 14:6) (born
in Jerusalem. B.C. after 1044.)
Ibleam
(devouring the people), a city of Manasseh, with villages or towns dependent on it. (Judges
1:27) It appears to have been situated in the territory of either Issachar or Asher. (Joshua 17:11)
The ascent of Gur was “at Ibleam,” (2 Kings 9:27) somewhere near the present Jenin, probably to
the north of it.
Ibneiah
290
William Smith