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Gall
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gol ((mererah) that which is bitter)
RELATED: Myrrh, Wormwood |
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Easton's Bible Dictionary
(1) Hebrew mererah, meaning "bitterness" ( Job
16:13 ); i.e., the bile secreted in the liver. This word is also used of the
poison of asps ( Job
20:14 ), and of the vitals, the seat of life (Job
20:25).
(2) Hebrew rosh. In Deuteronomy
32:33 and Job
20:16 it denotes the poison of serpents. In Hosea
10:4 the Hebrew word is rendered "hemlock." The original probably denotes
some bitter, poisonous plant, most probably the poppy, which grows up quickly,
and is therefore coupled with wormwood ( Deuteronomy
29:18 ; Jeremiah
9:15 ;
Lamentations 3:19 ). Compare Jeremiah
8:14 ; 23:15
, "water of gall," Gesenius, "poppy juice;" others, "water of hemlock," "bitter
water."
(3) Greek chole ( Matthew
27:34 ), the LXX. translation of the Hebrew rosh in Psalms
69:21 , which foretells our Lord's sufferings. The drink offered to our Lord
was vinegar (made of light wine rendered acid, the common drink of Roman soldiers)
"mingled with gall," or, according to ( Mark
15:23 ), "mingled with myrrh;" both expressions meaning the same thing, namely,
that the vinegar was made bitter by the infusion of wormwood or some other bitter
substance, usually given, according to a merciful custom, as an anodyne to those
who were crucified, to render them insensible to pain. Our Lord, knowing this,
refuses to drink it. He would take nothing to cloud his faculties or blunt the
pain of dying. He chooses to suffer every element of woe in the bitter cup of
agony given him by the Father ( John
18:11 ).
Hitchcock's Dictionary of Bible Names
(no entry)
Smith's Bible Dictionary
Mereerah, denoting "that which is bitter;" hence the
term is applied to the "bile" or "gall" (the fluid secreted by the liver), from
its intense bitterness, ( Job
16:13 ; 20:25
) it is also used of the "poison" of serpents, ( Job
20:14 ) which the ancients erroneously believed was their gall.
Rosh, generally translated "gall" in the English Bible, is in ( Hosea
10:4 ) rendered "hemlock:" in ( Deuteronomy
32:33 ) and Job
20:16 rosh denotes the "poison" or "venom" of serpents. From ( Deuteronomy
29:18 ) and Lamentations
3:19 compared with Hosea
10:4 it is evident that the Hebrew term denotes some bitter and perhaps poisonous
plant. Other writers have supposed, and with some reason, from ( Deuteronomy
32:32 ) that some berry-bearing plant must be intended. Gesenius understands
poppies; in which case the gall mingled with the wine offered to our Lord at his
crucifixion, and refused by him, would be an anaesthetic, and tend to diminish
the sense of suffering. Dr. Richardson, "Ten Lectures on Alcohol," p. 23, thinks
these drinks were given to the crucified to diminish the suffering through their
intoxicating effects.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
gol:
(1) ro'sh, or rosh (Deuteronomy
32:32 only, "grapes of gall"):
Some very bitter plant, the bitterness as in (2) being associated with the idea
of poison. Deuteronomy
29:18 margin "rosh, a poisonpus herb"; Lamentations
3:5 , 19
; Jeremiah
8:14 ; 9:15
; 23:15
, "water of gall," margin "poison"; Hosea
10:4, translated "hemlock"; Amos
6:12, "Ye have turned justice into gall"; Job
20:16, the "poison of asps": here rosh clearly refers to a different substance
from the other references, the points in common being bitterness and poisonous
properties. Hemlock (Conium maculatum), colocynth (Citrullus colocynthus) and
the poppy (Papaver somniferum) have all been suggested as the original rosh, the
last having most support, but in most references the word may represent any bitter
poisonous substance. Rosh is associated with la'anah, "wormwood" (Deuteronomy
29:18 ; Lamentations
3:19 ; Amos
6:12).
(2) mererah (Job
16:13), and merorah (Job
20:14 , 25),
both derived from a root meaning "to be bitter," are applied to the human gall
or "bile," but like (1), merorah is once applied to the venom of serpents (Job
20:14). The poison of these animals was supposed to reside in their bile.
(3) chole (Matthew
27:34), "They gave him wine to drink mingled with gall"; this is clearly a
reference to the Septuagint version of Psalms
69:21:
"They gave me also gall (chole, Hebrew rosh) for my food; and in my thirst they
gave me vinegar to drink." In Mark
15:23, it says, "wine mingled with myrrh." It is well known that the Romans
gave wine with frankincense to criminals before their execution to alleviate their
sufferings; here the chole or bitter substance used was myrrh (Pliny Ep. xx.18;
Sen. Ep. 83).
E. W. G. Masterman
Tags:
bible commentary, bible history, bible reference, bible study, bile, bitter, chole, define, gall, la'anah, mererah, plant, rosh, wormwood
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