(3) What is meant by ‘lilies of the field’? It is plain that our Saviour Bpoke in a way that His hearers would understand. Therefore (a) there could not have been included in His allusion any plant unknown to His audience. This would exclude Liliwm Chalcedonicum, L., and Lilium Martagon, L., which have been assumed by some as the species intended, on account of their beauty, but neither of which is found in Palestine. Lilium candidum, L., is also not a plant of Palestine, and being white would not suit the comparison with Solomon’s royal garments. Furthermore, if this species had been intended, Npiov=white lily, would
robably have been used, instead of κρίνον, which is general. (4) None of the water lilies could have
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been intended, as the lilies were ‘of the field.’ (ce) It is not chy eee they were anemones or poppies or artichokes. All these flowers had their own names, and would not have been suggested to the popular mind by the term lily. (d) It must therefore have been some plant of the modern order Liliacew, Iridacee, or Amaryllidacee. Any of these would have been called κρίνον, and most would now be called gene lilies in Eng- lish. (e) It was not only a lily-like plant of the field, but had a stem, which, when dried, would be useful as fuel (Mt 6”). This would exclude the crocuses and colchicums, Anemone Coronaria, L. (which, however, has the support of Tristram), and other stemless plants. (7) It was a flower of rich colours. The plants which realize all these conditions are the various species of Gladi- olus, which are indigenous in Palestine, G. I/ly- ricus, Koch, G. segetum, Gawl, G. atroviolaceus, Boiss., and Jziolirion montanum, Lab. All these ow among the grain, often overtopping it, and luminating the broad fields with their various shades of pinkish purple to deep violet-purple and blue, truly royal colours. Any one who has stood among the wheat fields of Galilee, and seen the beautiful racemes of these flowers, peering up in every direction above the standing corn, will see at once the ge of our Saviour’s allu- sion. They all have a reedy stem, which, when dry, would make such fuel as is used in the ovens (Arab. tannir). These stems are constantly plucked up with the other wild plants from among the wheat, to feed cattle or to burn. The beautiful Ivises, 1. Sari, Schott, J. Palestina, Baker, J. Lorteti, Barb., and J. Helene, Barb., have gorgeous flowers, and would suit our Saviour’s comparison even better than the above. But they are plants of pasture grounds and swamps, seldom found in grain fields. If, however, we understand by ‘lilies of the field’ simply wild lilies, these would also be included in the expression. Our Saviour’s comparison would then be like a ‘com- posite photograph,’ a reference to all the splendid colours and beautiful shapes of the numerous wild plants comprehended under the name lily. This seems to us the most simple and natural interpreta- tion, and meets every requirement of the passage. G. E. Post. LIME (7, κονία) is the commonest of the so- ealled ‘alkaline earths,’ its basis being the metal calcium. The various forms of limestone, some of which are very abundant in Palestine, are com- osed of carbonate of lime. When this is strongly eated, it isconverted into oxide of lime or ‘ quick- lime,’ and becomes soft and crumbling. Quicklime combines readily and even violently with water to form ‘ slaked lime,’ which is one of the chief ingredi- ents of mortar (wh. see). As the mortar ‘sets,’ the slaked lime absorbs carbonic acid gas from the air, and is reconverted slowly into carbonate of lime. Lime is mentioned only twice in EV. In Is 332 it is predicted that the Assyrian oppressor shall be ‘as the burnings of lime’ (vy ni5qy>)—a figure for destruction. (Similarly in Is 27° the stones of idolatrous altars are to be ‘as chalkstones [72722, LXX κονία λεπτή] that are beaten in sunder,’ prob- ably after being ‘burnt.’ See CHALK-STONES). In Am 2! the ἘΠ πὰ are denounced because they ‘burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime’ (see Driver’s note). Phosphate of lime is the chief mineral constituent of mes, and is un- changed by burning. Both in their appearance
and in their composition, therefore, bone ashes have something in common with calcined lime- stone, and are naturally described by the same term. Besides these two passages, YY occurs in Dt 2724 both as noun an lated ‘ plaister’ (wh. see).
as verb, and is trans-
In Mt 23” our Lord, in denouncing the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy, compares them | to τάφοι κεκονιαμένοι. It was the custom of the
Jews to whiten the outside of their tombs with lime every year on the 15th of Adar, the object being to make the tombs conspicuous, that passers- by might avoid defilement (see Meyer, Holtzmann, in loc.). In our Lord’s saying, the whiteness is viewed chiefly as a deceptive outward embellish- ment, contrasting with the corruption within. Similarly in Ac 23% St. Paul calls Ananias the high priest τοῖχος κεκονιαμένος.
JAMES PATRICK.
LIMIT.— The subst. occurs only in Ezk 43” ‘Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof shal] be most holy,’ where it means a region or space within certain limits or bounds (Heb. bya3, LXX τὰ ὅρια : the Heb. word is common in this sense, but it is usually rendered by ‘ border’ or ‘coast’: Wye. [1388] has ‘coostes’ here, [1382] ‘eendis’; Cov. ‘corners’; Geneva gives ‘ limits’). For ne Eng. word cf. Shaks. J Henry IV. 11. iy 7