Bitter Herbs (B^TS, merorim', literally bitters; Sept. niKi/totc. ; Vulg. laciucm agrestes), occurs in two places in Scripture, both having reference to the Pas- chal meal. In Exod. xii, 8, Moses commanded the Jews to eat the lamb of the Passover "with unleav- ened bread, and with bitter herbs (merorim) they shall eat it." So at the institution of the second Passover, in the wilderness of Sinai (Num. ix, 11), "The four- teenth day of the second month at even they shall keep it, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs." The word merorim, which is here translated "bitter herbs," is universally acknowledged to signify bitter, and the word herbs has been supplied to com- plete the sense. In Arabic, murr, "bitter," plur. murar, signifies a species of bitter tree or plant ; as does maru, a fragrant herb which has always some de- gree of bitterness. Murooa is in India applied both to the bitter artemisia, or wormwood, and to the fra- grant ocynum pilosum, a species of basil ; in Arabia to the bitter centaury, according to Forskal. There has been much difference of opinion respecting the kind of herbs denoted by this word (Bochart, Hieroz. i, 1. ii, c. 50). On this subject the reader may consult Carp- zov, Apparat. p. 404 sq. See Passover. It how- ever seems very doubtful whether any particular herbs were intended by so general a term as bitters ; it is far more probable that it denotes whatever bitter herbs, obtainable in the place where the Passover was eaten, might be fitly used with meat. This seems to be established by the fact that the first directions respect- ing the Passover were given in Egypt, where also the first Passover was celebrated ; and, as the esculent vegetables of Egypt are very different from those of Palestine, it is obvious that the bitter herbs used in the first celebration could scarcely have been the same as those Avhich were afterward employed for the same purpose in Canaan. According to the Mishna (Pesa- chim, ii, 6), and the commentators thereon, there were five sorts of bitter herbs, any one or all of which might be used on this occasion. These were, (1.) r^TH, chaze'reth, supposed to be wild lettuce, which the Sep- tuagint and Vulgate make stand for the whole ; (2.) "pd^", uleshin' ', endives; or, according to some, wild endives; (3.) tl3"?P, tamkah' , which some make the garden endive, others horehound, others tansy, others the green tops of the horseradish, while, according to De Pomis, in Zemach David, it is no other than a spe- cies of thistle (carduus marrabium); (4.) "p33nin, charchabinin , supposed to be a kind of nettle, but which Scheuchzer shows to be the chamomile ; (5.) Tna, maror', which takes its name from its bitterness, and is alleged by the Mishnic commentators to be a spe- cies of the most bitter coriander, otherwise the dande- lion. All these might, according to the Mishna, be taken either fresh or dried, but not pickled, boiled, or cooked in any way. All these translations betray their European origin. To interpret them with any thing 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, ac- companied by a notice of their properties. Science is as yet far from having any thing of the kind. We have seen that the succory or endive was early selected as being the bitter herb especially intended ; and Dr. Geddes justly remarks that " the Jews of Alexandria, who translated the Pentateuch could not be ignorant what herbs were eaten with the Paschal lamb in their days." Jerome understood it in the same manner; and Pseudo-Jonathan expressly mentions horehound and lettuce. Forskal informs us that the Jews at Sana and in Egypt eat lettuce with the Paschal lamb. I Lad)' Calcott inquires whether mint was originally one | of the bitter herbs with which the Israelites ate the I Paschal, as our use of it with roast lamb, particularly i about Easter-time, inclined her to suppose it was.
BITTERN
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BITUMEN
Aben Ezra, as quoted by Eosenmuller, states that the Egyptians UBed bitter herbs in every meal ; so in India some of the bitter cucurbitacece, as kurella, are con- stantly employed as food. See Gourd. It is curious that the two sets of plants which appear to have the greatest number of points in their favor are the fra- grant and also bitter labiate plants. It is important to observe that the artemisia, and some of these fra- grant labiate, arc found in many parts of Arabia and Syria — that is, in warm, dry, barren regions. The endh e 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 wanderings in the desert, though it is difficult for us to select any one out of the several which might have been employed by them. Sec Botany ; Herb.