Heminge. See Hemming.
Hemlock appears in the Auth. Vers, as the render- ing of two Heb. words iii some of the passages where they occur.
1. RosH ("dX"l and r3i"i) is thought originally to sig- nify " poison," and is therefore supposed to indicate a poisonous, or, at least, a bitter plant. This we maj^ infer from its being frequently mentioned along with laanah or " wormwood," as in Deut. xxix, 18, " Lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall (rosfi) and tcorm- wood (laanah) ;" so also in Jer. ix, 15; xxiii, 15; and in Lam. iii, 10, '-Remembering mine affliction and my mis- ery, the v-onmrood and the ffall." That it was a berrj^- beating plant has been inferred from Deut. xxxii, 32, " For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and their grapes are grapes oi (jail (rosli) ; their clusters are bitter." In Jer. viii, 14; ix, 15; xxiii, 15, "water of yall" (rosh) is mentioned, which may be either the expressed juice of the fruit or of the plant, or a bitter infusion made from it. That it was a plant is very evident from Hosea x, 4, where it is said " their judgment springeth up as hem- lock (rosh) in the furrows of the field;" also in Amos vi, 12, "For ye have turned judgment into gall (laanah, 'wormv.-ood'), and the fnut of righteousness into hem- loci- (}vsh)." The only other passages where it occurs are in speaking of the " poison" (Job xx, 16) or " venom" of asps (Deut. xxii, 33), or "gall" in a figurative sense for sorrow (Lam. iii, 5), or as food (Psa. Ixix, 21). See Gam,; Poison.
Tliough rosh is generally acknowledged to indicate some plant, j-et a variety of o])inions have been enter- tained respecting its identification : some, as the Auth. Vers, in Hosea x, 4, and Amos vi, 12, consider cicvta or hemlock to be the plant intended. TremeUius adopts this as the meaning of i-osh in all the passages, and is followed by Celsius (Hieroboi. ii, 49). The cicuta of the Romans, the kwvhov of the Greeks, is generally acknowl- edged to have been what we now call he/nlocl; the coni- vm mnoilatum of botanists. There can be no doubt of its poisonous nature (Pliny, Hist. Nat. xxv, 13). Celsius quotes tlie description of Linnreus in support of its groAving in the furrows of fields, but it does not appear to be so common in Syria. Celsius, however, adduces Ben-]Melech, the most learned of Rabbins, as being of ojjinion that rosh was coninm or hemlock. But there does not ajipear any necessity for our considering rosh to have lieen more poisonous than laanah or icormwood, with wliich it is associated so frequently as to appear like a proverbial expression (Deut. xxix, 18 ; Jer. ix, 15 ; xxiii, 15; Lam. iii, 19; Amos vi, 12). The Sept. trans- lators render it agrosfis, intending some species of grass. Hence some have concluded that it must be lolium temu-
lentiim, or dai-nel, the zizanium of the ancients ; while others have thought that some of the solanca- or luridm of Linnreus, as the belladonna or the solanim m'fp-Ttm, common nightshade, or still, again, the henbane, is in- tended. But no proof appears in favor of any of this tribe, and their sensible properties are not so remarkably disagreeable as to have led to their being emi)loyed in what appears to be a proverbial expression. Hiiler. in his llierophyticon (ii, 54), adduces the centaury as a Ijit- ter plant, which, like others of the tribe of gentians, might answer all the passages in which rosh is mention- ed, with the exception of that (Deut. xxxii, 32) where it is supposed to have a berried fruit. Dr. Harris, quot- ing Blayney on Jer. viii, 14, says, " In Psa. Ixix, 21 , which is justly considered as a prophecy of our Saviour's suf- ferings, it is said, ' They gave ine rosh to eat,' which the Sept. have rendered xoXi) v, gall. Accordingly, it is recorded in the histon,', IMatt. xxvii, 34, ' They gave him vinegar to drink, mingled with gall,' u^oq fiiTu xoX>;c. But in the parallel passage (JIark xv, 23) it is said to be 'wine mingled with myrrh,' a vers' bitter ingredi- ent. From whence I am induced to think that xoX/;, and perhaps 7-osh, may be used as a general name for whatever is exceedingly bitter: and, consequently, when the sense requires, it may be put specially for any bitter herb or plant, the infusion of which may be called ' wa- ters of i-osh.' " — Kitto. See Myrrh.
2. Laanah' (n3"b) occurs in the passages above cited and in a few others, where it is translated " worm- wood" (Deut. xxix, 18 ; Prov. v, 4 ; Jer. ix, 15 ; xxiii, 15; Lam. iii, 15, 19; Amos v, 7); and only in a single passage is it rendered "hemlock" (Amos vi, 12), See
AVORJIWOOD.
Hemmeiiway, IMoses, D.D., a Congregational minister, was born in 1735 at Framingham, IMass. He graduated at Harvard College in 1755, and was ordained pastor in Wells, Mass., Aug. 8, 1759, where he labored until his death, April 5, 1811. He published iSeren Ser- mons on the Obligation and Encouragement of the Unre- qenerate to labor for the Meat which endureth to everlast- ing Life (1767): — Vindication of the Poirer. Obligation, etc., of the Unregenerate to attend thi M,(ii/.< of Grace, against the Exceptions of Samud llnj:l.h,s in his Reply to Mills (1772):— Remarks on Rev. Mr. J/ujJinss An- swer to a Tract entitled "A Vindication," etc. (1774): — A Discourse on the divine Institution of Water Baptism as a standing Ordinance of the Gnspd (1781):— yl Bis- course on tin- Xiitin; ami Sid,jr,is of Cl/ristian Baptism (1781): — Disniiirsf conn rning th< (_Iiinrh,in -irhich the several Acceptations of the Word are ijj,hrin(d. etc. (1792) : — Remarks on the Rev. Dr. Emmonf^ /'is.--, rfu/ian on the sc7-ipfu7-al Qualif rations for A dmis.-ii,t (//»/ .Im. <»- to the Christian Sacniiiii iit.--, (aid on his /Strictures on a Discourse concerniiig tin ( hnn-lt (1794); and several oc- casional sermons. — Spramif. .\nrials,'\, 541.