Heraclius. See Monotiielite.
Herald only occiurs in Dan. iii, 4 ; the term there used (tTl2, Ixiruz) is connected etymologically (Gesenius, Tlipsanr. p. 712) with the Greek Knpvuaii} and (cpo^w, and with our " cry." There is an evident allusion to the oflice of the herald in the expressions KrjpiKjcno, Ki'ipv'i, and Ktjpvyf-ia, which are frequent in the N.T.,and which are but inadequately rendered by " preach," etc. The term " herald" might be substituted in 1 Tim. ii, 7 : 2 Tim. i, 11 ; 2 Pet. ii, 5, as there is evidently in these passages an allusion to the Grecian games (q. v.).
Herb is the rendering of the following terms in the Auth.Yers. of the Bible : usually 3b^', e'seh, any green pkmt or herbage collectively, often rendered "grass;" applied generally to annual plants without woody stems, growing in the fiekls (Gen. ii, 5 ; iii, 18 ; Exod. ix, 22 ; X, 12,15) and on mountains (Isa. xlii, 15 ; Prov. xxvii, 25), growing up and setting seed (Gen. i, 11, 12, 29), and serving as food for man (Gen. i, 30 ; iii, 18 ; Psa. civ, 14) and for beast (Deut. xi, 15; Psa. cvi, 20; Jer. xiv, G; Dan. iv, 15, 23,32, 33; v, 21); comprehending, therefore, vegetables, greens, and sometimes all green herbage (Amos vii, 1, 2). Men are said to " flourish as a gi-een herb"' . (Psa. Ixxii, 16 ; xcii, 7 ; Job v, 25) ; also to v-ither (Psa. cii,4, 11). Hence, too, those seized with fear and tium- ing pale (Gr. x^ixypoi) are compared to the herb of the field which grows yellow and withers (2 Kings xix, 26 ; Isa. xxxvii, 27). P'^^» yarak', properly signifies green, and is applied to any green thing, verdure, foliage of fields and trees (2 Kings xix, 26 ; Isa. xxxvii, 27 ; xv, 6 , Exod. x, 15 ; Numb, xxii, 4 ; Psa. xxxvii, 2 ; Gen. i, 30 ; ix, 3) ; specially a jAant, herb (Deut. xi, 10 ; 1 Kings xxi, 2): a j^rtion of herbs, vegetables (Prov. xv, 17). S'jn, de'she, and T^^H, chatsir', properly designate grass, the first when young and tender, the latter when grown and fit for mowing. See Botany.
-lix, or (Ut. light), in the fem. iTnix, orah', plural trmx, ordth', "occurs in two passages of Scripture, where it is translated herb in the Auth.Yers. : it is gen- erally supposed to indicate such plants as are employed for food. The most ancient translators seem, however, to have been at a loss for its meaning. Thus the Sept. in one passage (2 Kings iv, 39) has only the Heb. word in Greek characters, aniwB, and in the other (Isa. xxvi, 19) (aju«, healing. The Vulg., and the Chaldee and Sj-riac versions, translate oi-oth in the latter passage by light, \\\ consequence of confounding one Heb. word with another, according to Celsius {flierobot. i. 459"). Eosen- m tiller says that oroth occiurs in its original and generic
signification in Isa. xxvi, 19, viz. gi-een herbs. The fu- ture restoration of the Hebrew people is there announced under the type and figure of a revival of the dead. ' Tlig dew is a deto of green he?'bs,' says the prophet, i. e. as by the dew green herbs are revived, so shalt tliou, being revived by God's strengthening power, flourish again. The other passage, however, appears an obscure one with respect to the meannig of 07-oth. Celsius has, with his usual learning, shown that mallows were much' employed as food in ancient times. Of this there can be no doubt, but there is no proof adduced that oroth means mallows; there are many other plants which were and still are employed as articles of diet in the East, as purslane, goosefoot, chenpodiums, lettuce, en- dive, etc. But 07-oth should be considered in conjunc- tion with pahjoth ; for we find in 2 Kings iv, 39, that when Elisha came again to Gilgal, and there was a dearth in the land, he said unto his servant, ' Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the proph- ets; and one went out into the field to gather herbs (oroth), and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof icild gourds (paki/oth) his lap fidl, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage, for they knew them not.' As pakgoth is universally acknowledged to be the fruit of one of the goiu-d tribe, so it is not unreasonable to conclude that oroth also was the fruit of some plant, for which the pahjoth had been mistaken. This may be admitted, as nothing better than conjecture has been adduced in support of other interpretations, and as there are fruits, such as that of the egg-plant, which are used as articles of diet, and for which the fruit of the pahjoth, or wild gourd, might have been mistaken by an igno- rant person" (Kitto). But perhaps, as this -was a time of great famine, the servant went out to gather any green vegetable likely to contribute towards the savori- ness and nutritiousness of the broth, and his mistake may have arisen not so much from any resemblance be- tween the pakyoth and any particular kind of oroth of which he was in quest, but rather from indiscriminately seizing whatever vegetable he met with, witliout knoAV- ing its noxious properties. Thus we may regard oroth in both passages as a general designation of esculent plants, in this case wild ones. See Goukd.