Flowers

(נַדָּה, niddah’, uncleanness, as often elsewhere rendered) stands in Lev 15:21; Lev 15:33, for the menstrual discharge of females. Flowers. 1. It was an ancient practice to strew flowers on graves. Jerome bestows the following commendation on Pammachius: “While other husbands throw thorns, lilies, violets, roses, and purple flowers upon the graves of their wives, our Pammachius waters the bones and holy ashes of his wife with the balsam of alms. With these perfumes and odors he solaces the ashes of the dead that lie at rest” (Epist. 26).

2. The practice of decorating churches with flowers is very common in the Roman, and some of the Protestant churches of the Continent, and exists in various parts of England. It probably arose out of a desire to “honor the first-fruits” of nature’s most beautiful productions, and may therefore be retained among things in themselves indifferent. The modern Ritualists, however, carry this, as other things, to excess.—Bingham, Orig. Eccles. book 23, chapter 3, § 20; Walcot, Sacred Archaeology, page 280; Barrett, Flowers and Festivals, or Directions for the Floral Decoration of Churches (London, 1868).

FLOWERS.—Palestine has a flora of wonderful wealth and variety. The known species exceed three thousand, and even this large list is probably far from complete. But numbers alone convey no adequate idea of its varied nature. This little land contains within its narrow limits the most remarkable diversities of soil, surface, and climate. As is the land so is its flora, which at the one extreme, amid the heights of Lebanon, is Alpine in its character, and at the other extreme, in the gorge of the Dead Sea, tropical.

In the NT there are very few references to flowers, and these are of the most general character (Jas 1:10-11; 1Pe 1:24). In the Gospels the only mention of them is in the words of our Lord, ‘Consider the lilies of the field’ (Mat 6:23, Luk 12:27). It is noteworthy that it is to their beauty that Christ appeals; elsewhere in the NT flowers are the emblem of frailty and evanescence. But in spite of the comparative infrequency of Scripture allusions to them or praise of their beauty, the Jews were lovers of flowers. This is attested by the floral ornamentation on the woodwork of the oracle (1Ki 6:18), the folding-doors (1Ki 6:35), and the pillars of the temple (1Ki 7:22), the brim of the molten sea (1Ki 7:26), and the golden candlestick (Exo 25:31; Exo 25:33). From the Mishna we learn that at the Feast of Harvest (Exo 23:16) the first crop of fruit offered at the altar was decked with flowers (Bikkurim, ii. 3).

Among the beautiful flowers of Palestine may be mentioned anemones, crocuses, cyclamens, gladioli, hyacinths, irises, poppies, roses, and tulips.

Hugh Duncan.

FLOWERS.—1. nizzân, only Son 2:12. 2. ziz, Isa 28:1; Isa 28:4; Isa 40:6, Job 14:2, ‘blossoms’ Num 17:8. 3. nizzah—used of the inconspicuous flowers of vine and olive, Isa 18:5, Job 15:33. 4. perach, Exo 25:33, Isa 18:5, AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘bud,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘blossom,’ Nah 1:4. Flowers are one of the attractive features of Palestine: they come in the early spring (Son 2:12), but fade all too soon, the brilliant display being a matter of but a few short weeks. Hence they are an appropriate symbol of the evanescence of human life (Job 14:2, Psa 103:15 etc.). The ‘lilies of the field’ of Mat 6:28 may have been a comprehensive term for the brilliant and many-coloured anemones, the irises, the gladioli, etc., which lend such enchantment to the hillsides in March and April.

E. W. G. Masterman.

May be used to adorn the altar, fresh-cut ones being preferred, although plants and artificial flowers are permitted. They are forbidden during Advent, excepting on the third (Gaudete) Sunday, and during Lent, excepting on the fourth (Lætare) Sunday. In art they are associated with Saint Fiacre, in symbolism of his garden, possibly also as garden of souls, and with Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, in commemoration of the miracle by which the food she was carrying to the poor was changed, in midwinter, to roses.

Pote adornar le altar, flores frescemente seca preferite, ben que plantas e flores artificial son permittite. Illos son prohibite durante Advento, excepte in le 3me (Gaudete) dominica, e durante Quaresima, excepte in le 4me (Lætare) dominica. In arte illos son associatite con Sancte Fiacre, symbolic de su jardin, forson anque como jardin de animas, e con Sancte Elizabeth de Hungaria, como commemoration del miraculo durante que le alimento su portava pro le pauperes cambiava, durante hiberno, a rosas.

Nove Dictionario Catholic

flou´ẽ̱rz (BLOOM, BLOSSOM, etc.):

(1) גּבעל, gibh‛ōl, literally, “a small cup,” hence, calyx or corolla of a flower (Exo 9:31, “The flax was in bloom”).

(2) נץ, nēc (Gen 40:10, נצּה, niccāh, “a flower” or “blossom”; Job 15:33; Isa 18:5). These words are used of the early berries of the vine or olive.

(3) נצּן, niccān, “a flower”; plural only, נצּנים, niccānı̄m (Son 2:12, “The flowers appear on the earth”).

(4) פרח, peraḥ, root to “burst forth” expresses an early stage of flowering; “blossom” (Isa 5:24; Isa 18:5); “flower” (Nah 1:4, “The flower of Lebanon languisheth”). Used of artificial flowers in candlesticks (Exo 25:31).

(5) ציץ, cı̄c, “flower” (Isa 40:6); plural צצּים, ciccı̄m, flowers as architectural ornaments (1Ki 6:18); ציצה, cı̄cāh, “the fading flower of his glorious beauty” (Isa 28:1, Isa 28:4; also Num 17:8; Job 14:2, etc.).

(6) ἄνθος, ánthos, in Septuagint equivalent of all the Hebrew words (Jas 1:10, Jas 1:11; 1Pe 1:24).

The beauty of the profusion of flowers which cover Palestine every spring receives but scant reference in the Old Testament; Son 2:12 is perhaps the only clear reference. It is noticeable that the native of Syria thinks little of flowers unless it be for their perfume. our Lord’s reference to the flowers (“lilies”) is well known (Mat 6:28; Luk 12:27). For details of the flowers of modern Palestine, see BOTANY. The aptness of the expression “flower of the field” for a type of the evanescence of human life (Job 14:2; Psa 103:15; Isa 40:6; Jas 1:10) is the more impressive in a land like Palestine where the annual display of wild flowers, so glorious for a few short weeks, is followed by such desolation. The fresh and brilliant colors fade into masses of withered leaves (not uncommonly cleared by burning), and then even these are blown, away, so that but bare, cracked and baked earth remains for long months where once all was beauty, color and life.

Lev 15:24, Lev 15:33 (b) The term is used to describe the monthly sickness, the menstrual period to which all women are subject.

Very few flowers are named in the Bible. The most commonly mentioned are those of the lily family (Song of Son 2:16; Son 6:2; Hos 14:5; Mat 6:28). A kind of wild rose is also mentioned (Song of Son 2:1; Isa 35:1). The flower of the mandrake plant had a strong smell that people believed could excite sexual passion (Gen 30:14-16; Song of Son 7:13).

People have always seen beauty in flowers, and flower patterns were prominent in the decorations of the tabernacle and the temple (Exo 25:31-34; 1Ki 6:18; 1Ki 6:29-35; 1Ki 7:26; 1Ki 7:49). Although they are beautiful, flowers do not last long. Because of this the Bible sometimes refers to them as symbols of the brevity and impermanence of life (Job 14:2; Nah 1:4; Jas 1:10-11; 1Pe 1:24).