Gall

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GALL.—(1) rôsh, some very bitter plant, Deu_29:18, Lam_3:19; ‘water of gall,’ Jer_8:14; Jer_9:16; tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘hemlock,’ Hos_10:4; ‘poison,’ Job_20:16. Hemlock (Conium maculatum), colocynth (Citrullus colocynthis), and the poppy (Papaver somniferum) have all been suggested. The last is perhaps most probable. (2) merçrah (Job_16:16) and merôrah (Job_20:25) refer to the bile. The poison of serpents was supposed to lie in their bile (Job_20:14). The gall (Gr. cholç) of Mat_27:34 evidently refers to the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] version of Psa_69:21, where cholç is tr. [Note: translate or translation.] of rôsh.
E. W. G. Masterman.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

1. Mereerah ("bitterness".) Secreted in an animal's gall bladder. Poetically used for a vital part, Job_16:13; Job_20:25. Job_20:14, "the gall of asps," i.e. their poison, contained in a sac in the mouth; Scripture uses popular language when no moral truth is thereby endangered.
2. Rosh; a bitter and poisonous herb; the poppy (Gesenius). Rosh means "head", so we speak of poppy heads. Jer_8:14, "water of gall," i.e. opium, Jer_9:15; Jer_23:15. Others suggest one of the Euphorbiaceae, distasteful and deadly; the "grapes of gall" answering to the rounded three berried fruit (Imperial Bible Dictionary). Deu_29:18 (to which Heb_12:15, "root of bitterness," refers; a root whose essence is bitterness), Deu_32:32. Opium water would suit well for stupefying criminals in the agony of execution (Psa_69:21; Mat_27:34; Act_8:23).
The vinegar offered to our Lord was mingled with "gall" according to Matthew, with "myrrh" according to Mark (Mar_15:23). The myrrh was the usual seasoning of Roman wine; the gall was added to stupefy, but our Lord would meet His agony in full consciousness. Bengel supposes the gall was added in wantonness. Matthew designated the drink according to the prophetic aspect, Psa_69:21; Mark according to its outward appearance.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.

Gall.
1. Mereerah, denoting "that which is bitter"; hence the term is applied to the "bile" or "gall" (the fluid secreted by the liver), from its intense bitterness, Job_16:13; Job_20:25, it is also used of the "poison" of serpents, Job_20:14, which the ancients erroneously believed was their gall.
2. Rosh, generally translated "gall" in the English Bible, is in Hos_10:4 rendered "hemlock" in Deu_32:33 and Job_20:16, rosh denotes the "poison" or "venom" of serpents.
From Deu_29:18 and Lam_3:19, compared with Hos_10:4, it is evident that the Hebrew term denotes some bitter and perhaps poisonous plant. Other writers have supposed, and with some reason, from Deu_32:32 that some berry-bearing plant must be intended. Gesenius understands poppies; in which case the gall mingled with the wine offered to our Lord at his crucifixion, and refused by him, would be an anaesthetic, and tend to diminish the sense of suffering. Dr. Richardson, "Ten Lectures on Alcohol," p. 23, thinks these drinks were given to the crucified to diminish the suffering through their intoxicating effects.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863

ראש , something excessively bitter, and supposed to be poisonous, Deu_29:18; Deu_32:32; Psa_69:21; Jer_8:14; Jer_9:15; Jer_23:15; Lam_3:19; Hos_10:4; Amo_6:12. It is evident from the first-mentioned place, that some herb or plant is meant of a malignant or nauseous kind. It is joined with wormwood, and, in the margin of our Bibles, explained to be “a very poisonful herb.” In Psa_69:21, which is justly considered as a prophecy of our Saviour's sufferings, it is said, “They gave me ראש to eat; which the LXX have rendered χολην, gall. And, accordingly, it is recorded in the history, “They gave him vinegar to drink, mingled with gall,” οξος μετα χολης, Mat_27:34. But, in the parallel passage, it is said to be, εσμυνισμενον οινον, “wine mingled with myrrh,” Mar_15:23, a very bitter ingredient. From whence it is probable that χολη, and perhaps ראש , may be used as a general name for whatever is exceedingly bitter; and, consequently, where the sense requires it, may be put specially for any bitter herb or plant, the infusion of which may be called מיאּראש .
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.

gôl:
(1) ראשׁ, rō'sh, or רושׁ, rōsh (Deu_32:32 only, ?grapes of gall?): Some very bitter plant, the bitterness as in (2) being associated with the idea of poison. Deu_29:18 margin ?rosh, a poisonous herb?; Lam_3:5, Lam_3:19; Jer_8:14; Jer_9:15; Jer_23:15, ?water of gall,? margin ?poison?; Hos_10:4, translated ?hemlock?; Amo_6:12, ?Ye have turned justice into gall?; Job_20:16, the ?poison of asps?: here rōsh clearly refers to a different substance from the other references, the points in common being bitterness and poisonous properties. Hemlock (Conium maculatum), colocynth (Citrullus colocynthus) and the poppy (Papaver somniferum) have all been suggested as the original rōsh, the last having most support, but in most references the word may represent any bitter poisonous substance. Rōsh is associated with la‛ănāh, ?wormwood? (Deu_29:18; Lam_3:19; Amo_6:12).
(2) מררה, merērāh (Job_16:13), and מררה, merōrāh (Job_20:14, Job_20:25), both derived from a root meaning ?to be bitter,? are applied to the human gall or ?bile,? but like (1), merōrāh is once applied to the venom of serpents (Job_20:14). The poison of these animals was supposed to reside in their bile.
(3) χολή, cholḗ (Mat_27:34), ?They gave him wine to drink mingled with gall?; this is clearly a reference to the Septuagint version of Psa_69:21 : ?They gave me also gall (cholē, Hebrew rōsh) for my food; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.? In Mar_15:23, it says, ?wine mingled with myrrh.? It is well known that the Romans gave wine with frankincense to criminals before their execution to alleviate their sufferings; here the cholē or bitter substance used was myrrh (Pliny Ep. xx.18; Sen. Ep. 83).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.

Gall occurs in its primary and proper meaning, as denoting the substance secreted in the gall-bladder of animals, commonly called bile in the following passages; Job_16:13, 'He poureth out my gall.' The metaphors in this verse are taken from the practice of huntsmen, who first surround the beast, then shoot it, and next take out the entrails. The meaning, as given by Bp. Heath, is, 'he entirely destroyeth me.' Job_20:14 (describing the remorse of a wicked man), 'the gall of adders' (which according to the ancients is the seat of their poison). Job_20:25, where, to describe the certainty of a wicked man's destruction, it is said, 'the glittering sword cometh out of his gall.' In the story of Tobit the gall of a fish is said to have been used to cure his father's blindness (Tob_6:8; Tob_11:10; Tob_11:13). Pliny refers to the use of the same substance for diseases of the eye. Galen and other writers praise the use of the liver of the silurus in cases of dimness of sight.
Gall is also employed in the Authorized Version as the meaning of the word Rosh, which is generally considered to signify some plant. This we may infer from its being frequently mentioned along with 'wormwood,' as in Deu_29:18, 'lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall (rosh) and wormwood; so also in Jer_9:15; Jer_23:15; and in Lam_3:19, 'Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. That it was a berry-bearing plant, has been inferred from Deu_32:32, 'For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and their grapes are grapes of gall (rosh), their clusters are bitter.' In Jer_8:14, 'water of gall' (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 Hos_10:4, where it is said 'their judgment springeth up as hemlock (rosh) in the furrows of the field.'
Though rosh is generally acknowledged to indicate some plant, yet a variety of opinions have been entertained respecting its identification: some, as the Auth. Vers. in Hos_10:4, and Amo_6:12, consider cicuta or hemlock to be the plant intended, but there is little or no proof adduced that this is the case.
Some have concluded that it must be darnel, which is remarkable among grasses for its poisonous and intoxicating properties. It is, however, rather sweetish in taste, and its seeds being intermixed with corn, are sometimes made into bread. It is well known to grow in cornfields, and would therefore suit the passage of Hosea; but it has not a berry-like fruit, nor would it yield any juice: the infusion in water, however, might be so understood, though it would not be very bitter or disagreeable in taste. Hiller adduces the centaury as a bitter plant, which corresponds with much of what is required. Two kinds of centaury, the larger and smaller, and both conspicuous for their bitterness, were known to the ancients. The latter is one of the family of gentians, and still continues to be employed as a medicine on account of its bitter and tonic properties. From the extreme bitterness of taste, from growing in fields, and being a native of warm countries, some plant like centaury, and of the tribe of gentians, might answer all the passages in which rosh is mentioned, with the exception of that (Deu_32:32) where it is supposed to have a berried fruit. Dr. Harris, quoting Blaney on Jer_8:14, says, 'In Psa_69:21, which is justly considered as a prophecy of our Savior's sufferings, it is said, ?they gave me gall to eat.? And accordingly it is recorded in the history, Mat_27:34, ?They gave him vinegar to drink, mingled with gall.? But in the parallel passage (Mar_15:23) it is said to ?wine mingled with myrrh,? a very bitter ingredient. From whence I am induced to think that perhaps rosh 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 Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.

Jer_8:14 (b) A word which is used as a type of the bitterness in life's experiences. In this case it was bitterness because of the oppression and the destruction from invading armies. There are those who live on the bitterness of past experiences. They carry hatred in their hearts because of former injustices. They keep these evil things alive in the heart. So they are said to "drink gall."

Lam_3:19 (c) This may be taken as a prophetic utterance concerning the bitter experiences of the Saviour on Calvary.

Amo_6:12 (a) Strangely enough men's hearts are so wicked that they turn GOD's blessings into curses. That which GOD does for their good they renounce and feel bitter at GOD because of His actions. (See under "PLOW").

Act_8:23 (b) By this word is described the unhappy and wretched condition of this man who was deceived about the Holy Spirit.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.

Gall
(Two entries below)
the representative in the A.V. of two Hebrew words and one Greek.
1. Mererah' or merorah' ( מְרֵרָהor מְרֹרָה; Sept. χολή, κακά, δίαιτα; Vulg. fel, amaritudo, viscera meaz) denotes etymologically bitterness: see Job_13:26, "Thou writest bitter things against me." Hence the term is applied to the "bile" or "gall" from its imtense bitterness (Job_16:13). The metaphors in this verse are taken from the practice of huntsmen, who first surround the beast, then shoot it, and next take out the entrails. The term also stands for the gallbladder or vitals (Job_20:25). It is also used of the "poison" of serpents (Job_20:14), which the ancients erroneously believed was their gall: see Pliny, H.N. 11:37, “No one should be astonished that it is the gall which constitutes the poison of serpents" (comp. Heb_12:15, "root of bitterness"). SEE LIVER.
2. Rosh ( ראֹשׁor רוֹשׁ; Sept. χολή, πικρία, ἄγρωστις; Vulg. fel, amaritudo, caput), generally translated "gall" by the A.V., but in Hos_10:4 rendered "hemlock:" in Deu_32:33, and Job_20:16, it denotes the "poison" or "venom" of serpents. From Deu_29:18, "a root that beareth rosh" (margin "a poisonful herb"), and Lam_3:19, "the wormwood and the rosh," compared with Hos_10:4, "judgment springeth up as rosh," it is evident that the Heb. term denotes some bitter, and perhaps poisonous plant, though it may also be used, as in Psalm 59:21, in the general sense of "something very bitter." Celsius (Hierob. 2:46-52) thinks "hemlock" (Conium maculatum) is intended, and quotes Jerome on Hosea in support of his opinion, though it seems that this commentator had in view the couch-grass (Triticum repens) rather than "hemlock." Rosenmüller (Bib. Bot. page 118) is inclined to think that the Lolaum temulentum best agrees with the passage in Hosea where the rosh is said to grow "in the furrows of the field." Other waiters have supposed, and with some reason (from Deu_32:32, "their grapes are grapes of rosh"), that some berry-bearing plant must be intended. Gesenius (Thes. p. 1251) understands "poppies;" Michaelis (Suppl. Lex. Heb. page 2220) is of opinion that rosh may be either the Lolium temulentum or the Solanum ("nightshade"). Oedmann (Verm. Sasmml. part 4, c. 10) argues in favor of the Colocynth. The most probable conjecture, for proof there is none, is that of Gesenius: the capsules of the Papaseracae may well give the name of resh ("head") to the plant in question, just as we speak of poppy heads. The various species of this family spring up quickly in cornfields, and the juice is extremely bitter. A steeped solution of poppy heads may be "the water of gall” of Jer_8:14, unless, as Gesenius thinks, the מֵי רֹאשׁmay be the poisonous extract, opium. This word is always used figuratively to represent sin, and never designates the animal secretion called gall. SEE HEMLOCK.
3. Gr. χολή, prop. the bitter secretion gall. In the story of Tobit the gall of a fish is said to have been used to cure his father's blindness (Tob_6:8; Tob_11:10; Tob_11:13). Pliny refers to the use of the same substance for diseases of the eye (Hist. Nat. 28:10); also speaking of the fish callionymus, he says it has a similar curative virtue (32:4, 7). Galen and other writers praise the use of the liver of the silurus in cases of dimness of sight. SEE BLINDNESS.
The passages in the Gospels which relate the circumstance of the Roman soldiers offering our Lord, just before his crucifixion, "vinegar mingled with gall," according to Matthew (Mat_27:34), and "wine mingled with myrrh," according to Mark's account (Mar_15:23), require some consideration. The first-named evangelist uses χολή, which is the Sept. rendering of the Heb. rosh in the Psalm (Psa_69:21) that foretels the Lord's sufferings. Mark explains the bitter ingredient in the sour vinous drink to be "myrrh" (οἴνος έσμυρνισμένος) for we cannot regard the transactions as different. "Matthew, in his usual way," as Hengstenberg (Comment. in Psa_69:21) remarks, "designates the drink theologically: always keeping his eye on the prophecies of the O.T., he speaks of gall and vinegar 'for the purpose of rendering the fulfillment of the Psalms more manifest.' Mark again (Mar_15:23), according to his way, looks rather at the outward quality of thee drink." Bengel takes quite a different view; he thinks both myrrh and gall were added to the sour wine (Gnom. Nov. Test. Matthew 1.c.). Hengstenberg's view is far preferable; nor is "gall" (χολή) to be understood in any other sense than as expressing the bitter nature of the draught. As to the intent of the proffered drink, it is generally supposed that it was for the purpose of deadening pain. It was customary to give criminals just before their execution a cup of wine with frankincense in it, to which reference is made, it is believed, by the οῖνος κατανύξεως of Psa_60:3 see also Pro_31:6. This the Talmud states was given in order to alleviate the pain. See Busxtorf (Lex. Talm. col. 2131), who quotes fronc the Talmed (Salmed. fol. 43, 1) to that effect. Rosenmüller (Bib. Bot. page 163) is of opinion that the myrrh was given to our Lord, not for the purpose of alleviating his sufferings, but in order that he might be sustained until the punishment was completed. He quotes from Apuleius (Metamor. 8), who relates that a certain priest "disfigured himself with a multitude of blows, having previously strengthened himself by taking myrrh." Hoemfar the frankincense in the cup, as maentioned in the Talmud, was supposed to possess soporific properties, or in any evay to induce an alleviation of pain, it is difficult to determine. The same must be said of the οίνος ίσμνρνισμένος of Mark, for it is quite certain that neither of these two drugs in question, both of which are the produce of the same natural order of plants (Amyridaceae), is ranked among the hypnopoietics by modern physicians. It is true that Dioscorides (1:77) ascribes a soporific property to myrrh, but it does not seem to have been so regarded by any other author. Notwithstanding, therefore, the almost concurrent opinion of ancient and modern commentators, that the "wine mingled with myrrh" was offered to our Lord as an anodyne, we cannot readily come to the same conclusion. Had the soldiers intended a mitigation of suffering, they would doubtless have offered a draught drugged with some substance having narcotic properties. The drink in question was probably a mere ordinary beverage of the Romans, who were in the habit of seasoning their various wines, which, as they contained little alcohol, soon turned sour, with various spices, drugs, and perfumes, such as myrrh, cassia, myrtle, pepper, etc. (Smith, Dict. of Class. Antiq. s.v. Vinum). SEE MYRRH.
Gall
ST., monastery of, one of the most celebrated monasteries of Europe, at St. Gall, in Switzerland. It was founded in the 7th century. Its wealth and reputation became very great under Othmar, its first abbot (720-760), who founded a hospital for lepers in connection with the monastery. In the 8th century it became distinguished for learning, especially under abbot Gosbert (815-837). "The abbey of St. Gall gradually became one of the masterpieces of mediaeval architecture; and the genius and skill which were lavished on its construction, and on the decoration of its halls and cloisters, had a large share in developing the Christian art of the period. The monks of St. Gall, too, may be reckoned among the best friends and preservers of ancient literature. They were indefatigable in the collection and transcription of MSS. — Biblical, patristic, sacred and profane history, classical, liturgical, and legendary. Several of the classics, especially Quintilian, Silius Italicus, and Amnemianus Marcellinus, have been preserved solely through the MSS. of St. Gall. For a time the abbey was subject to the bishop of Constance, and an animiated dispute was for a long time maintained between that prelate and the monks as to the right of electing the abbot. It ended, however, in the recognition of the right of free election; and ultimately, from the growth of the monastic possessions, and the important position which the abbot held, the monastic domain, which comprised a great part of northern Switzerland, became a distinct jurisdiction, within which the abbot, like many of his brethren in the great Benedictine monasteries, exercised all the rights of a suzerain.
For several centuries the abbey of St. Gall held one of the highest places in the order. Its schools enjoyed wide reputation. Its members held a distinguished place among the scholars of medieval Germany; and many of them, as, for example, Notker, are known to have cultivated not only the ordinary learning of the schools, but also physic, mathematics, and astronomy. The school of St. Gall, too, was one of the most eminent for the cultivation of music, and its MSS., preserved in its library, have been extensively made use of by the restorers of ancient ecclesiastical music. A town of considerable importance grew up around the monastery, and was called by the same name; and as the wealth and influence which attached to the dignity of the abbot began to make it an object of ambition to rich and powerful families, we find the succession of abbots, in the 13th and 14th centuries, sadly degenerated from their pious and learned predecessors in the office. A stringent reform was enforced about the time of the Council of Constance; but the burghers of St. Gall had grown dissatisfied under this rule, and on the outbreak of the Reformation in 1525 they threw off their subjection, and embraced the new doctrines. At the close, however, of the religious war in 1532, the Catholic religion was re-established, and the abbot reinstated, though with diminished authority, in his ancient dignity. At the French Revolution, the abbey of St. Gall was secularized (1798), and its revenues were soon afterwards sequestrated (1805). By a later ecclesiastical arrangement, the abbacy of St. Gall was raised to the dignity of a bishopric, which in 1823 was united to that of Chur. They were afterwards, however, separated, and in 1847 St. Gall was erected into a bishopric, with a distinct jurisdiction." — Chambers, Encyclopaedia, s.v.; Herzog, Real-Encyklopädie, 4:643.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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