HEATH

ערער , Jer. xvii, 6; xlviii, 6. “He shall be like the heath in the desert. He shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderne , a salt land.” The LXX and Vulgate render or or , “the tamarisk;” and this is strengthened by the affinity of the Hebrew name of this tree with the Turkish œrœr . Taylor and Park hurst render it, “a blasted tree stripped of its foliage.” If it be a particular tree, the tamarisk is as likely as any. Celsius thinks it to be the juniper; but from the mention of it as growing in a salt land, in parched places, the author of “Scripture Illustrated” is disposed to seek it among the lichens , a species of plants which are the last production of vegetation under the frozen zone, and under the glowing heat of equatorial deserts; so that it seems best qualified to endure parched places, and a salt land. Ha el quist mentions several kinds seen by him in Egypt, Arabia, and Syria. In Jer. xlviii, 6, the original word is ערוער , which the Septuagint translators have read ערור , for they render it ὄνος ἄγριος, wild a ; and, as this seems best to agree with the flight recommended in the pa age, it is to be preferred. See Wild A .