- FLOWERS Very few species of flowers are mentioned in the Bible
although they abounded in Palestine. It has been calculated that in Western
Syria and Palestine from two thousand to two thousand five hundred
plants are found, of which about five hundred probably are British
wild-flowers. Their beauty is often alluded to (Cant. 2:12; Matthew 6:28).
They are referred to as affording an emblem of the transitory nature of
human life (Job 14:2; Psalm 103:15; Isaiah 28:1; 40:6; James 1:10).
Gardens containing flowers and fragrant herbs are spoken of (Cant. 4:16;
6:2). - FLUTE a musical instrument, probably composed of a number of pipes,
mentioned Daniel 3:5, 7, 10, 15.
In Matthew 9:23, 24, notice is taken of players on the flute, here called
“minstrels” (but in R.V. “flute-players”).
Flutes were in common use among the ancient Egyptians.
- FLY Hebrews zebub, (Ecclesiastes 10:1; Isaiah 7:18). This fly was so
grievous a pest that the Phoenicians invoked against it the aid of their God
Baal-zebub (q.v.). The prophet Isaiah (7:18) alludes to some poisonous fly
which was believed to be found on the confines of Egypt, and which
would be called by the Lord. Poisonous flies exist in many parts of Africa,
for instance, the different kinds of tsetse.
Hebrews ‘arob, the name given to the insects sent as a plague on the land
of Egypt (Exodus 8:21-31; Psalm 78:45; 105:31). The LXX. render this by
a word which means the “dog-fly,” the cynomuia. The Jewish
commentators regarded the Hebrew word here as connected with the word
’arab, which means “mingled;” and they accordingly supposed the plague
to consist of a mixed multitude of animals, beasts, reptiles, and insects.
But there is no doubt that “the ’arab” denotes a single definite species.
Some interpreters regard it as the Blatta orientalis, the cockroach, a species
of beetle. These insects “inflict very painful bites with their jaws; gnaw
and destroy clothes, household furniture, leather, and articles of every
kind, and either consume or render unavailable all eatables.”
- FOAM (Hos. 10:7), the rendering of ketseph, which properly means
twigs or splinters (as rendered in the LXX. and marg. R.V.). The
expression in Hosea may therefore be read, “as a chip on the face of the