FLOWERS. 1. nizzân , only Song of Solomon 2:12 . Song of Solomon 2:2 . ziz , Isaiah 28:1; Isaiah 28:4; Isaiah 40:6 , Job 14:2 , ‘blossoms’ Numbers 17:8 . Numbers 17:3 . nizzah used of the inconspicuous flowers of vine and olive, Isaiah 18:5 , Job 15:33 . Job 15:4 . perach , Exodus 25:33 , Isaiah 18:5 , AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘bud,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘blossom,’ Nahum 1:4 . Flowers are one of the attractive features of Palestine: they come in the early spring ( Song of Solomon 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 , Psalms 103:15 etc.). The ‘lilies of the field’ of Matthew 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.