waters of. See ADULTERY.
(Exo 1:14; Rth 1:20; Jer 9:15) is symbolical of affliction, misery, and servitude. It was for this reason that, in the celebration of the Passover, the servitude of the Israelites in Egypt was typically represented by bitter herbs (see below). On the day of bitterness in Amo 8:10, comp. Tibullus, ii, 4, 11-" Nunc et amara dies, et noctis amarior umbra est." In Hab 1:6, the Chaldeans are called " that bitter and swift nation," which Schultens illustrates by remarking that the root merer in Arabic (answering to the Hebrew word for bitter) is usually applied to strength and courage. The gall of bitterness (Act 8:23) describes a state of extreme wickedness, highly offensive to God and hurtful to others. A root of bitterness (Heb 13:15) expresses a wicked or scandalous person, or any dangerous sin leading to apostasy (Wemyss’s Clavis Symbolica, etc.). The "waters made bitter" (Rev 8:11) is a symbol of severe political or providential events. SEE WORMWOOD. On the bitter waters of jealousy, or what may be termed the ordeal oath (Num 5:11-24), SEE ADULTERY (trial of). On the "bitter clusters" of Sodom (Deu 32:32), SEE APPLE; SEE HEMLOCK.
(ðéêñßá)
‘Bitter’ means lit. [Note: literally, literature.] ‘biting’ (A. S. [Note: Anglo-Saxon.] bîtan, ‘to bite’), and ðéêñüò, ‘sharp’ (from the same root as pungo, ‘pike,’ ‘peak’), ôὸ ðéêñüí, as that which has an acrid, pungent taste, is opposed to ôὸ ãëõêý (Jam_3:11). In Septuagint ðéêñßá is often used to translate øֹàùׁ, a bitter and poisonous plant, which is always used figuratively. Moses says that the man or woman, family or tribe, that turns from Jahweh will be ‘a root that beareth gall and wormwood’ (ῥßæá ἄíù öýïõóá ἐí ÷ïëῇ êáὶ ðéêñßᾳ, Deu_29:18). There is an echo of this saying in Heb_12:15, where any member of the Church who introduces wrong doctrines or practices, and so leads others astray, becomes a ‘root of bitterness springing up’ (ῥßæá ðéêñßáò ἄíù öýïõóá); and there may be another echo of it in Act_8:23 (Revised Version margin), where Peter predicts that Simon Magus will ‘become gall (or a gall root) of bitterness’ (åἰò ÷ïëὴí ðéêñßáò ὁñῶ óå ὄíôá) by his evil influence over others, if he remains as he now is. But ÷ïëὴí ðéêñßáò may be a genitive of apposition and the Apostle may mean that Simon is even now ‘in Bitterkeit, Bosheit, Feindseligkeit, wie in Galle’ (H. J. Holtzmann, Apostelgeschichte3, 1901, ad loc.). In Rom_3:14 bitterness of speech is joined with cursing, and in Eph_4:31 ðéêñßá is an inward disposition (cf. æῆëïí ðéêñüí, Jam_3:14) which all Christians are to put away in order that they may be ‘kind one to another, tender-hearted.’
James Strahan.