RUSH. 



(Common Rush.) 



Juncus Ejf usus. 



HIS plant is a native of cold climates; but travellers have 

 spoken of the rush as growing on the borders of the Red 



f&amp;gt; Sea and in various parts of the Holy Land. Among 

 the ancients the rush was esteemed for its excellency 

 as a material for mat-making, as it is at present in Japan 

 and other countries. By the Romans it was used for fisher 

 men s floats, and it is still thus used on the Mediterranean, being 

 attached to the nets. Anciently, the pith, carefully extracted, 

 served as wicks for lighting the apartments of the dead; and 

 even now among the poor in various European countries the 

 rush candle sheds its dim light upon the cradle of the infant 

 in many a lowly cabin room during the long and weary nights 

 of sickness. 



The only references in Scripture are in Job viii. 11 and in 

 Isa. ix. 14, xix. 15, and xxxv. 7, from which we can obtain 

 but little knowledge of its character; but in one passage the 

 remark, &quot;Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which 

 the branch or rush may do,&quot; leads us to think that the rush 

 was used for some insignificant purpose in that day, which, 

 small as it was, should cease in the utter overthrow of the 

 prosperity of the country. 



