Reed

VIEW:32 DATA:01-04-2020

REED.—1. qâneh, tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘reed,’ 1Ki_14:15, 2Ki_18:21, Isa_36:6; Isa_42:3; ‘stalk,’ Gen_41:6; Gen_41:22; ‘sweet cane’ (RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘calamus’), Isa_43:24, Jer_6:20; ‘calamus,’ Son_4:14, Eze_27:19; ‘spearmen,’ Psa_68:30 (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] , but RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘reeds’); also metaphorically used for a ‘bone,’ Job_31:22; the arm of ‘a balance,’ Isa_46:6; and ‘branches’ of a candlestick, Exo_25:31-32. The qâneh is probably the familiar qasâb (Arundo donax), which flourishes on the banks of all the streams and lakes of the Jordan Valley. Miles of it are to be seen at the ‘Ain Feshkhah oasis on the Dead Sea shore, and at the Huleh marshes. It is a lofty reed, often 20 feet high, brilliantly green in the late summer, when all around is dry and bare; but dead-looking, from a distance, in the spring, when it stands in full flower and the lofty stems are crowned by beautiful silken pannicles. In the district mentioned the reeds are cleared from time to time by fire, that the young and tender shoots may grow up to afford fodder for cattle. The covert of the reeds is often the only possible shade (Job_40:21). The bruised reed, which, though standing, a touch will cause to fall and lie bedraggled on the ground, is a familiar sight (2Ki_18:21, Isa_36:8, Eze_29:6-7). A reed forms a most convenient measuring-rod, being straight and light (Eze_40:3; Eze_40:5, Rev_11:1 etc.). In certain passages where qâneh is tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘calamus,’ or ‘sweet cane,’ some imported aromatic cane or hark is meant. For the use of reeds as pens, see Writing, 6.
2. ‘ârôth, Isa_19:7 (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘paper reeds,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘meadows’). See Meadow.
3. ’ăgammîm, lit.‘pools’ (see Pool), is in Jer_51:32 tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘reeds.’ For bulrushes see Rush.
4. ’ âchû, Job_8:11 EV [Note: English Version.] ‘flag,’ RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘reed-grass.’ See Meadow.
5. ’çbeh, Job_9:26 (RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘reed’). The reference is to light skiffs of papyrus.
E. W. G. Masterman.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

'agmon. Used to form a rope: Job_41:2, "canst thou put a rush rope ('agmon) into his nose?" in Job_41:20 'agmon is a "caldron" from agam, "to flow." "Branch ("the high") and rush ("the low")" (Isa_9:14; Isa_58:5), "bow down ... head as a bulrush," imply that the head of the 'agmown was pendulous. Some aquatic, reed like, plant, the Arundodonax, or phragmitis, used as a walking stick, but apt to break and pierce the hand leaning on it (2Ki_18:21; Eze_29:6-7). The gomee, of the sedge kind (Cyperaceae), the papyrus or paper reeds of which Moses' ark was formed (Exo_2:3). Used to form boats on the Nile, also garments, shoes, baskets, and paper (Isa_18:2); Job_8:11 "can the papyrus plant grow without mire?" so the godless thrive only in outward prosperity, which soon ends, for they are without God "the fountain of life" (Psa_36:9). Rapid growth at first, like the papyrus; then sudden destruction.
The papyrus is not now found in Egypt; but it has for ages been on the margin of Lake Huleh or Merom and Lake Tiberius and in Syria. Paper was formed by cutting the interior of the stalks into thin slices lengthwise, after removing the rind, and laying them side by side in succession on a flat board; similar ones were laid over them at right angles, and the whole was cemented together by a glue, and pressed and dried. The Egyptians stewed and ate the lower part of the papyrus (Herodotus ii. 92). It grows from three to six feet high; Tristram (Land of Israel, 436) says 16 feet, and the triangular stems three inches in diameter, N. of Lake Tiberias. There are no leaves; the flowers are small spikelets at the tip of the threadlike branchlets which together form a bushy crown on each stem.
Aroth (Isa_19:7) not "paper reeds," but grassy pastures on the banks of the Nile; literally, places bare of wood, from 'aarah "to make bore" (Gesenius). KJV is from 'or the delicate "membrane"; the antithesis to "everything sown by the brooks" is, the aroth were not sown but growing of themselves. In mentioning "the reeds and flags" it is likely the papyrus would not be omitted; however, a different word in the chap. before (Isa_18:2, gomee) expresses the "papyrus". Kaneh "a reed" in general; a measuring reed, six cubits long (Eze_40:5; Eze_41:8; compare Rev_11:1; Rev_21:15). The "sweet reed from a far country" is possibly the Andropogon calamus aromaticus of central India; keneh bosem (Exo_30:23 "sweet calamus") or hatob (Jer_6:20); or it may be rather the lemon grass (Andropogon schoenanthus) of India (Isa_43:24; Son_4:14; Eze_27:19).
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.

Reed. Under this name may be noticed the following Hebrew words:
Agmon occurs in Job_40:12; Job_40:16; Isa_9:14. (Authorized Version, "rush"). There can be no doubt that it denotes some aquatic reed-like plant, probably the Phragmitis communis, which, if it does not occur in Palestine and Egypt, is represented by a very closely-allied species, namely, the Arundo isiaca of Delisle. The drooping panicle of this plant will answer well to the "bowing down the head" of which Isaiah speaks. Isa_58:5.
Gnome, translated "rush" and "bulrush", by the Authorized Version, without doubt denotes the celebrated paper-reed of the ancients, Papyrus antiquorum, which, formerly, was common in some parts of Egypt. The papyrus reed is not now found in Egypt; it grows however, in Syria. Dr. Hooker saw it on the banks of Lake Tiberias, a few miles north of the town.
The papyrus plant has an angular stem from 3 to 6 feet high, though occasionally it grows to the height of 14 feet, it has no leaves; the flowers are in very small spikelets, which grow on the thread-like flowering branchlets which form a bushy crown to each stem; (It was used for making paper, shoes, sails, ropes, mattresses, etc. The Greek name is Biblos, from which came our word Bible ? book ? because books were made of the papyrus paper. This paper was always expensive among the Greeks, being worth a dollar a sheet. ? Editor).
Kaneh, a reed of any kind.
Thus, there are in general four kinds of reeds named in the Bible:
(1) The water reed; Reed, 1 above.
(2) A stronger reed, Arundo donax, the true reed of Egypt and Palestine, which grows 8 or 10 feet high, and is thicker than a man's thumb. It has a jointed stalk like the bamboo, and is very abundant on the Nile.
(3) The writing reed, Arundo scriptoria, was used for making pens. (4) The papyrus; Reed, 2 above.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863

אגמון , Job_40:21; Job_41:2; Job_41:20; Isa_9:14; Isa_19:15; Isa_58:5; καλαμος, Mat_11:7; a plant growing in fenny and watery places; very weak and slender, and bending with the least breath of wind, Mat_11:7; Luk_7:24. Thus it is threatened, “The Lord shall smite Israel as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of the good land which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their idol groves, provoking him to anger,” 1Ki_14:15. The slenderness and fragility of the reed is mentioned in 2Ki_18:21; Isa_36:6; and is referred to in Mat_12:20, where the remark, illustrating the gentleness of our Saviour, is quoted from the prophecy of Isa_42:3. The Hebrew word in these places is קנה , as also in Job_40:21; Isa_19:6; Isa_35:7; Eze_29:6. See BULRUSH.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.

rēd: (1) אחוּ, 'āḥū, translated ?reed-grass? (Gen_41:2, Gen_41:18; Job_8:11 margin). See FLAG. (2) אבה, 'ēbheh, translated ?swift,? margin ?reed? (Job_9:26). The ?ships of reed? are the light skiffs made of plaited reeds used on the Nile; compare ?vessels of papyrus? (Isa_18:2). (3) אגמּים, 'ăghammı̄m, translated ?reeds,? margin ?marshes,? Hebrew ?pools? (Jer_51:32); elsewhere ?pools? (Exo_7:19; Exo_8:5; Isa_14:23, etc.). See POOLS. (4) ערות, ‛ārōth; ἄχι, áchi, translated ?meadows,? the King James Version ?paper reeds? (Isa_19:7). See MEADOWS. (5) קנה, ḳāneh; κάλαμος, kálamos (the English ?cane? comes from Hebrew via Latin and Greek canna), ?stalk? (Gen_41:5, Gen_41:22); ?shaft? (Exo_37:17, etc.); ?reed,? or ?reeds? (1Ki_14:15; 2Ki_18:21; Isa_36:6; Isa_42:3; Psa_68:30, the King James Version ?spearman?); ?calamus? (Exo_30:23; Son_4:14; Eze_27:19); ?sweet cane,? margin ?calamus? (Isa_43:24; Jer_6:20); ?bone? (Job_31:22); used of the cross-beam of a ?balance? (Isa_46:6); ?a measuring reed? (Eze_40:3); ?a staff of reed,? i.e. a walking-stick (Isa_36:6; Eze_29:6); the ?branches? of a candlestick (Exo_37:18). (6) κάλαμος, kálamos, ?a reed shaken with the wind? (Mat_11:7; Luk_7:24); ?a bruised reed? (Mat_12:20); they put ?a reed in his right hand? (Mat_27:29, Mat_27:30); ?They smote his head with a reed? (Mar_15:19); ?put it on a reed? (Mat_27:48; Mar_15:36); ?a measuring reed? (Rev_11:1; Rev_21:15, Rev_21:16); ?a pen? (3Jo_1:13).
It is clear that ḳāneh and its Greek equivalent kalamos mean many things. Some refer to different uses to which a reed is put, e.g. a cross-beam of a balance, a walking-stick, a measuring rod, and a pen (see above), but apart from this ḳāneh is a word used for at least two essentially different things: (1) an ordinary reed, and (2) some sweet-smelling substance.
(1) The most common reed in Palestine is the Arundo donax (Natural Order Gramineae), known in Arabic as ḳaṣabfarasi, ?Persian reed.? It grows in immense quantities in the Jordan valley along the river and its tributaries and at the oases near the Dead Sea, notably around ‛Ain Feshkhah at the northwest corner. It is a lofty reed, often 20 ft. high, of a beautiful fresh green in summer when all else is dead and dry, and of a fine appearance from a distance in the spring months when it is in full bloom and the beautiful silky panicles crown the top of every reed. The ?covert of the reed? (Job_40:21) shelters a large amount of animal and bird life. This reed will answer to almost all the requirements of the above references.
(2) Ḳāneh is in Jer_6:20 qualified הטּוב קנה, ḳāneh ha-ṭōbh, ?sweet? or ?pleasant cane,? and in Exo_30:23, בשׂם קנה, ḳenēh bhōsem, ?sweet calamus,? or, better, a ?cane of fragrance.? Son_4:14; Isa_43:24; Eze_27:19 all apparently refer to the same thing, though in these passages the ḳāneh is unqualified. It was an ingredient of the holy oil (Exo_30:23); it was imported from a distance (Jer_6:20; Eze_27:19), and it was rare and costly (Isa_43:24). It may have been the ?scented calamus? (Axorus calamus) of Pliny (NH, xii. 48), or some other aromatic scented reed or flag, or, as some think, some kind of aromatic bark. The sweetness refers to the scent, not the taste. See also BULRUSH; PAPYRUS.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.

The word thus translated in the Old Testament is Kaneh, which occurs in 1Ki_14:15; 2Ki_18:21; Job_40:21; Isa_19:6; Isa_35:7; Isa_36:6; Isa_42:3; Eze_29:6. It is the probable source of our word cane, a term which seems to have been used at the time our translation was made in a more general sense than at present, when the term cane has been applied more particularly to the stems of the Calamus rotang, and other species of rattan canes, which we have good grounds for believing were unknown to the ancients. In most of the passages of the Old Testament the word Kaneh seems to be applied strictly to reeds of different kinds growing in water, that is, to the hollow stems or culms of grasses, which are usually weak, easily shaken about by wind or by water, fragile, and breaking into sharp-pointed splinters.




The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.

Reed
I. This is the rendering in the A.V. of the following words in the original. In the following account we employ the usual Scriptural and scientific authorities on the subject.
1. Usually kaneh (קָנֶה; Sept. κάλαμος, καλαμίσκος, καλάμινος, πῆχος, ἀγκών, ζυγός, πυθυήν; Vulg. culmus, calamus, arundo, fistula, statera), the generic name of a reed of any kind. It occurs in numerous passages of the Old Test., and sometimes denotes the “stalk” of wheat (Gen_41:5; Gen_41:22), or the “branches” of the candlestick (Exodus 25, 37); in Job_31:22, kanzeh denotes the bone of the arm between the elbow and the shoulder (os humersi); it was also the name of a measure of length equal to six cubits (Eze_41:8; Eze_40:5). The word is variously rendered in the A.V. by “stalk,” “branch,” “bone,” “calamus,” “reed.” In the New Test. the corresponding Greek word, κάλαμος, may signify the “stalk” of plants (Mar_15:36; Mat_27:48, that of the hyssop, but this is doubtful), or “a reed” (Mat_11:7; Mat_12:20; Luk_7:24; Mar_15:19), or a “measuring-rod” (Rev_11:1; Rev_21:15-16), or a “pen” (3Jn_1:13).
Strand (Flor. Paloest. p. 28-30) gives the following names of the reed plants of Palestine: Saccharum Officiale, Cyperus papyrus (Papyrus antiquorum), C. rotundus, and C. esculentus, and Arundo scriptoria; but no doubt the species are numerous. See Bove (Voyage en Palest., Annal. des Scienc. Nat. 1834, p. 165): “Dans les deserts qui environnent ces montagnes j'ai trouvd plusieurs Saccharum, Milium arundinaceum et plusieurs Cyperaces.” The Arundo donax, the A.Egyptiaca (?) of Bove (ibid. p. 72), is common on the banks of the Nile, and may perhaps be “the staff of the bruised reed” to which Sennacherib compared the power of Egypt (2Ki_18:21; Eze_29:6-7). Sec also Isa_42:3. The thick stem of this reed may have been used as walking-staves by the ancient Orientals; perhaps the measuring-reed was this plant. At present the dry culms of this huge grass are in much demand for fishing-rods, etc. SEE METROLOGY
.
Some kind of fragrant reed is occasionally denoted by the word kaneh (Isa_44:24; Eze_27:19; Son_4:14), or more fully by keneh bosenz (קְנֵה בֹשֶׂם) (see Exo_30:23), or by kanek hat- tob (קָנֶה הִטּוֹב) (Jer_6:20), which the A.V. renders “sweet cane,” and “calamus.” Whatever may be the substance denoted, it is certain that it was one of foreign importation, “from a far country” (Jer_6:20). Some writers (see Sprengel, Comr. in Dioscor. 1, 17) have sought to identify the kaneh bose: with the Acorns calamus, the “sweet sedge,” to which they refer the κάλαμος ἀρωματικός of Dioscorides (1, 17), the κάλαμος εὐώδης of Theophrastus (Hist. Plant. 4:8, § 4), which, according to this last-named writer and Pliny (H. N. 12:22), formerly grew about a lake “between Libanus and another mountain of no note;” Strabo identifies this with the Lake of Gennesaret (Geog. 16 p. 755, ed. Kramer). Burckhardt was unable to discover any sweet-scented reed or rush near the lake, though he saw many tall reeds there. “High reeds grow along the shore, but I found none of the aromatic reeds and rushes mentioned by Strabo” (Syria, p. 319); but whatever may be the “fragrant reed” intended, it is certain that it did not grow in Syria, otherwise we cannot suppose it should be spoken of as a valuable product from a far country. Dr. Royle refers the κάλαμος ἀρωματικός of Dioscorides to a species of Androopogon, which he calls A. calamus aromaticus, a plant of remarkable fragrance, and a native of Central India, where it is used to mix with ointments on account of the delicacy of its odor (see Royle, Illustrations of Himalayan Botany, p. 425, t. 97). It is possible this may be the “reed of fragrance;” but it is hardly likely that Dioscorides, who, under the term σχοῖνος, gives a description of the Andropogon schoenanthus, should speak of a closely allied species under a totally different name. SEE CANE
“The beasts of the reeds,” in Psalm l48:30, margin, literally from the Hebrew, but rendered in the text of the A.V. “the company of spearmen,” probably means the crocodiles. Yet for other interpretations see Rosenmuller ad loc. Gesenius, on Isaiah 27, 1, understands Babel. SEE CROCODILE
2. ‘Aroth (עָרוֹת; Sept. τὸ ἄχι τὸ χλώρον πᾶν) is translated “paper-reed” in Isa_19:7, the only passage where the plural noun occurs. There is not the slightest authority for this rendering of the A.V., nor is it at all probable, as Celsius (Herob. ii, 230) has remarked, that the prophet, who speaks of the paper-reed under the name gome in the preceding chapter (xv3:2), should in this one mention the same plant under a totally different name. “Aroth,” says Kimchi, “is the name to designate pot-herbs and green plants.” The Sept. (as above) translates it by “all the green herbage.” The word is derived from ‘aralh, “to be bare,” or “destitute of trees;” it probably denotes the open grassy land on the banks of the Nile; and seems to be allied .to the Arabic ‘ara (locus apertus, spatiosus). Michaelis (Suppl. No. 1973), Rosenmuller (Schol. in Jes. 19:7), Gesenius (Thesaur. s.v.), Maurer (Comment. s.v.), and Simon (Lex. Heb. s.v.) are all in favor of this or a similar explanation. Vitringa (Comment. in Isaiah) was of opinion that the Hebrew term denoted the papyrus, and he has been followed by J. G. Unger, who has published a dissertation on this subject (De ערות, hoc est de Papyro Frutice [Lips. 1731, 4to]). SEE PAPER- REED
3. In one passage (Jeremiah li, 32) agndm (אֲגִם_; Sept. σύστημα, Vulg. palus) is rendered “reed” (but elsewhere “pond” or “pool”), and is there thought to designate a stockade or fort enclosed by-palisades.
II. Other Hebrew words representing, more or less accurately, various kinids of reedy plants are the following:
1. It has been made a question whether the Hebrew agmon', אִגְמוֹן, which is mentioned in opposition to the palm-branch (Isa_9:13; Isa_19:15), and is translated “rush” in the A.V., does not rather mean reed. Both were, and are, used for making ropes (Sonnini, Trav. 2, 416; Pliny, 19:9; comp. Job 40:26). See Gesenius, Ewald, Knobel, and others; also Celsius, Hierobot. 1, 465 sq. SEE RUSH.
2. The Hebrew achu', אָחוּ, originally an Egyptian word (see Jerome, ad Isa_19:7; comp. Jablonski, Opusc. i, 45; ii, 160; Gesen. Thesaur. i, 67), occurs in Gen_41:2; Job_8:11; in the first place the A.V. has meadow, in the second rush. It seems to mean, not reed, bait “reed-grass,” Carex (comp. Celsius, Hierobot. i, 340 sq.). On the other hand, suph, סוּ, Exo_2:3; Exo_2:5, growing on the Nile, but distinct from laneh, may be the sari (Pliny, 13:45). SEE FLAG.
3. The word go'me, גֹּמֶא, Gr. βύβλος, the papyrus, paper-reed (so rendered, among the old interpreters, by the Sept.; Job loc. cit.; Isa_18:2; Vulg. Isa_18:2; Syr. Isaiah 18:35; Arab. Exo_2:3. In the Talmud this word means rush; comp. Mishna, Erubin, 10:14. The leaves were used for binding wounds), does not belong to the genus Arundo, and is not a proper reed (called by Pliny, 24:81 akin to the reed). It is the Cyperus papyrus of Linnaeus, Class. 3 Monogynia. This plant, anciently so important, grew abundantly in the Egyptian swamps (even perhaps in those of the Nile, Pliny, 13:22; comp. v, 8. Hence Ovid, Miletaph. 15:753; Trist. 3:10:27, calls this river papyrifer; comp. Mart. 10:1, 3), and is mentioned Isa_35:7; Job_8:11; Exo_2:3; Isa_18:2. The A.V. has rush in the first two places, bulrush in the others. It is now rarely met with in Egypt (according to Minutoli, Abhandl. verm. Inhalts [Berl. 1831], vol. ii, No. 7, only at Damietta; while Pluver, Egypt. Naturgesch. p. 55, says it does not now grow in Egypt), but in Palestine — it is occasionally found at the Jordan (Von Schubert, 3:259). It has a three-edged stalk, which below bears hollow, sword-formed leaves, covering each other; it grows to a height of ten feet or more, and has above a flower cup of reddish leaves, out of which a thick body of hair-like shoots spring up (comp. Theophr. Plant. 4:9). The root is as thick as a man's arm, and is used as fuel (Dioscor. i, 115); vessels were framed of the stalks (Exo_2:3; Isa_18:2; Pliny, 6:24; 7:57, p. 417; Hard. Plutarch, Isid. c. 18; Lucan, 4, 136; Rosellini, Monument. Civ. II, 3:124; Wilkinson, 3:185 sq.), which sailed very fast (Helidor. Ethiop. 10:4). Sails, shoes, ropes, sieves, mattresses, wicks, etc., were made of the green rind (Pliny, 13:22; 18:28; 28:47; Herod. 2, 37; Veget. Veterin. 2, 57; Philo, Op. 2, 482; comp. Wilkinson, 3:62, 146), but especially paper, on the mode of preparing which comp. Pliny, 13:23 sq. (see Rosellini, Monument. Civ. II, 2, 208 sq.; Becker, Charicles, 2, 219 sq.). SEE WRITING. The plant is now called berde or berdi by the Arabs (so Job_8:11, in the Arabic). SEE PAPYRUS.
III. It will thus be seen that the reeds named in the Bible may be popularly distinguished as three.
1. The water-reed in pools, marshes, and on the shores of rivers, as of the Nile (Exo_2:3; Exo_2:5) and of the Jordan (1Ki_14:15; Job_8:11; Isa_19:6; Isa_35:7). The most common species are Arundo phragmites and Arundo calamagrostis (comp. Oken, Botany, 1. 805). SEE BULRUSH.
2. The stronger reed, adapted for staves and canes, and as measuring-rods (Eze_40:3 sq.; Rev_11:1; Rev_21:15 sq.; 2Ki_18:21; Isa_36:6; Eze_29:6; Mat_27:29; Mishna, Shab. 17:3; Diog. Laert. Protem. 6), the Arundo denax, whose hard, woody stem reaches a height of eight feet, and is thicker than a man's thumb. This, too, is very frequent on the banks of the Nile (Forskal, Flora, p. 24; comp. Descript. de l'Egypte, 19:74).
3. The writing-reed (Arundo scriptoria) (3Jn_1:13; see Mishna, Shab. 8:5). It grows in the marshes between the Euphrates and Tigris; at Hellah, in the Persian Gulf, etc. The stalks are first soaked, then dried, and when properly cut and split make tolerable pens. Formerly the writing-reed grew in Egypt, in Asia Minor, and even in Italy (Pliny, 16:64; Martial, 14:36; comp. Beckmann, Gesch. der Erfindungen, 3:48 sq.; see on the Hebrew name, Celsius, Hierobot. 2, 312 sq.). — SEE PEN.
See, in general, Prosp. Alpin (Plant. Egypt. c. 36, p. 53) and Vesling (p. 197) upon it; Rottboll, Descr. Novar. Plant. (Hafil. 1773) i, 32 sq.; Celsius, Hierobot. ii, 137 sq.; Bodaei a Stapel, Comm. 428 sq.; Bruce, Travels, v, 13 sq., 279, with plate i; Montfaucon, in the Memoires de ‘Acad. des Inscript. 6:592 sq.; Oken, Botany, i, 819 sq.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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