From Newsgroup: uk.religion.christian

According to that website referenced in another thread, the Hebrew word
for "reeds" is Egyptian and probably refers to papyrus. Two things
follow from this:

The first is that the word "flags" - "suph" - only occurs three times in
the KJV, twice in the story of Moses and once in Isaiah 19, which is a prophecy against Egypt. However in that same prophecy there is a
reference to "the paper reeds" ("arah") which is usually understood to
mean papyrus, the reed which was used so widely in the production of
writing material. However the NIV simply uses "plants", so it is
possible the KJV's reference to "paper" is a mistake.

This would be a disappointment to some who point to the virtual
disappearance of papyrus from Egypt as a fulfilment of Isaiah 19:7. It
is not clear why papyrus has ceased to be such a common plant because
the stuff grows quite happily in various places, including Cairo. I
suspect that over-harvesting and changes in agriculture are responsible
rather than climate change.

The second is that "suph" occurs many more times in the Bible as part of
"Yam Suph", translated in the KJV as "Red Sea". This has led some to
suggest that Moses did not lead the Jews across the Gulf of Suez but
across a shallow portion of the Bitter Lakes. (Quite how pharaoh and his chariots were drowned in such shallow water I leave the doubters to
explain.) However as the "Bitter" indicates, the lakes are not fresh
water. So far as I know, papyrus is a fresh-water plant and does not
grow by the sea or, indeed, by the Bitter Lakes!

This would seem to indicate that "suph" is not, in fact, papyrus.

God bless,
Kendall K. Down
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