Flag (Hastings' Dictionary)

Two Heb. words are tr* hy flag. 1. inK i'dhu ; ixa [in LXX of Sir 40" this was supposed till 1896 to represent the Heb. 'dhn] ^oirroiiov) occurs in three connexions, (a) Where the kine feed in an 'dhu (Gn 4P>8). (6) Where Bildad asks, ' Can the rush (ftji, viTrvpos) grow up without mire? can the flag (intt, po&roiiov) grow without water?' (Job 8"). (c) In a passage (Hos 13'') where both AV and RV, foUowmg the LXX, give brethren for cnif 'Ahtm, which the Oxf. Heb. Lex.

regards as a plural of inx, abbreviated from D'lnx 'Akdivtm, tlie context seeming to point to a water plant, withering before the E. wind, which dries up its spring. In the passage in Job the gume and the 'dhu occur in the two members of a parallelism. RVm gives for g6me ' pa[>3Tus,' and for 'dhu ' reed-grass ' (cf. Ebers, Egypten u. die Biicher Moses, 338 f.) The latter is no more definite than flag, and therefore only confuses the question of identity by another term.

We • lUflhi has ' ponds of rett,' where the waters rest and ore retained 1 Ibn Ezra gives 'where are the souls of the fish'; this is also adopted by Kimchi in his Lexicon ( pools in which they hunt tish'); in his Comm. be mentions it, out he himself offers the some explanation as the RV. t Properly ' beer, which was a favourite Egyptian beverage. have the authority of the LXX that the g6rm was the -iravvpos, papyrus, and the 'dhu, ^oiroiiov, which some believe to be Cypenu esculenlus, L.

, the edible galingale, and others Butomus umbel- latus, L., the flowering rush, both swamp plants. nx (Gn 41'' '*) should be rendered ' in the flower- ing rushes,' or 'in the sedges,' or 'in the fens.' Similarly, the doubtful D-n^ 'dhtm (Hos 13"). The same indefiniteness is found in the Arab, term rabi', which means literally 'spring,' and refers to 'spring herbage,' and half, which refers to GraminecB and Cyperaceoe in general. It is also found in the English 'grass.' 2. I'D (suph, l\o!

, carectum) is used (a) of the sedgy or reedy plants on a river's bank (Ex 2*-', Is 19') ; (b) of weeds (Jn 2'), meaning sea-weeds. From the presence of these, and perliaps of other marine growths, as of coral, the Red Sea was named 1)dx; (yam-^uph). G. E. POST. FLAGON occurs five times in AV, but in only one of these instances is the tr° retained by RV, namely Is 22^, where both VSS tr. D-^p^jn -S^ by ' vessels of flagons.'

^3} or V51 (when not used foi a musical instrument) generally means a leather pitcher. Here it is perhaps an earthenware bottle. On the other hand, RV introduces ' flagons ' in two instances where it is not found in AV, namely Ex 25** 37" (in both nij;-,?) This tr" is probably correct (see CuP), although RV gives 'cups' for the same Heb. word in Nu 4'. In all these three passages A V has ' covers. ' In the remaining four in- stances where AV gives ' flagons,' the Heb.

is t^'j'n (2 S 0'^ 1 Ch \&, Hos 3' [D-;:y^ -s'-;^!;], Ca 2' [ni!7-;^K]'; cf. ny-iq TiJ -p-^'N ' the raisin-cakes [AV ' founda- tions '] of Kir-hareseth,' Is 16'). The meaning of this word is a ' pressed cake . . composed of meal, oU, and dibs' (W. R. Smith, OJJ'C 434. n. 7). Hence in 2 S 6'^ 1 Ch W, RV gives 'cake of raisins ' for AV ' flagon [of \vine],' in Hos 3' 'cakes of raisins' for 'flagons of wine,' and in Ca 2' ' raisins ' (RVm ' cakes of raisins ') for ' flagons.'

The LXX has in 2 S 6'" Xa7a^o» djrd TTiyavov, in 1 Ch 16' iiiofxlr-q, in Hos 3' iri/iiiara lirra <rra<pi5os, and in Ca 2* fivpoi. Luther, who like AV adopted a false Rabbinical derivation and interpretation of nf^vt?, tr. in 2 S 6" and 1 Ch 16' ein Nossel Wein, and in Hos 3' eine Kanne Weins. In Ca 2° he has Blumen. In Kautzsch's .i4T we find for 2 S 6'" and 1 Ch 16' Rosinenkuclien, and for Hos 3' and Ca 2° Traubenkuchen. See further under FooD, p. 32''. J. A. Selbie.