FLAG

אחו , occurs Gen. xli, 2, 18; Job viii, 11; and סוף , weeds , Exod. ii, 3, 5; Isa. xix, 6; John ii, 5. The word achu in the first two instances is translated “meadows,” and in the latter, “flag.” It probably denotes the sedge, or long gra , which grows in the meadows of the Nile, very grateful to the cattle. It is retained in the Septuagint in Genesis, ἐν τῷ ἄχει; and is used by the son of Sirach, Ecclesiastic us xl, 16, ἄχι and ἄχει; for the copies vary. “We have no radix,” says the learned Chape low, “for אחו , unle we derive it, as Schultens does, from the Arabic achi , ‘to bind or join together.’” Thus, Park hurst defines it “a species of plant, sedge, or reed, so called from its fitne for making ropes, or the like, to connect or join things together; as the Latin juncus , a ‘bulrush,’ a jungendo , from ‘joining,’ for the same reason;” and he supposes that it is the plant, or reed, growing near the Nile, which Ha el quist describes as having numerous narrow leaves, and growing about eleven feet high, of the leaves of which the Egyptians make ropes. The word סוף is called by Eben Ezra, “a reed growing on the borders of the river.” Bochart, Fuller, Rivetus, Ludolphus, and Junius and Tremellius, render it by juncus , carex , or alga ; and Celsius thinks it the fucus or alga , “sea weed.” Dr. Geddes says there is little doubt of its being the sedge called sari , which, as we learn from Theophrastus and Pliny, grows on the marshy banks of the Nile, and rises to the height of almost two cubits. This, indeed, agrees very well with Exod. ii, 3, 5, and the thickets of arundinaceous plants, at some small distances from the Red Sea, observed by Dr. Shaw; but the place in Jonah seems to require some submarine plant. FLAX, פשתה , Exod. ix, 31; Lev. xiii, 47, 48, 52, 59; Deut. xxii, 11; Joshua ii, 6; Judg. xv, 14; Prov. xxx i, 13; Isaiah xix, 9; xlii, 3; xliii, 17; Jer. xiii, 1; Ezek. xl, 3; xliv, 17, 18; Hosea ii, 5, 9; λῖνον Matt. xii, 20; Rev. xv, 6; a plant very common, and too well known to need a description. It is a vegetable upon which the industry of mankind has been exercised with the greatest succe and utility. On pa ing a field of it, one is struck with astonishment when he considers that this apparently insignificant plant may, by the labour and ingenuity of man, be made to a ume an entirely new form and appearance, and to contribute to pleasure and health, by furnishing us with agreeable and ornamental apparel. This word Mr. Park hurst thinks is derived from the verb פשט , to strip , because the substance which we term flax is properly the bark or fibrous part of the vegetable, pilled or stripped off the stalks. From time immemorial Egypt was celebrated for the production or manufacture of flax. Wrought into garments, it constituted the principal dre of the inhabitants, and the priests never put on any other kind of clothing. The fine linen of Egypt is celebrated in all ancient authors, and its superior excellence mentioned in the sacred Scriptures. The manufacture of flax is still carried on in that country, and many writers take notice of it. Rabbi Benjamin Tudela mentions the manufactory at Damiata; and Egmont and Heyman describe the article as being of a beautiful colour, and so finely spun that the threads are hardly discernible.