cheenc03a.pdf

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RED SEA
nineteenth dynasty.' Whether it be a foreign or a
vernacular word cannot be determined : consequently
it must remain an open question whether it was borrowed
from Egyptian by the Palestinians or vice vrrid. It is
remarkrbie that the Coptic version, which otherwise
strictly follows P3, in Exodus renders $Seaof fari' which
seem? to be mri, aapl-according to Theophrastus,
Pliny, and Herychius, the name of an Egyptian waterplant
(see Peyron. Lex. Copt. 304, who, however,
prefers an impossible etymol~gy).~ It would therefore
seem that the Coptic translator here consulted the
Hebrew, rendering 'sea of papyrus-plants' (Luther
renders Schifirer). There aquatic plants, of course,
never grew in the salt water of the Red Sea: modern
travcllere have found, not without difficulty, some
ciomps of rredr on spots not far from Suez where fresh
,cater mires with the Red Sea (see Knobel-Dillmann.
on Ex. 13x3): but the derivation of the name from
these would be more than imorobable. Others have
thought (after Jon. 2x6) of seaweeds which are said to
be plentiful in some parts of the Red Sea; but the
common, early use of the word ,*ph is against this.
We can understand how Bmgrch (iExode, 11, etc.)
war led by there freshwater plants to assume the
SIVB~DE of NE, Bcvot ".. as the localifv of the Exodus:
~~
he quite forgot, however, that the name yam q h
applies also to the Zlanitic gulf.3 The freshwater
Timsh-lake with its large marshes full of reeds, exactly
at the entrance of Gorhen, would fulfil all conditions
for the Exodus and for the Hebrew name (see
Exooas i., 5 16). The word 'sea' is used of lakes in
most oriental languages, especially in Hebrew (cp Nu.
31.1. 'Sen of Chinnereth,' etc.). Still, it would be
very strange if the Crocodile Lake, or other swamps on
the frontier of KE. Egypt,, should have furnished a
name to the whole Red Sea, including the Blanitic
gulf which war nearer to most Palestinians than the
Egyptian Inker. On the connection between the prerent
bitter lakes and the Gulf of Suez, which most scholars
assume for biblical times, see Exoous i., 8 15. In the
opinion of the present writer thir theory must be rejected,
and thvr the Hebrew name remains obscure.
W. M. 1,.
With wonccd precision and discriminating nee of authorities
BDB's L#sicon (8.~. lid gives the following, on whish it ir not
ruperR~iovi to comment because it ir one of the
8. Ia the ob~ecti of the wdrktointermir the ddand
solution the new, and by a junction of the forcer of all
hopeless? cricicrl students, to make definite advancer whereever
thir is poisible. ' ~?D-D: probably = rra #
NS~LI or readz ([err prol>rl~ly rra vf[cifyl Sujh), which Grci
includes in wider name an\. ipuOpd, Red Sea (cp 41. Ex. 13 re
and especially WMM As. u. Eur. 4s who explnzni as name
0rieinaIly given to upper end of Guii(bf Suez extending into
tlittmr hk-*... shillow and marshy, whence :rrdr [yiobrbly
also reddish mlourl); name rpplicd only to arms of Red sea;
mazr often to Gulf of Susz, sometimes ro ~ ulf 01 ' ALX~~. 1t ir
noted alro thrr iro-~:p should possibly be rend for '0 kn in
Dt. 11. IlDR sko points out (rv. 0:) that in Ex.l4* (6;s) 9
Is. 51 10 (bir) 83 zr, cfc. ql, and in Is. 11 15 prob~bly O:?WD;
=the 'Red Sea.' 111 the latter sfafamcnt, howevcr 'probably'
seems to bc in exaggeration. ,The toneue(biy?) bf the sea 01
mption of SK~JW' (cp Pr.m on Pr. 120$. may alro be arrvmcd
that ,IUN ~ametimestands for ~ ile~ (Ashbur), a synonym ai
inon,. (Jerrhmeel), ir also difficult to gainsay. M:,h"dica
criticism, therefore jurtifier ur in reading, D.>H?~$: - o',nn.
[O)m], 'And Yahwh shall place a bar u p theishmaeliler
(cp Y. 14): m?!' is an archrising gloss. Even alone, thi:
- - - --- --
' See WMM Ax. Y. E*r. lo~. S2640, 'reed,' which wa'
formerly compared with ?,D, is different.
a E~EII
~unh GOS~, 5. makts it probable that this worr
is s'vin bieroglyphicr. T&, howevu, could not well bc
idcnlical with the abre Coptic word.
a The Sirhonian bog would, however, justify the name r
little ar the Gulf ofsuez.
"auld .ue.est
REED
the view that 11D-O) ma" be an earl" textual
- .. .. .
r~;-i.z., Zarephath in the Negeb (see So~~e~er~fiir at
>nee becomer a plausible view that or no in the MT arc
. . . 8- ,- .
1;:. 'Javm')xeprewnrr $~nn,, aerahmcsl). Quite wrly, the
mrrk of abbreviation in'n, may have been Ion, and'x have
become corrupted into ,,ID and q;D. Then, flating mythic
rtotica may have icd to an illreration of the old legend. One
such poss~ble story is rsferred to el~where (hlurer, $ m).
Another m y now bc added. We know