Flag
“Reed, rush, or weed”
Summary
A general term for aquatic plants such as reeds, rushes, and sedges growing along riverbanks and in marshy places.
☩Types of Flags
Two Hebrew words are rendered 'flag' in Scripture. Achu refers to green coarse herbage such as rushes and reeds growing in marshy places, eaten by cattle. Suph is used more broadly for weeds of any kind, including seaweeds and riverbank vegetation. The Red Sea (Yam Suph) derives its name from this word.
☩Moses in the Flags
Moses' mother placed him in an ark of bulrushes among the flags (suph) by the river's brink. Pharaoh's daughter found him there when she came to bathe. These flags were the reed vegetation growing along the Nile, providing concealment for the basket containing the infant deliverer.
☩Figurative Use
Job asks rhetorically whether the flag can grow without water, using this familiar plant to illustrate that the wicked who forget God, though temporarily prosperous, cannot long survive any more than water plants without moisture. Jonah describes the seaweeds wrapped about his head in the depths, using suph for marine vegetation.
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Flag," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. III (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Flag," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).
- 3.James Orr (ed.), "Flag," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. II (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).