2. Siqjh. ("^D, Sept. fXocVulg. carcctum, pelagus) occurs frequentlj' in the O. T. in connection with yam, "sea," to denote the "Red Sea" (q. v.). The tenn here appears to lie used in a very wide sense to denote " weeds of any kind." The yam-siiph, therefore, is the " sea of weeds," and perhaps, as Stanley {S. and P. p. G, note) observes, suph "may be applied to any aque- ous vegetation," which would include the arborescent coral growths for which this sea is celebrated, as well as the different alga; which grow at the bottom : see Pliny (77. N. xiii, 25) and Sliaw (Travels, p..387, fol. 1738), who speaks of a "variety of alf/a; and/«« that grow within its channel, an J at low wat(?r are left in groat quantities upon the sea-shore" (see also p. 384). The word supJi in Jonah ii, 5, translated "weeds" by
the A.V., has, there can be no doubt, reference to " sea- weed," and more especially to the long, ribbon-like fronds of the Lamiwvriie, or the entangled masses of • Fiici. In Exod. ii, 3, 5, however, where we read that IMoses was laid "in the suph, A. V. ' flags,' by the riv- er's brink," it is probalde that "reeds" or "rushes," etc., are denoted, as Rab. Salomon explains it, "a place thick with reeds." (See Celsius, //te?-o6. ii, 60.) The yum-suph in the Coptic version (as in Exod. x, 19 ; xiii, 18 ; Psa. cvi, 7, 9, 22) is rendered "the Sari-sea.''' The word sari is the old Egyptian for a sedge of some kind. Jablonski (Opusc. i, 266) gives Juncus as its rendering, and compares a passage in Theophrastus (Hist. Plant. iv, 8, § 2, 5) which thus describes the sari: " The S'i7'i grows in water about marshes and those water}' places which the river after its return to its bed leaves be- hind it ; it has a hard and closely-twisted root, from which spring the saria (stalks) so-called." Pliny (//. JV. xiii, 23) thus speaks of this plant : " The sari, which grows about the Nile, is a shrubby kind of plant (?), commonly being about two cubits high, and as thick as a man's thumb ; it has the panicle (coma) of the papyrus, and is similarly eaten ; the root, on account of its hardness, is used in blacksmiths' shops instead of charcoal." Sprengel (Hist. Herb, i, 78) identifies the sari of Theophrastus with the Cyperusfastiyiatus, Linn.; but the description is too vague to serve as a sufficient basis for identification. There can be little doubt that svph is sometimes used in a general sense like our English "weeds." It cannot be restricted to denote alga, as Celsius has endeavored to show, because none of the proper algce are found in the Nile. Lady Cal- cott (Script. Herb. p. 158) thinks the Zosiera marina ("grass-wrack") may be intended, but there is noth- ing in favor of such an opinion. The suph of Isa. xix, 6, where it is mentioned with the kaneh, appears to be used in a more restricted sense to denote some species of " reed" or "tall grass." There are various kinds of Cyperacece and tall Graminacece, such as Arundo and Saccharum, in Egypt. — Smith, s. v. See Weed.
Flag (as a military term) is represented generally in Heb. by ^5^, de'yel, such being those borne by the Israelitish camp during their march through the wil- derness. Each three tribes had a banner of tliis de- scription (Numb, i, 52 ; ii, 2 sq. ; x, 14 sq.), of the col- or and form of which the Rabbins have many legend- ary stories (see Jonathan on Numb, ii ; comp. Carp- zov, Appar. p. 667 sq.). The tribe of Judah (together with Issachar and Zebulon) bore as a device a young lion (compare Gen. xlix, 9) ; the tribe of Reuben (v.ith Simeon and Gad), a man (according to Jonathan, a stag, instead of the bullock, as a memento of the golden calf, Gen. xlix, 6); Ephraim (with Manasseh and Benja- min), a steer (boys, according to Jonathan); Dan (with Asher and Naphtali), an eagle (according to Jonathan, a cerastes ; comp. Gen. xlix, 17), on their tribal stand- ard. How the feld-ensigns of the several fomilies, which in those passages are called mrx, signs, differ- ed from those D'^bj'n, is not clearly defined. The as- sertion of colored pennants (Harmer, i, 478) is not sus- tained by proof. On the pretended motto upon the banner of the Maccabees, see Maccabjeus. D5, nes, which is often taken for a banner, is a military signal raised upon a mountain as a telegraphic notice (Isa. V, 26; xiii, 2; xxiii, 3; xxx, 17; Ixii, 10, etc. ; comp. Cicero, Atiic. x, 17; Macrob. Saturn, i, 16), aud may have usually consisted of a high pole with a streamer flying from its summit. Others regard it rather as a beacon fire (irvpaoc, (ppuKTog ; comp. Curtius, v, 2, 7 ; vii, 7, 5, 13). See generally Faber, ii, 462 sq.; Jahn, II, ii, 462 sq. ; Celsius, He Vexillis Hebr. (Upsal. 1727). To the Roman standards, aquild; (Josephus, War, iii, 62 ; comp. Hermann, ad Lucian. coiwici-ib. hist. p. l'*5), an allusion apparently occurs in IMatt. xxiv, 28. (On the Egyptian ensigns, see Wilkinson, i, 294; Rcsel-
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