There is some doubt as to the specific identity of the agvum, some believing that the word denotes " a rush" as well as a " reed" (see Rosenmiiller [Bibl. Bot. p. 184] and Winer [Realwortei-b. ii, 484]). Celsius (Hierob. i, 465 sq. ) has argued in favor of the Arundo phrag- mites (now Phragmites communis). That the agmon denotes some specific plant is probable from the pas- sages where it occurs, as well as from the fact that kaneh (i^.3p) is the generic term for reeds in general. Lobo, in his Voyage d'Abyssinie, says the Red Sea was seen to be literally red only in places where the gonemon was abundant. What this herb is does not elsewhere appear. Forskal applies the name of ghobeibe to a spe- cies of arundo, which he considered closelv allied to A. phragmites. M. Bove, in his Voyage Bofaiiique en Egypte, observed, especially on the borders of the Nile, quantities of Succharum ^Fgyptiacum and of A rundo yEgijptiaca, which is, perhaps, only a variety of A . do- iMix, the cultivated Spanish or Cyprus reed, or, as it is usually called in the south of Europe, Canna and Cana. In the neighborhood of Cairo he found Poa cynosuroides (the knsha, or cusa, or sacred grass of the Hindus), which, he says, serves " aux habitans pour faire des cordes, chauffer leurs fours, et cuire des briques et poteries. Le Saccharum cyliiulricum est employe aux memes usages." The Egyptian species of arundo is prol)al)ly the A . isiacn of Delile, which is closelv allied to .4 . phragmites, and its uses may be supposed to be very similar to those of the latter. This species is often raised to the rank of a ge- nus under the name of phragmites, so named from being
RUSH
158
RUSH
employed for making partitions, etc. It is about six feet high, with annual stems, and is abundant about the banks of pools and rivers and in marshes. The panicle of flowers is very large, much subdivided, a little droop- ing and waving in the wind. The plant is used for thatching, making screens, garden fences, etc. ; when split it is made into string, mats, and matches. It is the gemeines Rohr of the Germans, and the Canna or Cana palitstre of the Italians and Spaniards. Any of the species of reed here enumerated will suit the differ- ent passages in which the word agmon occurs; but sev- eral species of saccharum, growing to a great size in moist situations and reed-like in appearance, will also fultil all the conditions required — as affording shelter for the behemoth or hippopotamus, being convertible into ropes, forming a contrast with their hollow stems to the solidity and strength of the branches of trees, and when dry easily set on fire; and when in flower their light and feathery inflorescence may be bent down b}' the slightest wind that blows. See Reed.
2. Gome (X?35; Sept. TraTtupog, ^i(Skii>OQ, i\oq\ Vulg. scirpeus, scirpus, jmptyrus, jiaicus ) is found four times in the Bible. ]\Ioses was hidden in a vessel made of the papyrus (Exod. ii, 3 ; A. V. " bulrushes"). Transit boats were made out of the same material by the Ethi- opians (Isa. xviii, 2; A. V. "bulrushes"). The gome (A. V. "rush") is mentioned together with kaneh, the usual generic term for " a reed." in Isa. xxxv, 7, and in Job viii, 11, where it is asked, "Can the gome (A. V. "rush") grow without mire?" The name ^d;»«, accord- ing to Celsius (Hierob. ii, 138), is derived from H'Q^, " ab- sorbere, bibere, quia in aqua nascitur, et aquara semper imbibit" (comp. Lucan, P/utrs. iv, 13G). Though other plants are adduced b\' translators and commentators as the^o;«e of Scripture, yet it is evident that only the pa- pyrus can be meant, and that it is well suited to all the passages. Being in some respects so obvious, it could not escape the notice of all translators. Hence, in the Arabic version and in theAnnah of Eutychius, the word hurdi, the modern Arab name of the papyrus, is given as the synonym of gome in Exod. ii, 3. In Arabic au- thors on materia medica we find the papyrus mentioned under the three heads of Fafir, BincU, and Chartds. Fa fir is said to be the Egyptian name of a kind o^ hurdi (bur-reed) of which paper (chartu) is made; SMAoiburdi, the word fa f II rurs (evidently a corruption o( papyrus) is given as the Greek synonym. See Paper-reed. (1.) The papyrus is now well known; it belongs to the tribe of sedges, or Cg- peracece, and is not a rush or bulrush, as in the A. V. 1 1 may be seen growing to the height of six or eight feet, even in tubs in the hot -houses of England, and is described by the ancients as growing in the shallow parts of the Nile. The root is fleshy, thick, and spreading; the stems triangular, eight or ten feet in height, of which two or so are usu- ally under water, thick below, but tapering to- wards the ajjex, and des- titute of leaves. The base leaves are broad, straight, and sword - shaped, but much shorter than the stem. This last is ter- minated by an involucel of about eight leaves, sword-shaped and acute, much shorter than the Capcrua jMij'i/rus. many-rayeil umbel which