Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Jonathan D. Safren" <yonsaf AT beitberl.ac.il>]

Peter Kirk wrote:
> >
> The Red Sea may not have reeds growing in it (contrary to Patterson's
> TWOT article, they do not grow in sea water, but then Hebrew professors
> should not be relied on as authorities on botany), but, as I have seen,
> it does have mangroves growing in it - currently only a few, but they
> may have been more common millennia ago. This would distinguish the Red
> Sea and its branches from the mangrove-less Mediterranean. So if suph is
> a more generic term for aquatic plants, this would be a good label to
> distinguish the seas.
>

As I wrote in my original posting, Israeli geographer Menashe Harel claims
that reeds do not grow by bodies of salt water (I understand him to mean the
specific bodies of salt water adjoining Egypt and Syro-Palestine, though he
may have intended something more general), but they do grow by brackish
water, such as were the Bitter Lakes before the Suez Canal.
Harel is considered one of Israel's foremost geographical authorities, and I
imagine he wouldn't be wrong on this one.
Therefore one must cnsider the possibility that "yam suph" can refer to two
different bodies of water in the Bible, that of Ex. 14, and that of 1 Kings.
Sincerely,
Jonathan D. Safren, Editor
Mo'ed - Annual for Jewish Studies
Center for Jewish Culture
Beit Berl College
Beit Berl Post Office
44905 Israel
Tel. 972-9-7476396
Fax 972-9-7475397
e-mail: moed AT beitberl.ac.il