Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Polycarp66 AT aol.com]

In a message dated 1/26/2004 7:17:51 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
dwashbur AT nyx.net writes:
My oldie-but-goodie Gesenius lexicon says "sea-weed, sedge, Jon. 2,6. 
Hence YAM-SW.P, the sea of sedge, i.e. the Arabian Gulf or Red Sea,
which abounds in seaweed..."  I've never been there so I can't verify
this, but considering how long the lexicon has endured and how many
others have been based on it, I would suspect that he did his homework. 
And as has been pointed out, the references in Jonah and the clear
reference to the Gulf of Aqabah seems to preclude the idea that the
expression referred to the Bitter Lakes, unless we want to posit an ad
hoc meaning especially for the occurrences in Exodus.
______

Perhaps I'm reading too much into your post, but I'm wondering if you are 
suggesting that Jonah was in the Gulf of Aqabah (whether a historical prophet 
or 
simply the subject of a moral story)?  My reading of Jonah indicates that he 
went to Joppa which would indicate a Mediterranian provenence.

gfsomsel