Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

PAPYRUS

A tall, aquatic, reed plant abundant in marshy areas of lower Egypt in ancient times (cf. Job 8:11), although no longer found there. Papyrus (Cyperus papyrus) was used in a number of products in ancient Egypt, including baskets, ropes, boats, sandals, and mats. Its most extensive use, however, was as a tough and inexpensive paper. (The English word “paper” comes from “papyrus,” although paper was invented in China and is made from wood or cotton fibers.) Papyrus is made by cutting strips of pith from inside the stalks of the plant, laying the strips out in two layers at right angles, fusing the layers together by pounding, and drying and smoothing the resulting sheet with shell or stone tools (cf. Pliny the Elder Nat. hist. 13.11-13). The sheets could then be joined together to form scrolls of any prescribed length. The longest existing roll is 39.6 m. (130 ft.).

Papyrus was used as a writing material in Egypt from ca. 3000 b.c.e. until well into the 1st millennium c.e. and was preferred over clay tablets, stone, and wood. Leather, however, was also used extensively as a writing medium. Papyrus was a significant trade item for ancient Egypt (ANET, 28), and was exported to Syria-Palestine, Greece, and Italy. Ancient papyrus documents exist in many languages, including Egyptian, Greek, Aramaic, Hebrew, Coptic, and Latin. Direct and indirect archaeological evidence suggests that papyrus was a common writing material in Palestine during the 1st millennium b.c.e. A few fragments of papyrus documents have been found at a number of locations, including a cave in Wadi Murabbaʾat (7th century), a cave in Wadi ed-Daliyeh (4th century), caves around Qumran (3rd century b.c.e.–1st century c.e.), and in Naḥal µever (2nd century c.e.). In addition, at Samaria, Lachish, Tell el-Hesi, Beth-zur, and Jerusalem, hundreds of clay bullae used to seal contracts and letters have been found with traces of papyrus fibers attached, indicating that the documents to which they were attached were papyrus. The evidence confirms the suggestion that papyrus was used extensively in Palestine, but the climate was too damp to permit the preservation of papyrus documents except in sheltered, dry areas. Texts of the OT were written mainly on leather (although some may have been written on papyrus), while texts of the NT, especially the letters, were probably written first on papyrus.

The only clear biblical reference to papyrus as a writing material is found in 2 John 12. Gk. chártēs refers to the papyrus roll or sheet on which a letter is written. Isa. 18:2 mentions the use of papyrus stalks to make sailing vessels. Baby Moses is hidden in a papyrus basket (Exod. 2:3), and the “reeds and rushes” in Isa. 35:7 undoubtedly refer to papyrus.

Bibliography. J. ¦erny, Papers and Books in Ancient Egypt (London, 1952); R. S. Hanson, “Ancient Scribes and Scripts and the Clues They Leave,” BA 48 (1985): 83-88; Y. Shiloh, “A Group of Hebrew Bullae from the City of David,” IEJ 36 (1986): 16-38; B. Watterson, Introducing Egyptian Hieroglyphs (Edinburgh, 1981).

Nancy L. deClaissé-Walford

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

PAPYRUS

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)