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shebanq

פִּשְׁתָּה pištāh – flax, wick

Semantic Fields: Utensils   
Author(s): Cornelis Houtman
First published: 2011-03-24
Citation: Cornelis Houtman, פִּשְׁתָּה pištāh – flax, wick,
               Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database (sahd-online.com), 2011 (WORK IN PROGRESS)

Introduction

Grammatical type:
Occurrences: 4x HB (2/2/0)

  • Torah: Exod 9:31 (2x);
  • Nebiim: Isa 42:3; Isa 43:17.

A.1 Gezer Calendar line 3: פשת (possibly defective spelling), at that time reaped c. March. See KAI 182.

1. Root and Comparative Material

A.1 Semitic: ~p{\st*t} / pšt(h) is apparently a North-West Semitic word which could not be realised in Aramaic because the {\st} would have developed into a t, making it a homograph of פִּּתָֹּה ‘piece of bread’.

Ugaritic: p{\st*t}, plur. p{\sttm} ‘linen, linen fabric’ (Del Olmo Lete & Sanmartín, DULAT, 688, with earlier literature).

Phoenician, Punic: pšt ‘flax, linen’ (Hoftijzer & Jongeling, DNSI, 947; Krahmalkov, PPD, 408).

Postbiblical Hebrew: פִּּשְׁתָן, plur. פִּּשְׁתִֹּים -- ‘Lein, Flachs’ (Levy, WTM, Bd. 4, 153).

2. Formal Characteristics

A.1 [Will be added later.]

3. Syntagmatics

A.1 [Will be added later.]

4. Ancient Versions

a. Septuagint (LXX) and other Greek versions (αʹ, σʹ, θʹ):

  • Isa 42:3; 43:17 λίνον -- GELS-L, 282: ‘flax, linen-cloth, lamp-wick’.

b. Peshitta (Pesh):

  • Isa 42:3; 43:17 šrgʾ ‘lamp’, → נֵר.

c. Targum (Tg):

  • TgO, TgPsJ, TgN and Fragment Tg MS Vatican Ebr. 440 on Exod 9:31: כיהנא, Levy, CWT, Bd. 1, 396: ‘Lein, Flachs’; Jastrow, DTT, 637: ‘flax’. TgJ Isa 42:3 דכבוצין חשיכיא ‘the needy who are like a wick’; Isa 43:17 כבוצין ‘like a wick’. Cf. Levy, CWT, Bd. 1, 86, 288; Jastrow, DTT, 147, 510.

d. Vulgate (Vg):

  • linum.

A.1

5. Lexical/Semantic Fields

A.1 [Will be added later.]

6. Exegesis

6.1 Textual Evidence

A.1 פִּּשְׁתָֹּה is a by-form of פֵּּשֶׁת, ‘flax, fibre’ (cf. König, Syntax, §255a, g; GK, §122r, t). The latter occurs only in Hos 2:7, 11 in the singular; in the rest of its occurrences always a masculine plural of composition פִּּשְׁתִֹּים is used (cf. GBHrev, §136b). Flax was a highly valued crop that yielded fibre for the manufacture of linen. The fibre is obtained by soaking the stalks to the point of putrefaction (retting) and drying them again for around two years. Before the whitish fibres within the stalks can be removed, the flax has to be combed to straighten it (Wilkinson 1998, 61f.). It is possible that the רָצוּצּ קָנֶה ‘crushed stalk’ of Isa 42:3 designates flax at the next production stage,

The second stage in the process of preparing the flax stems for spinning is the beating or bruising of the plants to separate the fibres from the wooden parts of the stem. (G. Vogelsang-Eastwood, in: AEMT, 271; cf. Dalman, AuS, Bd. 5, 27.)

So the parallelism in Isa 42:3 might be progressive.

In Exod 9:31 (2x) it is mentioned next to barley, wheat and emmer (Exod 9:32) as a food stuff (cf. Forbes, SAT, vol. 4, 28; H.-P. Müller, UF 2 (1970), 230f.). According to Zohary 1982 no oil was extracted from its seeds in biblical times, but see Borowksi, AIAI, 98-9.

As appears from the figurative language of Isa 42:3; 43:17, the word can also denote the wick of a lamp (→ נֵר), made out of twined flax fibres (see section 8 below). Placed in the spout(s) of the lamp, it sucks up the oil from the reservoir of the lamp by capillary extraction.

In Isa 42:3; 43:17 the wick as a vital part denotes the burning lamp itself (metonymia, synecdoche). As a metaphor, it is used in a similar way as the lamp itself (→ נֵר, and → נִיר). In Isa 43:17 the misfortune, the total destruction of the ennemies is described as the extinguishing (דעך qal), snuffing out (כבה qal) of the wick. The smouldering, the dimly burning (כֵּהָה, derivative of כהה I) wick denotes the lamp which does not burn brightly, because its oil is running out. As such it is a symbol of the weak, the people without hope (cf. TgJ). Of this wick it is said, however, that it will not be snuffed out (כבה pi.), i.e., the lamp will be filled with oil, so that the wick will start burning brightly again. So the smouldering, but not extinguished wick is a metaphor for people who have perspective, thanks to the appearance of the Servant of YHWH (Isa 42:1), the subject of Isa 42:3 (for different interpretations see the discussion in Elliger 1978, 210-4; Koole 1997, 220-2).

6.2 Pictorial Material

A.1

6.3 Archaeology

A.1 The Egyptian hieroglyph for a lamp wick shows the basic form of the wick. It was made of short length of twisted cord of flax fibres (cf. G. Vogelsang-Eastwood, in: AEMT, 291).

7. Conclusion

A.1 פִּּשְׁתָֹּה in the sense of a wick of the lamp, was made of a twisted cord offlax fibres which was placed in the spout(s) of the lamp and sucked up the oil within its reservoir by capillary extraction.

In Isa 42:6 the smouldering, but not extinguished wick is a metaphor for destitute Israelites who still have perspective, thanks to the appearance of the Servant of YHWH. In Isa 43:17 the defeated Babylonian armies are compared to a quenched wick.

Bibliography

Elliger 1978: K. Elliger, Deuterojesaja (BK, 11/1), Neukirchen-Vluyn 1978, 210-4

Houtman, Exodus, vol. 1 (HCOT), Kampen 1993, 159

Koole 1997: J.L. Koole, Isaiah III, Vol. 1 (HCOT), Kampen 1997, 220-2 --

Wilkinson 1998: A. Wilkinson, The Garden in Ancient Egypt, London 1998, 61f.

Zohary 1982: M. Zohary, Plants of the Bible, Cambridge 1982, 78.

Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database