Figure 33

Papyrus plant

Papyrus plant harvested from the Nile river in Egypt prepared to make Papyrus. Papyrus, found as early as 3100 BC, was used for manuscripts,  [Raymond P. Dougherty, “Writing upon Parchment and Papyrus among the Babylonians and the Assyrians,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 48 (January 1, 1928): 109–35] and was manufactured from the pith of a bulrush plant, which grew almost exclusively on the marshy banks of the Nile River in Egypt (Job 8:11; Pliny Nat. 13.11; André LeMaire, “Writing and Writing Materials,” ed. David Noel Freedman et al., ABD (New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1996): 6:999–1006).  In moist conditions Papyrus has a life of only a century or two, however in the dry desert conditions of the Dead Sea such documents have survived for nearly 2000 years. Scrolls were formed by sewing sheets of parchment or papyrus together with a linen thread (see Jer 36:1–32, Ezek 3:1–3).