KANEH (kah'neb), (Heb. kaw-nell'), oc curs in several places of the Old Testament, in all of which, in the Authorized Version, it is trans lated reed; as in Kings xiv:15; 2 Kings xviii:21; lob x1:21 ; Is. xix.6 ; xxxv:7; xxxvi:6; xlii:3; 'zek. xxix:6.
(1) Reed. The Greek word rcaXagos,kal'anz-os, reed,appears to have been considered the proper equivalent for the Hebrew Kalsch, being the term used by St. Matthew (xii :2o), when quoting the words of Isaiah (xlii :3), 'A bruised reed (Kaneh) shall he not break.' The Greek word Latinized is well known in the forms of calamus and cubnus. Both seem to have been derived from the Arabic kalm, signifying a 'reed' or 'pen,' and forming numerous compounds, with the latter signification, in the languages of the East. It also denotes a weaver's reed, and even cuttings of trees for planting or grafting.
(2) Latitude of Meaning. Such references to the meaning of these words in different languages, may appear to have little relation to our present subject ; but xdNapos, reed, occurs very fre quently in the New Testament, and apparently with the same latitude of meaning: thus, in the sense of a reed or culm of a grass (Matt. xi:7; Luke vii :24), 'A reed shaken by the wind ;' of a pen, in 3 John 13, 'But I will not with pen (KciNcuhos) and ink write unto thee ;' (Matt. xxvii :29), 'Put a reed in his right hand ;' (ver. 3o), 'took the reed and smote him on the head;' and in Mark xv:19, it may mean a reed or twig of any kind. So also in Matt. xxvii :48, and Mark xv :36, where it is said that they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it on a reed, while in the parallel passage (John xix :29), it is said that they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it t'o his mouth. From which it seems very probable that the term KaXams, reed, was applied by both the Evangelists to the stem of the plata named hyssop, whatever this may have been, in like manner as Pliny applied the term Ca/anzus to the stem of a bramble.
In most of the passages of the Old Testament the word Kaneh seems to be applied strictly to reeds of different kinds growing in water, that is, to the hollow stems or culms of grasses, which are usually weak, easily shaken about by wind or by water, fragile, and breaking into sharp pointed splinters. Thus in Kings xiv :15, 'As
a reed is shaken in the water ;' Job x1:21, 'He lieth in the covert of the reed' (Kaneh); Is. xix 6, 'And they shall turn the rivers far away ; and the reeds and flags shall wither.' Also in ch. xxxv :7; while in 2 Kings xviii :21; Ezek. xxix : 6, and Is. xxxvi :6, there is reference to the weak and fragile nature of the reed, `Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt, whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it.' (3) A Water Plant. From the context of the several passages of scripture in which Kaneh is mentioned, it is evident that it was a plant grow ing in water ; and we have seen from the mean ing of the word in other languages that it must have been applied to one of the true reeds; as for instance, Arzazdo "Egyfitiaca (perhaps only a variety of A. Donax), mentioned by M. Bove as growing on the banks of the Nile; or it may have been the Arundo isiaca of Delile, which is closely allied to A. Phragnzites, the Canna and Cannc of the south of Europe, which is found along the banks of pools and marshes in Spain and Italy.
In the New Testament miXalLos, reed, seems to be applied chiefly to plants growing in dry and even barren situations, as in Luke vii :24; 'What went ye into the wilderness to see? a reed shaken by thc wind?' To such passages, some of the species of reed-like grasses, with slender stems and light flocculent inflorescence, formerly referred to Soecharum, but now sepa rated as distinct genera, arc well suited.
Hente, as has already been suggested by Rosen milller. the noun Kanels ought to be restricted to reeds, or reed-like grasses, while Agnzon may indicate the more slender and delicate grasses or sedges growing in wet situations, but which are still tough enough to be made into ropes. (See REED. ) J. F. R.
KAREAH (Hcb. 07, kaw-ray'akh, bald), father of Johanan and Jonathan, who sup ported Gedaliah s authority and took vengeance on his murderers (Jer. x1:8, 13, 15, 16; xli:11, 13, 14, 16; xlii:1, 8; xliii:2, 4, 5). Elsewhere the name is CAREA H. (B. C. before 588.)