A Scroll for Future Days (36:1-32) 587Neriah, the scribe," doubtless the Baruch mentioned here, had traces of papy-
rus on the reverse (Avigad 1978a: 52-53).
The papyrus plant (cyperus papyrus), harvested in abundance in the Nile
Delta (cf. Isa 18:2), is known in the OT as game> (AV: "bulrushes" in Exod 2:3).
Driver (p. 82) explains how the plant was processed into an early type of paper:The part of the plant used was the pith cut vertically into slices. In order to
make a sheet of paper, these slices were laid crosswise, some vertically and
others horizontally, pressed together and dried in the sun; uneven patches
were then smoothed or pressed away and the sheets glued into a long strip
which was cut to the required length and then rolled up.An ancient account of the way papyrus was made into various grades of paper
appears in Pliny (Nat Hist xiii 23-26). A relatively inexpensive material, papy-
rus was used for most scrolls in ancient Israel. Haran (1980-81; 1982: 168-72)
also points out that writing could be done on both sides (Ezek 2:9-10), and
when necessary, could be easily erased (Heb mbh, "wash, wipe clean" in Exod
32:32-33; Num 5:23; Ps 69:29[Eng 69:28]). Writing on skins was the exception,
done only for more important or official documents (Haran; Driver). The
questions might then be asked, How important or how official was this scroll of
Jeremiah's prophecies? Was it still at this point mainly Jeremiah's personal
property? Haran ( 1982: 168) says that it was Jeremiah's personal property. The
point is also made that a papyrus scroll would more easily be cut with a pen-
knife and would burn more easily in the fire, which was the fate of this scroll
once it c:;:1me into the hands of Jehoiakim (v 23).
In the NT period, the standard material for copying sacred books was parch-
ment. Most of the biblical books found at Qumran were written on parchment.
There were strictures in the Talmud about using only skins for scrolls contain-
ing the Law (Haran 198 5c ); the Megilloth (Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes,
Lamentations, and Esther), however, could be written on papyrus. Other simi-
lar documents of the period were written on papyrus, e.g., the Nash Papyrus
(Albright: first century B.c.), which contains a Hebrew text of the Decalogue
and part of the Shema< (Deut 6:4-5); some-maybe all-the letters of the NT
(cf. 2 John 12); and the Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri (second to fourth centu-
ries A.D.), which contains most of the Greek OT and some passages from the
NT. See further G. R. Driver 1976: 82-83; also "Chester Beatty Papyri," ABD 1:
901-3. On the use of papyrus and skins for writing in antiquity, see "Writing
and Writing Materials," IDB R-Z, 918; and in ABD 6: 1003-4. For pictures of
the Aramaic papyri from Elephantine, some of which have writing on both
sides, and diagrams of how papyrus documents were prepared, see Porten 1979.
Israel ... Judah. The LXXBS have "Jerusalem" instead of "Israel." The
former is preferred by some commentators (Giesebrecht; Duhm; Peake; Cor-
nill; Rudolph; Hyatt; McKane; cf. Isa 1:1), the MT reading by others (Volz;
Weiser; Bright; Holladay; Jones), who note that the LXX witness is not unani-
mous, that other Yrs (CL, S, T, and Vg) support MT, and that "all the nations"