[Avodah] national flag???

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, Oct 06, 2011 at 07:30:13AM -0400, Zev Sero wrote:
> On 5/10/2011 10:14 PM, Lisa Liel wrote:
>> As I understand it, the word "nes" means pretty much what a flag is.

> It's probably something that serves the same purpose for which flags were
> invented, but it can't mean a flag, unless they're a technology that was
> lost and rediscovered.   Chazal seem to have thought it meant a standard...

    Vayomer H' el Mosheh,
    "Asei lekha saraf, vesim oso al neis..."
    Vaya'as Moshe nechash nechoshes,
    vaysimeihu al haneis...
			-Bamidbar 21:8,9

So, a neis is a pole on which Moshe put the nechash nechoshes, which
combined make what certainly sounds like a standard of the sort used by
the Roman Army.

    Sheish beriqmah miMitzrayim hayah mifraseikh
    lihyos lekha leneis;
    tekheiles ve'argaman mei'iyaei Elishah
    hayah machseikh.
			-Yechezqeil 27:7

But here we see fine sails served as Tzor's neis. Doesn't this, combined
with Bamidbar, argue for a meaning relating to cloth on a pole?

GCT!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             For those with faith there are no questions.
micha at aishdas.org        For those who lack faith there are no answers.
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