Dict: easton - Reed

easton:

Reed @

(1.) "Paper reeds" kjv@Isaiah:19:7; R.V., "reeds"). Heb. 'aroth, properly green herbage growing in marshy places.

(2.) Heb. kaneh (kjvKings:14:15; kjv@Job:40:21; kjv@Isaiah:19:6), whence the Gr. kanna, a "cane," a generic name for a reed of any kind. The reed of Egypt and Palestine is the Arundo donax, which grows to the height of 12 feet, its stalk jointed like the bamboo, "with a magnificent panicle of blossom at the top, and so slender and yielding that it will lie perfectly flat under a gust of wind, and immediately resume its upright position." It is used to illustrate weakness ( kjv@2Kings:18:21; kjv@Ezekiel:29:6), also fickleness or instability kjv@Matthew:11:7; comp. kjv@Ephesians:4:14). A "bruised reed" kjv@Isaiah:42:3; kjv@Matthew:12:20) is an emblem of a believer weak in grace. A reed was put into our Lord's hands in derision kjv@Matthew:27:29); and "they took the reed and smote him on the head"

(30). The "reed" on which they put the sponge filled with vinegar kjv@Matthew:27:48) was, according to John (19:29), a hyssop stalk, which must have been of some length, or perhaps a bunch of hyssop twigs fastened to a rod with the sponge. (
See CANE.)