WEAVING.—In our Lord’s day weaving was done by hand-looms, as still in the East generally. The loom, with its ‘beam’ and ‘shuttle,’ which furnished to OT poet and prophet figures of life’s swiftness and brevity (cf. Job 7:6, Isaiah 38:12), is not directly mentioned in the Gospels. While in the earlier days in Palestine weaving was done mostly by men, later it fell more and more into the hands of women. The Rabbis did not give it a high place among the crafts. Among the materials used in weaving were flax, wool, camel’s hair and goat’s hair. Flax and wool made ‘soft clothing’ for the royal and the rich (Matthew 11:8, Luke 16:19), the rest were wrought into the coarser garments of the more austere, like John the Baptist (Matthew 3:4), into the sackcloth of the mourner (Matthew 11:21, Luke 10:13), or into tents or sails. Jesus wore a seamless garment (χιτὼν ἄρραφος, John 19:23), woven in one piece, from the top throughout, made probably by faithful, ministering women (Luke 8:2 f., Matthew 27:55); and when He was buried, the cloth in which His body was wrapped was of linen (Mark 15:46, Matthew 27:59, Luke 24:12, John 19:40).
E. B. Pollard.