Great quantities of linen were employed in wrapping the mummies of the dead (Herod. ii. 86). The bandages used for this purpose were invariably of linen. This has been demonstrated by a series of careful microscopic examinations well described by Wilkinson (Ane. Egyp. iii. 115, 116). Wool
LINEN
LINEN
was never used in this way, because of a belief that it tended to breed worms which would destroy
the body. The poor might wear cotton garments in life, provided their mummies were wrapped in linen after death. Linen was used for both men and animals, and sometimes the bandages were as much as 1000 yards in length (Wilk. ἐδ. 111, 484).
The influence of Egypt on Israel is seen perhaps in the prominence given to linen in the furniture of the tabernacle and in the dress of the priests. The trade with Egypt was maintained (Pr 7:5), and the material was ighly prized by the neighbour- ing Tyrians (Ezk 27’). Flax was early cultivated in Palestine (Jos 26), but the native industry in linen, as in other woven stuffs, was chiefly confined to the women of the household. The finer kinds were brought from abroad.
The terms used for ‘linen’ in Scripture are—
4.2. wv, 12. As a mark of distinction Pharaoh clothed Joseph in linen garments (vy), from which we may infer that linen formed part of the ordinary dress of royal, or at least eminent persons (Gn 41"), λοι corresponds in form with the Arab shdsh, a fine muslin, made of cotton, and much used to guard against mosquitoes and sand-flies. Linen is, however, here intended. Shésh is some- times used as the equivalent of bad (73), about which there is no doubt (cf. Ex 28° 43 3038. Ly 16%). Shésh appears to be the more general term. It is used for the offerings brought by the people (Ex 25%); the materials used in the hangings of the tabernacle (Ex 261° 979 *- 35. 36. 38) ; the finery of women (Pr 31%, AV ‘silk,’ Ezk 161° 18) and the cloth of sails (Ezk 27’), as well as for the various Saeey of the priests (Ex 28° 39% Sete), In
zk 1013 we have the peculiar form ww; this is probably due to proximity to the similarly sound- ing vd.
"3 is used exclusively of articles of dress, and jzincipally of the holy garments of the priests (Ex 9812 3838. Lv 6! 164), In 1S 22!8 the priests are designated as persons that wear a linen (bad) ephod. Samuel, as a child, engaged in religious service, was girded with a linen ephod (1 S 318). David in his dance before the Lord was similarly girded (2S 6%, 1 Ch 15”). The man wearing linen
arments is chosen for special work (Ezk 95: 8 1 10? *7); and the great figure in the vision by the river Hiddekel wears similar attire (Dn 10° 12° 7). It appears therefore that bad is restricted to uses that are of a religious character.
The distinction between shésh and bad cannot be indicated with certainty. In the phrase ‘bad of fine twined shésh’ (Ex 39°), the latter. term evidently means the thread of which the cloth is woven. This suggests that while bad is used only for the cloth, shésh is applied indifferently, now to the thread and now to the woven stuff. Abarbanel (on Ex 25) says that bad was a single thread, and shésh (Heb. =6) was formed by twisting together six single threads. But this seems in contradiction to the above.
3. 3, LXX βύσσος, is from the root pe to be white, still heard in the Arab dis used tor native linen. Of Aramean origin, it was used specially for the Syrian byssus (Gesenius). In Ezk 27'° it 15 distinguished from Egyptian shésh (cf. v.7), but elsewhere the distinction is ignored (οἵ. 2 Ch 3%, Ex 26%), Targum Onkelos gives δες as the equiva- lent ot shésh. Biz is the name given to linen, in which the house of Ashbea attained eminence as workers (1 Ch 421, οἵ. 2 Ch 212), of which David's robe was made (1 Ch 15”), of which the veil of the temple was woven (2 Ch 3%), and with which the Levite singers in the temple were clothed (2 Ch 5”). Of this were also the cords which fastened the hangings in the king’s gardens at Shushan the palace (Est 1°). Mordecai’s dress when he went
out from the king was of fine linen (δή) and purple (Est 8%, οἵ, Lk 16%), The Syrian trade with Tyre included ‘ purple and embroidered work and biz’ (Ezk 2716). Josephus takes byssus as the equivalent of both shésh and bad, describing the otlerings of the Israelites in the wilderness for the tabernacle as byssus of flax (Ant. vi. 1), the hang- ings for the tabernacle as sindon of byssus (ib. 2), and the priests’ drawers and vestments as byssus. The vestment, he says, was called chethone (njr2), which denotes linen (εὖ. vit. i. 2). This corresponds closely with the Arab kittdn, the common name for linen stuffs. The presumption of the mystic Babylon is shown by her arraying herself in fine linen (dyssus), the fitting dress of the Lamb’s wife, since it symbolizes ‘the righteousness of the saints’ (Rev 18 198). Such raiment also is congruous with the character of those who follow him who is called the Faithful and True (i. 19").