Cotton (Ui w, shesh, according to Rosenmtiller, ^4 Itert/i. TV, i, 175; comp. Tuch, Gen. p. 520 sq. ; later "/^3, buts, see Faber, in Harmar, ii, 383 ; comp. Gesenius, Thesaur. p. 190) was not only manufactured in Egypt into state apparel (Gen. xli, 42 ; comp. Pliny, xix, 2), and in Persia into cords (Esth. i, 6), but the Israelites even made use of byssus cloth (Exod. xxvi, 1 ; xxvii, 9) and clothing (Exod. xxviii, 89), and the Hebrew women were accus- tomed to similar fabrics (Prov. xxxi, 32). It has also been regarded as the sumptuous apparel which onlj- the rich were able to afford (Luke xvi, 19; on the byssus of the Greeks and Romans, see Celsius, ii, 170, 177, and Wet- stein, ii, 767). Nevertheless, the Hebrew shesh does not designate exclusively cotton, but also stands sometimes, like the Gr. byssus often (as the product of a tree.Philostr, Apoll. ii, 2G ; comp. Pollux, Ononi. vii, 17; Strabo, xv, 693; Arrian, //icZif. vii), for the finest (Egyptian) white linen (certainly in Exod. xxxix, 28 ; comp. xxviii, 42 ; Lev. xvi, 4 ; see Pliny, xix, 2, 3), which in softness com- pared with cotton (Hartmann, Hebr. iii, 37 sq.). Indeed, the Jewish tradition of the use of linen for sacred pur- poses (Bilhr, Symbol, i, 264) is based altogether upon the custom of the Itlgyptians, whose priests were exclusively clothed in linen (Pliny, xix, 1, 2; comp. Philostr. .4/;o/^. ii, 20), >\-hich it has likewise been contended was the an- cient byssus (Rosellini, j1/o7i. cii: 1,341; comp. Becker, Charikl.S33 sq.). In fine, the Orientals often employed a single term to designate both cotton and linen, but Celsius was wrong when he insisted (Ilicrobot. ii, 259 sq., 167 sq.) that shesh stands only for (fine) linen (see Faber, in Harmar, ii, 380 sq. ; Hartmann, Hebr. iii, 34 sq.). The same ambiguity that thus applies to [ivaaoQ is also found in the use of * W (chur, Esth. i, 6 ; viii, 15 ; Sept, /St'crffoc), bj' which perhaps cotton is, after all, in- tended. See generally J. R. Forster, Be bysso antiquor. (Lond. 1776) ; Smith's Diet, of Class. A ntiq. s. v. Byssus ; Eyypt. Antiq. in the lAb. of Entertaining Kncnd. ii, 182- 192; Penny Cyclopadia, s. v. Cotton, Gossj-pium. See Cotton.
3. Bad ("12, perha]3S from its separation for sacred uses) occurs Exod. xxviii, 42; xxxix, 28; Lev. vi, 10; xvi, 4, 23, 32; 1 Sam. ii, 18; xxxii, IS; 2 Sam. vi, 14; 1 Chron. xv, 27 , Ezek. ix, 2, 3, 11 ; x, 2. 6. 7 ; Dan. x, 5; xii, 6, 7, in all which passages it is rendered '"linen" in the Auth. Yers. It is u^ormly applied to the sacred vestments (e. g. drawers, nm-c, eplKxl, etc.) of the priests, or (in the passages in Ezekiel and Daniel) of an angel (comp. .John xx, 12 ; Acts i, 20), In these last instances it is in the plural, D'^'na, baddim', in the concrete sense of clothes of this material, Sept. in the Pent, invariably
LINEN
441
LINEN
XiVfoc, but in 1 Chron. jSvacnvog. It is well known that the official garments of the Egyptian (as of the Brahmin) priests were always of linen (Koscnmiiller, Bot. of Ike Bible, p. 175), and hence the custom among the Hebrews (compare Ezek. xliv, 17, where the sacred apparel is expressly described as the product of tlax, D7P'rD ). Celsius, however, is of opmion {/lierobot. ii, 509) that bad does not signify the common linen, as some have imagined, but the finest and best Ef/yptian linen; and he quotes (p. 510) Aben-Ezra as asserting that bud is the same as hits, namely, a species of linen in Eg\-pt. With this view Gesenius concurs (Thesaur. Ileb. p. 179). The Talmudlsts appear to have been of the same opinion, from their fanciful etymology of the term bad as of a plant with a single stem springing up- right from the earth from one seed (Braun, De vest, sa- cei'd. p. 101). This interpretation is finally confirmed by the Arabic versions, which have a term equivalent to hi/s.vis. See No. 1 above. Perhaps, however, the requirement of the material in question for priestly gar- ments may only signify that no icool should be employ- ed in them, and they may therefore have consisted in- dilferenlly of either linen or cotton, provided it was entirely jmre, and thus be represented by the equivocal term byssus. See No. 2 above.
4. SiiEsii ("i"^, prob. from the Egjq^tian sheush, in ancient Egyptian cheuti, i. e. linen, Bunsen, ^Eg. i, 606, which the Hebrews appear to have imitated as if from UJ-TJ, to be ichite ; Sept. everywhere (ivarjoQ) occurs Gen. xli, 42-, Exod. xxv, 4; xxvi, 1, 31, 36; xxvii, 9, 16,18; xxviii, 5, 6, 8,15,39; xxxv, 6, 23, 25, 35 ; xxxvi. 8. 35, 37 ; xxxviii, 9, 16, 18, 23 ; xxxix, 2, 3, 5, 8, 27, 28, 29; Prov. xxxi, 22; Ezek. xvi, 10, 13; xxvii, 7; in all which passages it is rendered " fine linen" in the Auth. Vers, (except Prov. xxxi, 22, where it is rendered "silk;" in Esth. i, 6 ; Cant, v, 15^ the same term occurs, but is rendered, as it there signifies, " marble") ; once siieshi' C'^r, from the same), Ezek. xvi, 13, text, "fine linen." This word appears to designate Egj-ptian Imen of pe- culiar whiteness and fineness, and as such it is stated to have been imported from Egypt by way of Tyre (Ezek. xxvii, 7), in distinction from the Syrian Unen or bills ("i"13, verse 16). In the Pentateuch it is several times applied to byssus, of which, both as material spon- taneously offered (Exod. xxv, 4; xxxv, 6, 23) and as woven fabrics (Exod. xxxv, 25, 35; xxxviii, 23), were made both the curtains and veils of the sacred taberna- cle (Exod. xxvi, 1,31, 36 ; xxvii, 9, 10, 18 ; xxxvi, 8, 35, 37 ; xxxviii, 9, 16, 18), and the priestly garments, espe- cially the high-priest's ephod or shoulder-piece (Exod. xxviii, 5, 6, 8, 15, 39; xxix, 2, 5, 8, 27, 28, 29). Eai- ment of this description is stated to have been Avorn by noble ]jers()ns besides priests, e. g. by Joseph as prefect of Egypt (Gen. xli, 42), and women of eminence (Prov. xxxi, 22). But that shesk is also spoken of liwn arti- cles is apparent from Exod. xxxix, 28, where the " linen breeches" (12rt "^ops^) are said to have been made "of fine-twined linen" (It 'vT "3 Od), as well as from the fact that n^Jn":3D, pislifim, linen garments, are some- times (e. g. Isa. xliii, 17 ; Ezek. xliv, 18) rendered by the Chaldee interpreter by y^'Z, bills. It thus appears that s/iesh is equivalent in general to byssus. See No. 2 above. See generally Celsius, Ilicrobot. ii, 259 ; J. E. Foretcr, Liber sinyularis de bysso antiquorum (London, 1776) ; J. E. Fabcr, Observat. ii, 282 sq. ; Hartmann, He- braeriii, iii, 34 sq. ; Rosenmliller, Bibl. A Iterth. IV, i, 175 6(1.— tJesenius, Thes. Heb. s. v.