WEAVER (nit:, ank), WEAVING (M).
Weaving of some sort must be contemporary with the use of textile fabrics, and this remounts to the earliest ages. That weaving. was practised by the Israelites before they were acquainted with the Egyptians cannot be doubted ; but as the Egyptians were from an early period famous for_ the delicacy and beauty of the products of their looms, we may suppose that the Israelites learned something from them during their residence among them.
The fabrics required by a household were pro bably usually manufactured in the house. Hence in the description of the virtuous woman her dili gence and skill in weaving are prominently com mended (Prov. xxxi. 13, 22, 24). That weaving, however, was practised as a trade, and that from a very early period there was a weavers' guild among the Israelites, appears evident from Chron. iv. 21. Women also were employed in weaving as a trade (2 Kings xxiii. 7). Perhaps the commoner sorts of work were done at home, while skilled workers were employed to produce the fine byssus fabrics and highly ornamented work, resembling that for which the looms of Egypt were famous (Wilkinson. Anc. Egypt. ii. 85, ff.) The looms of Egypt were of the most simple kind ; and those of Judaea were doubtless not less so. The weaver's beam' anik -lin) was a piece of wood placed either perpendicularly or zontally, to which the web oppn) was fastened.
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The other implements used were the shuttle (rM) and the -in!, which some make a pin, others a rope or cord, and which certainly was used to fasten the web to the beam (Judg. xvi. 14). Mention is also made of the r*-r, or thrum (1s. xxxviii. 12), and of the ,3-12, and' -the 2-.11, (Lev. xiii. 48, ff.), which in the A: V. are rendered warp and woof: This is also the rendering of the LXX. ev arlyzovL Iv KpbKv. But how could the plague be in the warp or the woof and not in both ; or how could the one be burned and Rot the other ? (ver. 52). This has led Houbigant to suggest that these terms de note different kinds of cloth, the one of a more simple, the other of a more complicated texture ; and this Dathe, Rosenmither, Baumgarten, and Knobel approve.
The fabrics produced by the loom among the Hebrews were of woollen, byssus, and cotton ; also the camels-hair and goats-hair cloths used for the covering of tents and for the dress of the poor. Other more costly and artistic fabrics were also probably produced by weaving [NEEDLE WORK].
Our Lord wore a XL74)21 dj3i3a(Pos (John xix. 23), a garment without seam wholly woven from top to bottom. A similar garment Josephus says was worn by the high-priest (Antig. iii. 7. 4) ; and the Brahmins of India make a point of wearing only such.—W. L. A.