4. Scripture measures of capacity for liquids, reduced to English A caph 1.3 A log wine measure. 0 3.333 2 4 96 72 18 61 31 bath or ephah 7 4 960 720 | 180 | 60 | 20 | 10 | A kor or coros, chomer or homer 75 5 5. Scripture measures of capacity for things dry, reduced to In the preceding table, silver is valued at 5s. and gold at £4 per ounce. 132 $118. MATERIALS OF CLOTHES. 7. Roman money, mentioned in the New Testament, reduced to the OUR first parents in the first instance protected themselves with the leaves of the fig-tree; afterwards, with the skins of animals. Subsequently some method, as we may suppose, was discovered for matting together the hair of animals and making a sort of felt cloth. Later still the art of weaving was introduced, and a web was formed by combining the hair of animals with threads drawn from wool, cotton, or flax. At any rate the art of manufacturing cloths by spinning and weaving is of very great antiquity, Gen. 14: 23. 31: 18, 19. 37: 3. 38:28. 41: 42. 45: 22. Job 7:6. 31:20. The Egyptians were very celebrated for such manufactures. The Israelites, while living among them, learnt the art, and even excelled their teachers, 1 Chron. 4: 21. While wandering in the Arabian wilderness, they prepared the materials for covering the tabernacle, and wrought some of them with embroidery. Cotton cloth was esteemed most valuable, next to that, woollen and linen. That which was manufactured from the hair of animals, was esteemed of least value. Of silk there is no mention made at a very early period, unless perchance it be in Ezekiel 16: 10, 13. under the word ". This, however, is $119. 133 clear, that Alexander found silks in Persia, and it is more than probable, that the Median dress, which we find was adopted by the Persians under Cyrus, was silk. Silk was not introduced among the nations of Europe, till a late period. COLOURS OF CLOTHS. $119. COLOURS OF CLOTHS. White was esteemed the most appropriate colour for cotton cloth, and purple for the others. On festival days the rich and powerful robed themselves in white cotton, which was considered the most splendid dress. It was denominated in the earlier Hebrew by the synonymous words and 2, and after the captivity by another synonyme, viz. Yaz, the Greek ẞvooos. The fullers,, had discovered the art, a singular one, it is true, of communicating a very splendid white to cloth by the aid of alkali and urine. Hence, lest their shops should communicate a fetidness to the atmosphere, where it might be of injury, they lived out of the city, Is. 7: 3. Cotton cloth coloured purple was denominated in Hebrew 72478 and AR It was coloured by the blood taken from a vein in the throat of a certain shell-fish. This colour was very highly esteemed, seemed to be a medium hue between brown and pure red, and was very bright; it was essentially the same with the celebrated Tyrian purple. Kings and princes were clothed with this purple, Luke 16: 19. Rev. 18: 12. אַרְגְוָן and in Chaldaic The scarlet colour so called, first mentioned in Gen. 38: 28. and occurring frequently afterwards was very much admired. It was a different colour from the shell-fish purple, and was extracted from the insects or their eggs, found on a species of oak; and thence in Hebrew it is called in, which means a worm or insect. The cotton cloth was dipped into this colour twice; hence the application of the Hebrew words and nybin, twicedyed. This colour is sometimes called, 2 Chron. 2: 14. 3: 14. from the Persian word French word carmoisin. The hyacinth or dark blue colour, nn, was extracted from the cuttle-fish, which bears in Hebrew the same name with the colour itself, and was highly esteemed, especially among the Assyrians, Ezek. 23: 6. which is the origin of the كرمال $ 120. Black colour was used for common wear, and particularly on occasions of mourning. Party-coloured cloths, Donna, were highly esteemed, Gen. 37: 3, 23. 2 Sam. 13: 18. As far back as the time of Moses we find, that cloths were embroidered, sometimes with the coloured threads of cotton and linen, and sometimes with threads of gold. When the work was embroidered on both sides, the Hebrew word for fabrics of that kind appears in the dual form, viz. p. Some of the passages in relation to embroiderers and embroidery are as follows, Exod. 25: 36. 35: 35. Judg. 5: 30. Ps. 45: 9. Ezek. 16: 10. What the nature of that garment was, which is interdicted to the Hebrews in Lev. 19: 19. and Deut. 22: 11. is uncertain. It is said to be a mixed garment of wool and linen, but that does not decide the point. Josephus says, an opinion prevailed in his time, that the garments in question were embroidered ones, which belonged to the priests, but the fact is, the law was universal, and interdicted them to priests, as well as to all others. Perhaps the warp was of wool and the woof of linen, a common mode of manufacturing in the East even to this day, according to the testimony of Aryda. The garments may have been interdicted to the Hebrews on account of their being so common a dress among the heathen. 134 THE TUNIC. $120. THE TUNIC. This was the most simple, and, as we may conjecture from that circumstance, the most ancient garment. It is a common article of dress in the East to this day, and is called in Arabic ahram, . It was a piece of cloth, commonly linen, which encircled the whole body, was bound with a girdle, and descended to the knees. It occurs in the Bible first, under the Hebrew word nn, afterwards, under the word, which usually means a girdle. Those, who are clothed with a tunic merely, are sometimes said to be naked. Job 24: 7, 10. Is. 20: 2-4. Mic. 1: 8. John 21: 7. As the fore-part of the tunic was liable to be elevated with the wind, the wearer had on also an under garment called in Hebrew, which in the time of Moses reached only from the loins to the knees, Exod. 28: 42; but in progress of $121. THE GIRDLE. time it was extended down to the ankles. 135 Moses in Exod. 28: 42. commands the priests to wear under garments of this description, on account of their convenience in performing the sacrifices. Hence it may be inferred, that they were not used by the people generally, which is found to be the state of the case at this day in various countries of the East. If Strabo in page 734 means to say, that the Persians wore three pair of them, he certainly speaks of a recent period in their history. Mention is made of an upper pair of this garment in Dan. 3: 21. called in Hebrew bo in Persian shalvar, in Syriac α¡, in Arabic The orientals, سروال whether clad in the garment in question or not, when they find it necessary to emit urine, seek an obscure place, and in a sitting posture discharge themselves upon the earth; with this exception, that the meanest and lowest of the populace defile the walls. Hence the peculiar, proverbial expressions, which occur in 1 Sam. 25: 22, 34, &c, are to be considered, as denoting the very lowest class of people. The tunic, which at first only covered the body, was extended afterwards up round the neck, was supplied with short sleeves, and eventually with long ones, covering the whole arm. At first it set close to the body, but was afterwards made loose and flowing. The Babylonians, Egyptians, and Persians were clad with another tunic externally to the one described, and commonly more precious, which we learn was worn also by the Jews, Matt. 10: 10. Luke 9: 3. 121. THE GIRDLE, n. The tunic, when it was not girded, impeded the person who wore it in walking. Those, consequently, who perhaps at home were ungirded, went forth girded, 2 K. 4: 29. 9: 1. Is. 5: 27. Jer. 1: 12. John 21: 7. Acts 12: 8. There were formerly and are to this day two sorts of girdles in Asia; the one, a common one of leather, six inches broad and furnished with clasps, with which it is fastened round the body, Corn dequazivn, 2 K. 1: 8. Matt. 3: 4. Mark 1:6; the other, a valuable one of cotton or flax, and sometimes indeed of silk or some embroidered fabric, a hand's breadth broad, and supplied likewise with clasps, by which it was fastened over the fore-part of the body, Jer. 13: 1. The girdle was bound round the loins, whence the expressions, "The girdle of the loins, and |