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LINEN is cloth made from the prepared fibre of flax. In ancient Egypt great proficiency was attained in its manufacture (Pliny, HN vii. 56; Strabo, xxvii. 41; Herod. ii. 182), and a flourishing trade was carried on (Pro_7:16, Eze_27:7). As material of wearing apparel it has always been esteemed in the East. In a hot climate it tends to greater freshness and cleanliness than cotton or wool. The Egyptian priests were obliged to wear linen (Herod. ii. 37; Wilk. Anc. Egyp. iii. 117). The ‘cotton garments’ mentioned on the Rosetta stone were probably worn over the linen, and left outside when the priests entered a temple. The embalmed bodies of men and animals were wrapped in strips of linen. No other material was used for this purpose (Wilk. ib. iii. 115, 116, 484). Perhaps we may trace Egyptian influence in the place given to linen in the hangings, etc., of the Tabernacle, and in the garments of the priests (Exo_25:4; Exo_26:1 etc., Exo_28:15 etc.). It formed part of the usual clothing of royalty, and of the wealthy classes (Gen_41:42, Est_8:15, Luk_16:19). It is the dress worn by persons engaged in religious service. The priests are those who ‘wear a linen ephod’ (1Sa_22:18). The child Samuel in Shiloh (1Sa_2:18), and David, bringing back the ark (2Sa_6:14 etc.), also wear the linen ephod; cf. Eze_9:2; Eze_10:2, Dan_10:5. It formed the garment of the Levite singers (2Ch_5:12). It was the fitting raiment of the Lamb’s wife, ‘the righteousness of the saints’ (Rev_19:3); presumptuously assumed by ‘the great city Babylon’ (Rev_18:16); in it are also arrayed ‘the armies that are in heaven’ (Rev_19:14).
No clear and uniform distinction can be drawn between several Heb. words tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘linen.’ bad appears to be always used of garments (Gen_41:42 etc.), while shçsh may perhaps mean the thread, as in the phrase ‘bad of fine twined shçsh’ (Exo_39:28), the cloth made from it (Exo_25:4; Exo_26:1, Eze_27:7 etc.), and also garments (Exo_28:5 etc.). We cannot, indeed, be certain that ‘linen’ is always intended (Guthe, Bib. Wörterbuch, s.v.). The modern Arab. [Note: Arabic.] shash means ‘cotton gauze.’ bûts is a word of Aramæan origin, occurring only in later books (Eze_27:16, 1Ch_4:21, Est_1:6), whence comes the Gr. byssos. which covered both bad and shçsh (Jos. [Note: Josephus.] Ant. III. vi. 1f.). By later writers it was taken to represent cotton (Liddell and Scott, s.v.). pishtîm is a general term, denoting the flax, or anything made from it (Jos_2:5, Jdg_15:14, Jer_13:1 etc.). sâdîn was a sheet in which the whole body might be wrapped (Jdg_14:12 f., Pro_31:24 etc.). It probably corresponded to the sindôn ‘linen cloth’ of Mar_14:51, and the shroud of Mat_27:59 etc. ’çtûm (Pro_7:16) is probably fine Egyptian thread, with which cloths and haogiogs were ornamented, othonç (Act_10:11) is a large sheet: othonia (Joh_19:40 etc.) are strips for bandages, ômolinon (Sir_40:4) was cloth of unbleached flax, sha‘atnçz (Lev_19:19) was probably cloth composed of linen and cotton.
Linen yarn (1Ki_10:28, 2Ch_1:15, miqweh) should almost certainly be rendered with RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘drove.’
W. Ewing.