Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadMcClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Mantle
Subjects in this Topic:
in the A.V., is the term used to render four Hebrew words, viz.,
1. àִãֶּøֶú , adde'reth, from àִãַּéø , “ample,” and therefore probably meaning a large over-garment like the Roman pallium. The Sept. renders it by ìçëùôή (a sheep's skin), 1Ki_19:13, etc.; äåῤῥßò , Zec_13:4 : and äïñÜ , Gen_25:25. From the passages in which it is mentioned we can conjecture its nature. It is used most frequently (1 Kings 19; 2Ki_2:8; 2Ki_2:13, etc.) of Elijah's “mantle,” which was in all probability a mere sheepskin, such as is frequently worn by dervishes and poor people in the East, and which seems, after Elijah's time, to have been in vogue among the prophets (Zec_13:4). Accordingly, by it only is denoted the cape or Wrapper which, with the exception of a strip of skin or leather round his loins, formed, as we have every reason to believe, the sole garment of the prophet. The Baptist's dress was of a similar rough description, and we see from Heb_11:37 ( ἐí ìçëùôáῖò , ἐí áἰãåßïéò äÝñìáóéí ) that such garments were regarded as a mark of poverty and persecution. The word addereth twice occurs with the epithet ùֵׂòָø , “hairy” (Gen_25:25; Zec_13:4). On the other hand, it is sometimes undoubtedly applied to royal and splendid robes, and is even used to mean “magnificence” in Eze_17:8 (“vine of magnificence”) and Zec_11:3. It is the expression for the “goodly Babylonish garment” stolen by Achan, and the “robe” worn by the king of Nineveh (Jos_7:21; Jon_3:6). The connection between two meanings apparently so opposite is doubtless to be found in the etymology of the word (from àִãַּéø , ample), or in the notion of a dress richly lined or trimmed with costly furs. SEE ROBE.
2. îְòַéì , meil', which in the A.V. is variously rendered “mantle,” “robe,” “cloke;” and in the Sept. ἐðåíäýôçò , äéðëïú v ò , ὑðïäýôçò , ðïäήñçò , ÷éôώí . Josephus calls it ìååßñ . It is a general term derived from îָòִì , to cover, and is most frequently applied to “the robe of the ephod” (Exo_28:4, etc.; Lev_8:7), which is described as a splendid under-tunic of blue, wrought on the hem with pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet, with golden bells between them. It came below the knees, being longer than the ephod, and shorter than the kittoneth. It was a garment of unseamed cotton, open at the top so as to be drawn over the head, and; having holes for the insertion of the arms (Joseph. Ant. 3:7, 4; Jahn, Bibl. Arc. sec. 122; Braunius, De Vest. Sac. p. 436; Schroder, De Vest. Mul. p. 237, etc.). It was worn, however, not only by priests, like Samuel (1Sa_2:19; 1Sa_15:27; 1Sa_28:14), but by kings and princes. (Saul, 1Sa_24:4; David, 1Ch_15:27), and rich. men (Ezr_9:3-5; Job and his friends, Job_1:20; Job_2:12), and even by king's daughters (2Sa_13:18), although. in the latter case it seems to have had sleeves (see Gesenius, Thesaur. p. 811). Properly speaking, the meil was worn under the simnlah, or outer garment, but that it was often itself used as an outer garment seems probable from some of the passages above quoted. It is interesting to know that the garment which Samuel's. mother made and brought to the infant prophet at herannual visit to the holy tent at Shiloh was a miniature of the official priestly tunic or robe; the same that the great prophet wore in mature years (1Sa_15:27), and by which he was on one occasion actually identified. When the witch of Endor, in answer to Saul's inquiry, told him that “an old man was come up, covered with a meil,” this of itself was enough to inform the king in whose presence he stood — “Saul perceived that it was Samuel” (28:14).
3. ùְׂîַéëָä , semikah' (Jdg_4:14), the garment (marg. “rug,” or “blanket”) used by Jael to fling over the weary Sisera as a coverlid (Sept. ἐðéâüëáéïí , but äåῤῥßò appears to have been the reading of Origen and Augustine). The word is derived from ñָîִêְ , imponere, and is evidently a general term. Hesychius defines ἐðéâüëáéïí by ðῶìá ἢ ῤÜêïò , and Suidas by ôὸ ôῷ ðñïôÝñῳ ἐðéâáëëüìåíïí . The word used in the Targum is. âּåּðְëָä , which is only the Greek êáõíÜêç , and the Latin: gaunacum; and this word is explained by Varro to be. “majus sagumn et amphimallon” (De Ling. Lat. 4:35), i.e. a larger cloak woolly on both sides. Hesychius differs from Varro in this, for he says êáõíÜêáé óôñώìáôá ἣ ἐðéâüëáéá ἐôåñïìáëëῆ , i.e. ewoolly on one side; the, Scholiast, on Aristophanes, adds that it was a Persian,and Pollux that it was a Babylonian robe (Rosenmuller, Schol. ad loc.). There is, therefore, no reason to understand it of a curtain of the tent, as Faber does. Since the Orientals constantly used upper garments for bedding, the rendering “mantle,” though inaccurate, is not misleading (compare Rth_3:9; Eze_16:8, etc.). In the above passage the Hebrew word has the definite are tide prefixed, and it may therefore be inferred that it was some part of the regular furniture of the tent. The clue to a more exact signification is given by the Arabic version of the Polyglot, which renders it by al-katifah, a word which is explained by Dozy (Dictionnaire des Vetements Arabes, p. 232), on the authority of Ibn Batuta and other Oriental authors, to mean certain articles of a thick fabric, in shape like a plaid or shawl, which are commonly used for beds by the Arabs: “When they sleep they spread them on the ground. For the under part of the bed they are doubled several times, and one longer than the rest is used for a coverlid.” On such a bed, on the floor of Heber's tent, no doubt the weary Sisera threw himself, and such a coverlid must the senikah have been which Jael laid over him.
4. îִòֲèָôåֹú maataphoth', occurs only in Isa_3:22. It was some article of female dress, and is derived from òָèִ , to weave. Schroder, the chief authority on this subject, says it means a large exterior tunic with sleeves, worn next to the pallium (De Vest. Mezl. 15:247-277). In this same verse, and in Rth_3:15, occurs the word îַèְôָּçåֹú , msitpachoth', A.V. “wimples,” which appears to have been a sort of square covering like a plaid (Michaelis, Suppleml. p. 1021; Rosenmüller, Schol.; Isa_3:22). We cannot find the shadow of an authority for Jahn's very explicit statement, that both these words mean the same article, îִòֲèָôָä being the fashion for the winter, and îַèְôָּçָä for the summer; though his assertion that “it covered the whole body from head to foot” may be very true (Jahn, Bibl. Arch. sec. 127).
For other terms, such as , ùַׂîְìָä , simlah' (Gen_9:23, etc.), ÷ëáìýò (Mat_27:28), óôïëή (Mar_12:38). etc., SEE DRESS. The öåëüíçò (A.V. cloke) to which St. Paul makes such an interesting allusion in 2Ti_4:13, seems to have been the Latin penula (comp. ôìéåï ), a sort of travelling-cloak for wet weather. A great deal has been written about it, and at least one monograph (Stosch, Dissert. de Pallio Pauli, Lugd. 1709). Even in Chrysostom's time some took it to be ôὸ ãëùóóüêêïìïí ἔíèá ôὰ âßâëéá ἔêåéôï (a sort of travelling-bag), and Jerome, Theophylact, Grotius, etc., shared in this opinion (Schleusuer. Lex. N.T. s.v. öáéëüíçò ). SEE CLOAK.