Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

EMBROIDERY

The embellishment of cloth using colored or textured threads of (in biblical times) natural materials such as wool, cotton, and silk. Few examples of fabric have been found from the biblical world; our best indications are impressions created when fabric was placed against plaster or clay before these more durable materials dried. The preponderance of archaeological evidence for textiles is in the form of loom weights and copper, bronze, and bone needles. Though embroidery was a widespread activity and among the skills given by God to the tribes of Judah and Dan (Exod. 35:35), in textual records Phoenicians are most closely associated with the industry; their name may refer to the “Tyrian purple” dye they produced from murex shells. The remains of these shells in Levantine coastal sites attest to this industry, as do the textile-manufacture and dyeing facilities found at Phoenician sites abroad. Egyptian-made linen embroidery is said to have been woven into the sails of Tyrian ships (Ezek. 27:7), and embroidered cloth and garments were traded between Tyre, Edom, the Arabian Peninsula, and Mesopotamia (vv. 16, 24).

The color of embroidery was seen in the biblical world as a sign of status. Purple was associated with royalty, crimson with luxury (2 Sam. 1:24), and blue with God’s covenant (Num. 15:37-40). Embroidery appears on the screens at the tabernacle’s entrance (Exod. 26:36), on the gate of the court (27:16), on a bride’s clothing (Ps. 45:13[MT 14]), draped over idols (Ezek. 16:18), and as booty (Judg. 5:30). The craft of embroidery is used as a metaphor for the attention God paid to Jerusalem (Ezek. 16:10, 13).

Katharine A. Mackay

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

EMBROIDERY

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)