Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

FULLER

An occupation involving the working of cloth. Heb. kāḇas implies treading on cloth for the purpose of cleaning it, while in the NT Gk. gnapheús suggests the act of carding cloth. The job included the thickening or shrinking of new cloth, as well as the cleaning and dyeing of cloth or garments. Often the washing of cloth involved treading it with the feet or beating it (Exod. 19:10; 2 Sam. 19:24). Solutions used for the cleaning of cloth consisted of lye (Mal. 3:2), white clay, ashes of special plants, or other alkaline mixtures. Archaeologists have discovered large clay pots believed to have been placed in front of the fuller’s shops as public urinals in order to produce solutions which would help to separate the dirt from the cloth.

A fuller’s location required both fields and ample water. After washing the cloth it was spread out on the ground to be bleached by the sun. References to the fuller’s field appear in the OT (2 Kgs. 18:17; Isa. 7:3; 36:2). The fuller’s work of cleansing the cloth became a metaphor for purity (Ps. 51:7[MT 9]; Jer. 2:22; 4:14; Zech. 3:3-5; Rev. 4:4).

Dennis Gaertner

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

FULLER

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)