Weaving

Cloth and loom turn up in Scripture in scattered, practical ways. The priest’s robe was to have “woven work” around its neck opening, so that it would not tear. Isaiah speaks of those who work in fine flax and those who weave networks, and says they will be confounded. Samson is tricked when Delilah fastens his hair with the pin of the beam, and with the web. Twice a giant’s spear is described as “a spear like a weaver’s beam,” a picture drawn from the loom. Weaving is nowhere a lesson of its own, just part of ordinary work. Exodus 28 is a good place to begin.

5 verses

Exodus

Exodus 28:32

And there shall be an hole in the top of it, in the midst thereof: it shall have a binding of woven work round about the hole of it, as it were the hole of an habergeon, that it be not rent.

Judges

Judges 16:14

And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web.

2 Samuel

2 Samuel 21:19

And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.

1 Chronicles

1 Chronicles 11:23

And he slew an Egyptian, a man of great stature, five cubits high; and in the Egyptian's hand was a spear like a weaver's beam; and he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and slew him with his own spear.

Isaiah

Isaiah 19:9

Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks, shall be confounded.

From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

The art of weaving appears to be coeval with the first dawning of civilization. We find it practiced with great skill by the Egyptians at a very early period; The vestures of fine linen" such as Joseph wore, (Genesis 41:42) were the product of Egyptian looms. The Israelites were probably acquainted with the process before their sojourn in Egypt; but it was undoubtedly there that they attained the proficiency which enabled them to execute the hangings of the tabernacle, (Exodus 35:35; 1 Chronicles 4:21) and other artistic textures. The Egyptian loom was usually upright, and the weaver stood at his work. The cloth was fixed sometimes at the top, sometimes at the bottom. The modern Arabs use a procumbent loom, raised above the ground by short legs. The textures produced by the Jewish weavers were very various. The coarser kinds, such tent-cloth, sack-cloth and the "hairy garments" of the poor, were made goat’s or camel’s hair. (Exodus 26:7; Matthew 3:4) Wool was extensively used for ordinary clothing, (Leviticus 13:47; Proverbs 27:26; 31:13; Ezekiel 27:18) while for finer work flax was used, varying in quality, and producing the different textures described in the Bible as "linen" and "fine linen." The mixture of wool and flax in cloth intended for a garment was interdicted. (Leviticus 19:19; 22:11)

Based on Nave's Topical Bible by Orville J. Nave (1896). Dictionary entries from Smith's Bible Dictionary. Public domain. KJV scripture text, public domain.