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Dictionary of the Bible

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ARTS AND CRAFTS

however, it Is qualified by tlie name of the material. This suggests the following divisions. [In RV 'craft' has been displaced by the more modern 'trade'].

1 . Workers in wood. The productions of the ' worker in timber' (1 Ch 22"), elsewhere in OT carpenter (also Mt 13", Mk 6^), probably surpassed in variety those of any other craftsman, for they comprised not only those of the modern carpenter and cabinetmaker, but also of the ploughwrlght, woodcarver, and other specialized arts and crafts of to-day. His tools cannot have differed much from the tools of his Egyptian contemporaries described and illustrated by Wilkinson (Anc. Egyp., see Index). Various axes are named in OT. For one variety the text distinguishes between the iron head and the wooden helve (Dt 19'). Another is from the context probably an adze (Jer 10*), while a third appears as a hatchet in Ps 74» RV. The carpenter's hammer (Jer 10') was rather a wooden mallet (cf Jg 4^1) ; his saw (Is 10«), to judge from analogy and from the excavations, was single-handed, and of bronze in the earlier period at least. Holes were bored with a drill worked as in the present day by a bow and string. In Is 441' are further named the measuring line (AV 'rule'), the sharp metal pencil (AV 'line') oi stylus for outlining the work, the planes, which were more probably chisels, and the compasses (RV).

2. Workers in metal. The principal metals of OT times are enumerated in Nu 31^. The 'brass' of OT, however, is probably always bronze, i.e. copper with an alloy of tin, except where pure copper is intended, as Dt 8'. The excavations have shown that iron makes its appearance in Palestine about the beginning of the monarchy (c. b.c. 1000), although bronze continued in use for several centuries, and was ' not fully conquered tillthe period of the captivity' (PEFSt, 1904, 122). The coppersmith (2 Ti 4"), 'artificer in brass' (Gn i^ AV), 'worker in brass' (1 K 7"), as he is variously termed, was thus the chief metal worker of the earlier period. For the more artistic handling of copper the Hebrews were at first dependent on PhcEnician craftsmen (1 K 7"''). Later, as we have seen, the ironsmith (1 S 13"), or 'worker in iron' (2 Ch 24'^), supplanted the copper-smith. The tools of both were the hammer (Is 4412) and the anvil (Is 41', Sir 38'')— the latter probably then as now ' a boot-shaped piece of metal inserted in a section of an oak or walnut log' the tongs (Is 44'^) and the bellows (Jer 6'"). For the goldsmith and the silversmith see Mining and Metals, s.w. 'Gold' and 'Silver.' The smiths carried away by Nebuchadnezzar (2 K 24", Jer 24') were probably those specially skilled in the manufacture of weapons of war.

3. Workers in stone. From the far-off palaeolithic days man has been a 'worker in stone,' a term confined in OT to those who cut and dressed stone for building purposes (1 Ch 22"). The more usual rendering is masons (2 S 5", 1 Ch 14i). References are given to various processes, such as the ' hewing out '(IKS" RV) of the stones in the quarry (6' RV), the 'hewing' of wine-vats (Is 5^ RV) and tombs (22") in the solid rock, the cutting and dressing of 'hewn stones' for various constructions (Ex 202=, 1 K 5", 2 K 2", Am 5"). The stone-squarers of 1 K 5" ( AV) were rather men from the Phoenician city of Gebal (RV 'Gebalites'), experts in this branch of industry. The builders (Ps 118«) worked from a prepared plan or model (Ex 25', 1 Ch 28", EV pattern), using the measumig-reed (Ezk 40') and the plumbline (Am 7') or plummet (2 K 21", Zee 4"). The large hammer used in quarrying ( Jer 23'' ) is different from the smaller hammer of the stone-cutter (1 K 6'). The axe of the last passage is rather the pick for stone- dressing, and was the tool used in cutting in the Siloam tunnel as the workmen tell us in their famous inscription. For the ' engraver in stone ' of Ex 28" see Seals.

4. Workers in clay. Clay, not stone, was the ordinary building material among the Hebrews (see House). Brickmaking, however, was too simple an operation to

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attain the dignity of a special craft in OT times, as was also ' plaisteriug ' with clay (Lv li") or lime (Dn 5', cf. Mt 23" and Ac 23' 'whited wall'). It was other-wise with the potter and his work, perhaps the oldest of all crafts, for which see Pottehy.

5. Workers in leather. First among these is the tanner (Ac 9"), who prepared the leather from the skins of domestic and other animals, including the marine dugong (Ex 25', RV 'seal,' AV 'badger'). The hair was removed by means of lime, or the acrid juices of plants, applied to the skins after they had been soaked for some time in water. Owing to their uncleanly accom-paniments, the tanner and his trade were regarded by the Jews with much disfavour. Like the fuller, he was forbidden to carry on his work within the city, which explains the situation of Simon's tannery ' by the sea side (Ac IC). In early times the tanner not only supplied the material but probably actually manu-factured the leather shields and helmets required by soldiers, while the making of shoes, girdles, and other articles of leather (Lv 13"), and the preparation of skins for water, wine, and milk (see Bottle) were long matters of purely domestic economy.

6. Trades connected with dress. The closing words of the preceding paragraph apply equally to the making of the ordinary dress of the Hebrews (cf. 1 S 2"). The tailor first appears in the Mishna. Certain of the process- es, however, gradually developed into separate crafts, such as that of the weaver (Ex 35", 1 S 17'; see Spin-ning AND Weaving), the embroiderer (Ex I.e.), whose designs were sewed upon the finished fabric, the dyer and the fuller. From the Mishna it is evident that in NT times the dyers were a numerous body in Jerusalem. The wool was usually dyed before or after being spun (Ex 3525). Both animal and vegetable dyes were employed (see Coloubs). The work of the fuller (Is 7', Mai 32, Mk 9') was of two kinds, according as he dealt with the web fresh from the loom, or with soiled garments that had already been worn. The latter he cleaned by steeping and treading in water mixed with an alkaline substance (rendered soap in Mai 3') and fuller's earth. The new web the 'undressed cloth' of Mt 9", Mk 2'i RV— on the other hand, after being thoroughly steeped in a similar mixture, was stamped and felted, then bleached with fumes of sulphur, and finally pressed in the fuller's press. FulUng, like tanning, was carried on outside the towns, but the precise situation of the 'fuller's field' of Isaiah's day (Is 7') is still un-certain. Here may be mentioned the barber (Ezk 5") and the perfumer (AV 'apothecary,' 'confectionary'), for whom see Hair and Peefumbe respectively.

7. EmploymentsconnectediirUhtood. Cooks, asaspecial class, were to be found only in the houses of the wealthy (see Food). The Hebrew name shows that they killed as well as cooked the animals. The shambles of 1 Co 10'', however, are not, as in modern English, the slaughter-house, but the provision-market of Corinth, where meat and other provisions were sold. The bakers were numerous enough to give their name to a street of the capital in Jeremiah's day (Jer 37"); for their work see Bread. PubUc mills employing millers appear late, but are implied in the rendering 'great millstone' of Mt 18' RV (cf. marg. and see Mill). The well-known Tyropceonor Cheesemakers' valley in Jerusalem received its name from the industry carried on there (Jos BJ v. iv. 1).

8. Employments connected with the land. Most of these are noticed in other connexions; see Agricul-TUEE, Sheep, Vine, etc. The prophet Amos describes himself as 'a dresser of sycomore trees' (Am 7" RV), for which see Amos, ad init.

9. Miscellaneous employments. If to the above there be added the tentmaker, representing the craft (RV ' trade') of St. Paul and his friends Aquila and Prisoilla (Ac 18', see Tent), and the fisherman (see Nets), no trade or manual employment of importance will, it is