Bible Dictionary
Weaving, weavers
Weavers made cloth by interlacing warp and woof threads on looms. Scripture refers to their tools and products, including webs, shuttles, beams, linen, wool, and patterned fabrics.
Definition
Weavers were craftsmen who made cloth by interlacing warp and woof threads on looms. Their work produced webs, linen, woolen fabrics, patterned textiles, and coarse materials such as tent-cloth and sackcloth.
Biblical Usage
Scripture mentions the shuttle, loom beam, web, pin, warp, and woof. Weaving appears in the making of tabernacle hangings and garments, and it is also described as work especially practiced by women in later periods.
Historical Background
The Egyptians were especially skilled in weaving, while Israelites practiced the craft in the wilderness and afterward. Biblical references preserve names for the principal tools and parts of the loom.
Scripture References
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Weaving was an art practised in very early times (Ex. 35:35). The Egyptians were specially skilled in it (Isa. 19:9; Ezek. 27:7), and some have regarded them as its inventors. In the wilderness, the Hebrews practised it (Ex. 26:1, 8; 28:4, 39; Lev. 13:47). It is referred to in subsequent times as specially the women’s work (2 Kings 23:7; Prov. 31:13, 24). No mention of the loom is found in Scripture, but we read of the “shuttle” (Job 7:6), “the pin” of the beam (Judg. 16:14), “the web” (13, 14), and “the beam” (1 Sam. 17:7; 2 Sam. 21:19). The rendering, “with pining sickness,” in Isa. 38:12 (A.V.) should be, as in the Revised Version, “from the loom,” or, as in the margin, “from the thrum.” We read also of the “warp” and “woof” (Lev. 13:48, 49, 51-53, 58, 59), but the Revised Version margin has, instead of “warp,” “woven or knitted stuff.”