*From The Excellent Woman of Proverbs 31 written in 1847 by Anne Pratt (1806-1893)
When the beloved apostle John wrote, in the isle of Patmos, that solemn revelation of prophecy, so much of which yet remains unfulfilled to the church and to the world, the fine linen, pure and white, presented to his mind an image of the righteousness of the redeemed church. "And to her," says he, "was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints,"-that spotless robe wrought by the Saviour, for every child of God, redeemed from among men by the blood of the Lamb, sanctified by his Spirit.
SHE MAKETH FINE LINEN, AND SELLETH IT;
AND DELIVERETH GIRDLES UNTO THE MERCHANTS.
AND DELIVERETH GIRDLES UNTO THE MERCHANTS.
Proverbs 31:25
The Hebrew word translated "fine linen" has been much studied by the writers on Biblical literature, as our translators have thus rendered several words from the original. Woollen garments seem to have formed the chief articles of dress among the ancient Jews; but, both in Egypt and Syria, garments were also worn of fine linen and cotton, as well as of a substance called byssus.
Many of the robes of purple, scarlet, blue, and other colors, of which we read, appear to have been of a linen fabric.
But this word is thought by some writers to imply a loose inner garment, generally worn in the East-a kind of shirt. Kimchi thinks the word signifies a night‐covering, and considers that it ought to be translated "linen sheets."
As no pictures or monuments have descended from the people of Israel to the modern Jew, we have no definite means of ascertaining their mode of dress. Scripture allusions form our chief guide, but tradition, as well as the costumes figured on the monuments of the other ancient nations of the East, and the present mode of dress in Egypt and the Holy Land, afford some assistance. When the beloved apostle John wrote, in the isle of Patmos, that solemn revelation of prophecy, so much of which yet remains unfulfilled to the church and to the world, the fine linen, pure and white, presented to his mind an image of the righteousness of the redeemed church. "And to her," says he, "was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints,"-that spotless robe wrought by the Saviour, for every child of God, redeemed from among men by the blood of the Lamb, sanctified by his Spirit.
