Bible Study clothing of mixed fibers

[Bob10]

The combination of wool and linen (sha'atnez) is forbidden to the lay Israelite because it is a holy mixture and reserved exclusively for the sanctuary (e.g., Exodus 26:1) and the priest. By using the combination of wool and linen in the tassel, the ordinary Israelite was, however, in a small way, wearing a priestly garment.

This gives us an important insight into the laws regarding mixed fabrics found in Deuteronomy 22:11 and Leviticus 19:19.

Some, in attempting to adhere to the letter of the law, have eschewed anything from wool and dacron suits to wool socks with nylon-reinforced heels and toes.

It would appear that they have utterly missed the point of those laws, not understanding the historical context.

Notice in Exodus 28:8 that the priest's garment was made of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine-twined linen. The dyed fabrics would have been wool, whereas the linen would not have been dyed.

A tassel with a thread of blue signified more than royalty or nobility. Milgrom points out that it also signified the priesthood. "We may assume that the thread of blue was made of wool. The ancients had great difficulty in dyeing linen because the colors would run, so all dyed garments are assumed to be wool. A poor man's garment was commonly made of flax, that is linen–not the fine, expensive linen worn by the priests but the coarse, inexpensive type spun on home looms... The Bible contains a general prohibition against cloth that combines wool and linen, which is referred to by the untranslatable term sha'atnez (Deuteronomy 22:11; cf. Leviticus 19:19).

Some of the early commentaries (for example Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Deuteronomy 22:12), however, indicate that sha'atnez – this combination of wool and linen – was sanctioned and even required in priestly garments. And this rabbinic suggestion has now been confirmed archaeologically.

Tassels dating to the Bar Kokhba period (c. 135 A.D.) were found in the Dead Sea caves. These tassels were made of white cords of linen and blue cords of wool, demonstrating that the rabbinic teaching was not speculative abstraction but actual practice. Thus the reason for the prohibition against sha'atnez–cloth combining wool and linen–is clear: it would resemble some of the priestly garments made from a blend of linen and wool (e.g., Exodus 28:6; 39:29; Mishna Kilayim 9:1).

Thus the combination of wool and linen (sha'atnez) is forbidden to the lay Israelite because it is a holy mixture and reserved exclusively for the sanctuary (e.g., Exodus 26:1) and the priest. By using the combination of wool and linen in the tassel, the ordinary Israelite was, however, in a small way, wearing a priestly garment." **

The Israelite was prohibited from wearing a priestly garment just as he was prohibited from using the holy anointing oil (Exodus 30:22-33).

Sha'atnez - "Mixture of two kinds of material", forbidden for garments (Lev.19:19, Deut. 22:11).

Meaning, Intent, Spirit of the law

** May-June 1983 edition of Biblical Archaeology Review there appeared a fascinating article entitled "Of Hems and Tassels" by Jacob Milgrom (page 61).