Reference: Handicraft
Fausets
(See CIVILIZATION; BRASS.) Jewish workmen, as distinguished from the pagan workmen in ancient times, were not slaves, nor were their trades hereditary. After the captivity it was deemed at once honourable and necessary for a father to teach his son a trade. (Mishna, Pirke, ab. 2:2). Hence, Joseph the carpenter taught the holy Jesus his trade; and many of His own country marveled that works so mighty should be wrought by one like themselves, an artisan: "is not this the carpenter?" (Mr 6:3).
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Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judah and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended by him.
Smith
Handicraft.
A trade was taught to ail the Jewish boys as a necessary part of their education. Even the greatest rabbis maintained themselves by trades (Delitzsch). Says Rabbi Jehuda, "He who does not teach his son a trade is much the same as if he taught him to be a thief". In the present article brief notice only can be given of such handicraft trades as are mentioned in Scripture.
1. Smiths or metal-workers. --The preparation of iron for use either in war, in agriculture or for domestic purposes was doubtless one of the earliest applications of labor; and together with iron, working in brass, or rather copper alloyed with tin (bronze), is mentioned as practiced in antediluvian times.
After the establishment of the Jews in Canaan, the occupation of a smith became recognized as a distinct employment-
The smith's work and its results are often mentioned in Scripture.
2Sa 12:31; 1Ki 6:7; 2Ch 26:14; Isa 44:12; 54:16
The worker in gold and silver must have found employment among both the Hebrews and the neighboring nations in very early times.
Various processes of the goldsmith's work are illustrated by Egyptian monuments. After the conquest frequent notices are found of both moulded and wrought metal, including soldering.
2. Carpenters are often mentioned in Scripture.
In the palace built by David for himself the workmen employed were chiefly foreigners.
That the Jewish carpenters must have been able to carve with some skill is evident from
In the New Testament the occupation of a carpenter is mentioned in connection with Joseph the husband of the Virgin Mary, and ascribed to our Lord himself.
The trade included our cabinet work as well as carpentering.
3. The masons employed by David and Solomon, at least the chief of them, were Phoenicians.
The large stones used in Solomon's temple are said by Josephus to have been fitted together exactly without either mortar or clamps, but the foundation stones to have been fastened with lead. For ordinary building mortar was used; sometimes, perhaps, bitumen, as was the case at Babylon.
The wall "daubed with untempered mortar" of
was perhaps a sort of cob-wall of mud or clay without lime, which would give way under heavy rain. The use of whitewash on tombs is remarked by our Lord.
4. Ship-building must have been exercised to some extent for the fishing-vessels on the Lake of Gennesaret.
Solomon built ships for his foreign trade.
1Ki 9:26-27; 22:48; 2Ch 20:36-37
5. Apothecaries or perfumers appear to have formed a guild or association.
Ex 30:25,35; 2Ch 16:14; Ne 3:8; Ec 7:1; 10:1
Ecclus 38:8.
6. Weavers. --The arts of spinning and weaving both wool and linen were carried on in early times, as they usually are still among the Bedouins, by women.
Ex 35:20,26; Le 19:19; De 22:11; 2Ki 23:7; Eze 16:16; Pr 31:13-14
The loom with its beam,
pin,
and shuttles
was perhaps introduced later, but as early as David's time.
7. Dyeing and dressing cloth were practiced in Palestine, as were also tanning and dressing leather.
Jos 2:15-18; 2Ki 1:8; Mt 3:4; Ac 9:43
8. Barbers.
9. Tentmakers are noticed in
10. Potters are frequently alluded to.
11. Bakers are noticed in Scripture,
and the well-known valley Tyropoeon probably derived its name from the occupation of the cheese-makers, its inhabitants.
12. Butchers, not Jewish, are spoken of
Shoemakers, tailors, glaziers and glass vessels painters and gold workers are mentioned in the Mishna. Chel. viii. 9; xxix. 3,4; xxx. 1.
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And Zillah, she also bore Tubal-cain, the forger of every cutting instrument of brass and iron. And the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.
Make thee an ark of gopher wood. Thou shall make rooms in the ark, and shall pitch it inside and outside with pitch.
And they said one to another, Come, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and they had slime for mortar.
And it came to pass, as the camels had finished drinking, that the man took a golden ring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold,
And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother.
And they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hand, and the rings which were in their ears. And Jacob hid them under the oak that was by Shechem.
And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet and thy cord, and thy staff that is in thy hand. And he gave them to her, and came in to her, and she conceived by him.
And thou shall make it a holy anointing oil, a perfume compounded after the art of the perfumer. It shall be a holy anointing oil.
And thou shall make of it incense, a perfume after the art of the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure [and] holy.
And all the congregation of the sons of Israel departed from the presence of Moses.
And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun the goats' [hair].
Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shall not let thy cattle engender with a diverse kind. Thou shall not sow thy field with two kinds of seed, neither shall there come upon thee a garment of two kinds of stuff mingled together.
All the days of his vow of separation there shall no razor come upon his head. Until the days be fulfilled, in which he separates himself to LORD, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow long.
And the priest shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazarite, after he has shaven his separation,
Thou shall not wear a mingled stuff, wool and linen together.
Then she let them down by a cord through the window, for her house was upon the side of the wall, and she dwelt upon the wall. And she said to them, Get you to the mountain lest the pursuers come upon you. And hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned, and afterward ye may go your way. read more. And the men said to her, We will be guiltless of this thine oath which thou have made us to swear. Behold, when we come into the land, thou shall bind this line of scarlet cord in the window which thou let us down by. And thou shall gather to thee into the house thy father, and thy mother, and thy brothers, and all thy father's
And she fastened it with the pin, and said to him, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and plucked away the pin of the beam, and the web.
Now there was no blacksmith found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make for them swords or spears,
And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head [weighed] six hundred shekels of iron. And his shield-bearer went before him.
And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons, and they built David a house.
And he brought forth the people that were in it, and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brick-kiln. And thus he did to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. And Dav
And Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders and the Gebalites fashioned them, and prepared the timber and the stones to build the house.
And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen who had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon.
Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they did not go, for the ships were broken at Ezion-geber.
Next to him Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, goldsmiths, repaired. And next to him Hananiah one of the perfumers repaired. And they fortified Jerusalem even to the broad wall.
My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.
She seeks wool and flax, and works willingly with her hands. She is like the merchant ships: she brings her bread from afar.
A [good] name is better than precious oil, and the day of death, than the day of birth.
Dead flies cause the oil of the perfumer to send forth an evil odor, [so] a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.
So the carpenter encourages the goldsmith, he who smoothes with the hammer, him who smites the anvil, saying of the soldering, It is good, and he fastens it with nails, that it should not be moved.
The smith [makes] an axe, and works in the coals, and fashions it with hammers, and works it with his strong arm. Yea, he is hungry, and his strength fails. He drinks no water, and is faint. The carpenter stretches out a line. He marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes. And he marks it out with the compasses, and shapes it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house.
The carpenter stretches out a line. He marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes. And he marks it out with the compasses, and shapes it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house.
Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals, and brings forth a weapon for his work. And I have created the waster to destroy.
Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he was making a work on the wheels. read more. And when the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it another vessel again, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of LORD came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? says LORD. Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel. At that instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it, if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from their evil, I will relent of the evil that I thought to do to them. And at that instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they obey not my voice, then I will relent of the good with which I said I would benefit them. Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says LORD: Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you. Return ye now everyone from his evil way, and amend your ways But they say, It is in vain. For we will walk after our own devices, and we will do everyone according to the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore thus says LORD: Ask ye now among the nations, Who has heard such things? The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing. Shall the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? [Or] shall the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried up? For my people have forgotten me. They have burned incense to FALSE [gods]. And they have been made to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in bypaths, in a way not cast up, to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing, everyone who passes by it shall be astonished, and shake his head. I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy. I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity. Then they said, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah. For the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not gi Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of those who contend with me. Shall evil be recompensed for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before thee to speak good for them, to turn away thy wrath from them. Therefore deliver up their sons to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword, and let their wives become childless, and widows, and let their men be slain of death, [and] their young men smitten of the sword in battl Let a cry be heard from their houses when thou shall bring a troop suddenly upon them, for they have dug a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet. Yet, LORD, thou know all their counsel against me to kill me. Do not forgive their iniquity, nor blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee. Deal thou with them in the time of thine anger.
Then Zedekiah the king commanded, and they committed Jeremiah into the court of the guard. And they gave him a loaf of bread daily out of the bakers' street, until all the bread in the city was spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the
Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace, and there is no peace, and when [a man] builds up a wall, behold, they daub it with untempered [mortar],
And thou took of thy garments, and made high places for thee, decked with various colors, and played the harlot upon them, [things which] should not come, nor should it be.
The old men of Gebal and, the wise men thereof, were thy caulkers in thee. All the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to deal in thy merchandise.
They are all adulterers. They are as an oven heated by the baker. He ceases to stir [the fire], from the kneading of the dough, until it is leavened.
Now John himself had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leather belt about his waist. And his food was locusts and wild honey.
And upon his entering into the boat, his disciples followed him.
And after entering into the boat, he passed over, and came into his own city.
Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brothers, James and Joses and Simon and Judas?
Woe to you, scholars and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because ye are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judah and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended by him.
Simon Peter says to them, I am going to harvest fish. They say to him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and straightaway entered into the boat. And in that night they caught nothing.
And the other disciples came in the skiff (for they were not far from the land, but about two hundred cubits off), dragging the net of the fishes.
And it came to pass for him to remain considerable days at Joppa with a certain Simon, a tanner.
And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and was working, for they were of the tentmakers craft.
to whom also (having assembled the workmen about such things) he said, Men, ye know that our prosperity is from this work.
Eat everything being sold in a meat market, inquiring of nothing because of the conscience,
And a sound of harpers and minstrels and flute-players and trumpeters will, no, not be heard in thee any more. And every craftsman of every craft will, no, not be found in thee any more. And a sound of a millstone will, no, not be