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 not this the woodworker, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were bitter against 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 gave birth to Tubal-cain, who is the father of every maker of cutting instruments of brass and iron: and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.
Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood with rooms in it, and make it safe from the water inside and out.
And they said one to another, Come, let us make bricks, burning them well. And they had bricks for stone, putting them together with sticky earth.
And when the camels had had enough, the man took a gold nose-ring, half a shekel in weight, and two ornaments for her arms of ten shekels weight of gold;
Then he took jewels of silver and jewels of gold and fair robes and gave them to Rebekah: and he gave things of value to her mother and her brother.
Then they gave to Jacob all the strange gods which they had, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob put them away under the holy tree at Shechem.
And he said, What would you have? And she said, Your ring and its cord and the stick in your hand. So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she became with child by him.
And make these into a holy oil, a perfume made by the art of the perfume-maker; it is to be a holy oil.
And make from them a perfume, such as is made by the art of the perfume-maker, mixed with salt, and clean and holy.
And those women who had the knowledge, made the goats' hair into cloth.
Keep my laws. Do not let your cattle have offspring by those of a different sort; do not put mixed seed into your field; do not put on a robe made of two sorts of cloth.
All the time he is under his oath let no blade come near his head; till the days while he is separate are ended he is holy and his hair may not be cut.
And the priest will take the cooked leg of the sheep and one unleavened cake and one thin cake out of the basket, and put them on the hands of the separate one after his hair has been cut,
Do not have clothing made of two sorts of thread, wool and linen together.
Then she let them down from the window by a cord, for the house where she was living was on the town wall. And she said to them, Get away into the hill-country, or the men who have gone after you will overtake you; keep yourselves safe there for three days, till the searchers have come back, and then go on your way. read more. And the men said to her, We will only be responsible for this oath which you have made us take, If, when we come into the land, you put this cord of bright red thread in the window from which you let us down; and get your father and mother and your brothers and all your family into the house;
So while he was sleeping she got the seven twists of his hair worked into her cloth and fixed with the pin, and said to him, The Philistines are on you, Samson. Then awaking from his sleep, he got up quickly, pulling up cloth and machine together.
Now there was no iron-worker in all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said, For fear the Hebrews make themselves swords or spears:
The stem of his spear was as long as a cloth-worker's rod, and its head was made of six hundred shekels' weight of iron: and one went before him with his body-cover.
And Hiram, king of Tyre, sent men to David, with cedar-trees and woodworkers and stoneworkers: and they made David a house.
And he took the people out of the town and put them to work with wood-cutting instruments, and iron grain-crushers, and iron axes, and at brick-making: this he did to all the towns of the children of Ammon. Then David and all the people went back to Jerusalem.
Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders did the work of cutting them, and put edges on them, and got the wood and the stone ready for the building of the house.
And King Solomon made a sea-force of ships in Ezion-geber, by Eloth, on the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. Hiram sent his servants, who were experienced seamen, in the sea-force with Solomon's men.
And the representative of King Jehoshaphat made a Tarshish-ship to go to Ophir for gold, but it did not go, because it was broken at Ezion-geber.
Near them was working Uzziel, the son of Harhaiah, the gold-worker. And by him was Hananiah, one of the perfume-makers, building up Jerusalem as far as the wide wall.
My days go quicker than the cloth-worker's thread, and come to an end without hope.
She gets wool and linen, working at the business of her hands. She is like the trading-ships, getting food from far away.
A good name is better than oil of great price, and the day of death than the day of birth.
Dead flies make the oil of the perfumer give out an evil smell; more valued is a little wisdom than the great glory of the foolish.
So the metal-worker put heart into the gold-worker, and he who was hammering the metal smooth said kind words to the iron-worker, saying of the plate, It is ready: and he put it together with nails, so that there might be no slipping.
The iron-worker is heating the metal in the fire, giving it form with his hammers, and working on it with his strong arm: then for need of food his strength gives way, and for need of water he becomes feeble. The woodworker is measuring out the wood with his line, marking it out with his pencil: after smoothing it with his plane, and making circles on it with his instrument, he gives it the form and glory of a man, so that it may be placed in the house.
The woodworker is measuring out the wood with his line, marking it out with his pencil: after smoothing it with his plane, and making circles on it with his instrument, he gives it the form and glory of a man, so that it may be placed in the house.
See, I have made the iron-worker, blowing on the burning coals, and making the instrument of war by his work; and I have made the waster for destruction.
Up! go down to the potter's house, and there I will let my words come to your ears. Then I went down to the potter's house, and he was doing his work on the stones. read more. And when the vessel, which he was forming out of earth, got damaged in the hand of the potter, he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, O Israel, am I not able to do with you as this potter does? says the Lord. See, like earth in the potter's hand are you in my hands, O Israel. Whenever I say anything about uprooting a nation or a kingdom, and smashing it and sending destruction on it; If, in that very minute, that nation of which I was talking is turned away from its evil, my purpose of doing evil to them will be changed. And whenever I say anything about building up a nation or a kingdom, and planting it; If, in that very minute, it does evil in my eyes, going against my orders, then my good purpose, which I said I would do for them, will be changed. Now, then, say to the men of Judah and to the people of Jerusalem, This is what the Lord has said: See, I am forming an evil thing against you, and designing a design against you: let every man come back now from his evil way, and let your ways and your doings be changed for the better. But they will say, There is no hope: we will go on in our designs, and every one of us will do what he is moved by the pride of his evil heart to do. So this is what the Lord has said: Make search among the nations and see who has had word of such things; the virgin of Israel has done a very shocking thing. Will the white snow go away from the top of Sirion? will the cold waters flowing from the mountains become dry? For my people have put me out of their memory, burning perfumes to that which is nothing; and because of this, I will put a cause of falling in their ways, even in the old roads, and will make them go on side-roads, in a way not lifted up; Making their land a thing of wonder, causing sounds of surprise for ever; everyone who goes by will be overcome with wonder, shaking his head. I will send them in flight, as from an east wind, before the attacker; I will let them see my back and not my face on the day of their downfall. Then they said, Come, let us make a design against Jeremiah; for teaching will never be cut off from the priest, or wisdom from the wise, or the word from the prophet. Come, let us make use of his words for an attack on him, and let us give attention with care to what he says. Give thought to me, O Lord, and give ear to the voice of those who put forward a cause against me. Is evil to be the reward of good? for they have made a deep hole for my soul. Keep in mind how I took my place before you, to say a good word for them so that your wrath might be turned away from them. For this cause, let their children be without food, and give them over to the power of the sword; and let their wives be without children and become widows; let their men be overtaken by death, and their young men be put to the sword in the fight. Let a cry for help go up from their houses, when you send an armed band on them suddenly: for they have made a hole in which to take me, and have put nets for my feet secretly. But you, Lord, have knowledge of all the designs which they have made against my life; let not their evil-doing be covered or their sin be washed away from before your eyes: but let it be a cause of falling before you: so do to them in the time of your wrath.
Then by the order of Zedekiah the king, Jeremiah was put into the place of the armed watchmen, and they gave him every day a cake of bread from the street of the bread-makers, till all the bread in the town was used up. So Jeremiah was kept in the place of the armed watchmen.
Because, even because they have been guiding my people into error, saying, Peace; when there is no peace; and in the building of a division wall they put whitewash on it:
And you took your robes and made high places for yourself ornamented with every colour, acting like a loose woman on them, without shame or fear.
The responsible men of Gebal and its wise men were in you, making your boards watertight: all the ships of the sea with their seamen were in you trading in your goods.
They are all untrue; they are like a burning oven; the bread-maker does not make up the fire from the time when the paste is mixed till it is leavened.
Now John was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather band about him; and his food was locusts and honey.
And when he had got into a boat, his disciples went after him.
And he got into a boat and went across and came to his town.
Is not this the woodworker's son? is not his mother named Mary? and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?
A curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! for you are like the resting-places of the dead, which are made white, and seem beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men's bones and of all unclean things.
Is not this the woodworker, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were bitter against him.
Simon Peter said to them, I am going fishing. They said to him, And we will come with you. They went out and got into the boat; but that night they took no fish.
And the other disciples came in the little boat (they were not far from land, only about two hundred cubits off) pulling the net full of fish.
And he was living in Joppa for some time with Simon, a leather-worker.
And because he was of the same trade, he was living with them, and they did their work together; for by trade they were tent-makers.
Whom he got together, with other workmen of the same trade, and said to them, Men, it is clear that from this business we get our wealth.
Whatever meat may be had at the public market, take as food without question of right or wrong;
And the voice of players and makers of music will never again be sounding in you: and no worker, expert in art, will ever again be living in you; and there will be no sound of the crushing of grain any more at all in you;