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 carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at 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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Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.
Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.
And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar.
When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing a half shekel, and two bracelets for her arms weighing ten gold shekels,
And the servant brought out jewelry of silver and of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave to her brother and to her mother costly ornaments.
So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.
He said, "What pledge shall I give you?" She replied, "Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand." So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him.
And you shall make of these a sacred anointing oil blended as by the perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil.
and make an incense blended as by the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy.
Then all the congregation of the people of Israel departed from the presence of Moses.
All the women whose hearts stirred them to use their skill spun the goats' hair.
"You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.
"All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the LORD, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long.
And the priest shall take the shoulder of the ram, when it is boiled, and one unleavened loaf out of the basket and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them on the hands of the Nazirite, after he has shaved the hair of his consecration,
You shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together.
Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built into the city wall, so that she lived in the wall. And she said to them, "Go into the hills, or the pursuers will encounter you, and hide there three days until the pursuers have returned. Then afterward you may go your way." read more. The men said to her, "We will be guiltless with respect to this oath of yours that you have made us swear. Behold, when we come into the land, you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and you shall gather into your house your father and mother, your brothers, and all your father's household.
So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web. And she made them tight with the pin and said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he awoke from his sleep and pulled away the pin, the loom, and the web.
Now there was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, "Lest the Hebrews make themselves swords or spears."
The shaft 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, also carpenters and masons who built David a house.
And he brought out the people who were in it and set them to labor with saws and iron picks and iron axes and made them toil at the brick kilns. And thus he did to all the cities of the Ammonites. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.
So Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders and the men of Gebal did the cutting and prepared the timber and the stone to build the house.
King Solomon built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. And Hiram sent with the fleet his servants, seamen who were familiar with the sea, together 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 wrecked at Ezion-geber.
Next to them Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, goldsmiths, repaired. Next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers, repaired, and they restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall.
My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle and come to their end without hope.
She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar.
A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth.
Dead flies make the perfumer's ointment give off a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.
The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith, and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, "It is good"; and they strengthen it with nails so that it cannot be moved.
The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint. The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house.
The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house.
Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its purpose. I have also created the ravager to destroy;
"Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words." So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. read more. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. Then the word of the LORD came to me: "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the LORD. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: 'Thus says the LORD, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.' "But they say, 'That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.' "Therefore thus says the LORD: Ask among the nations, Who has heard the like of this? The virgin Israel has done a very horrible thing. Does the snow of Lebanon leave the crags of Sirion? Do the mountain waters run dry, the cold flowing streams? But my people have forgotten me; they make offerings to false gods; they made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient roads, and to walk into side roads, not the highway, making their land a horror, a thing to be hissed at forever. Everyone who passes by it is horrified and shakes his head. Like the east wind I will scatter them before the enemy. I will show them my back, not my face, in the day of their calamity." Then they said, "Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words." Hear me, O LORD, and listen to the voice of my adversaries. Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for my life. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them. Therefore deliver up their children to famine; give them over to the power of the sword; let their wives become childless and widowed. May their men meet death by pestilence, their youths be struck down by the sword in battle. May a cry be heard from their houses, when you bring the plunderer suddenly upon them! For they have dug a pit to take me and laid snares for my feet. Yet you, O LORD, know all their plotting to kill me. Forgive not their iniquity, nor blot out their sin from your sight. Let them be overthrown before you; deal with them in the time of your anger.
So King Zedekiah gave orders, and they committed Jeremiah to the court of the guard. And a loaf of bread was given him daily from the bakers' street, until all the bread of the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
Precisely because they have misled my people, saying, 'Peace,' when there is no peace, and because, when the people build a wall, these prophets smear it with whitewash,
You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be.
The elders of Gebal and her skilled men were in you, caulking your seams; all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in you to barter for your wares.
They are all adulterers; they are like a heated oven whose baker ceases to stir the fire, from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.
Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him.
And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city.
Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?
Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him.
Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will go with you." They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.
and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.
These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, "Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth.
Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience.
and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will be heard in you no more, and a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more, and the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more,