University of Denver Digital Commons @ DU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 1-1-2014 Glorious Adornment: The Social Function of Cloth and Clothing in Israel's Tabernacle Selena Billington University of Denver Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd Part of the Biblical Studies Commons Recommended Citation Billington, Selena, "Glorious Adornment: The Social Function of Cloth and Clothing in Israel's Tabernacle" (2014). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1391. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/1391 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. GLORIOUS ADORNMENT: THE SOCIAL FUNCTION OF CLOTH AND CLOTHING IN ISRAEL’S TABERNACLE __________ A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the University of Denver and the Iliff School of Theology Joint PhD Program University of Denver __________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy __________ by Selena Billington June 2014 Advisor: Mark K. George ©Copyright by Selena Billington 2014 All Rights Reserved Author: Selena Billington Title: GLORIOUS ADORNMENT: THE SOCIAL FUNCTION OF CLOTH AND CLOTHING IN ISRAEL’S TABERNACLE Advisor: Mark K. George Degree Date: June 2014 ABSTRACT In the tabernacle narratives of Exodus, the LORD instructs the Israelites to build a tabernacle and to make special garments in which to consecrate Aaron (proto-type high priest) and his sons (proto-type priests). The garments are to be for Aaron’s and his sons’ “glorious adornment.” Detailed descriptions of the special garments are provided, and the description shares much in common with the descriptions of the cloths which comprise the tabernacle complex. What is there about the unique clothing of Aaron and the cloth of the tabernacle that causes Aaron and the tabernacle to be glorified? What is being said about Aaron, his sons, and the tabernacle by their being described as gloriously adorned? The fundamental premise underlying this dissertation is that the principle function of clothing is one of affirming and projecting social identity and social position. Comparing the fiber content, dyes, and weave structure of the cloths of the tabernacle to archaeological and non-biblical textual data, the tabernacle cloths are shown to be at least equivalent to the finest, most magnificent textiles made in the ANE. They are likely the major contributor to the glory and splendor of the tabernacle, surpassing the other precious materials involved. The same materials and workmanship are used in the textiles of Aaron’s consecration garments. Other specific details are given as well, concerning the multiple hems, hem pendants, and neck opening of his robe, for example. Comparing Aaron’s special garments to iconographic depictions of the clothing of other elite persons in the ii ANE, Aaron’s consecration attire clearly identifies him as on a par with kings. Biblical law forbids anyone other than Aaron’s successors as high priests from wearing similar garments. The thesis and the conclusion of this dissertation is that Aaron’s unique clothing and the other cloth furnishings of the tabernacle convey the statuses of the Aaronide (or high) priest and of the tabernacle as the one person and one place, respectively, of most elite status in the society reflected in the tabernacle narratives. The fact that the Priestly writers portray Aaron and the tabernacle in this way implies that the passages were written in the early Persian period. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to my advisor and dissertation committee chairman, Mark George, for his guidance and advice throughout my M.A. and Ph.D. studies at Iliff and the University of Denver, and in particular for his oversight of the dissertation writing process. This dissertation has been improved significantly as a result of our collegial discussions, and from the insightful and constructive feedback he has given me after his meticulous reading of every draft. I thank my dissertation committee members, Alison Schofield and Larry Conyers, for their continued advice and feedback. Mark, Alison, and Larry each wrote and evaluated one of my Comp Exams; my preparation for the exam that Larry wrote contributed to the direction taken in this dissertation. I thank Carrie Doehring for chairing the dissertation defense committee, Ted Vial for drawing my attention to Taussig’s What Color is the Sacred?, and Laura Harris for her assistance with research strategies as I was beginning this project. I thank Orit Shamir and Judy Craig for generously giving me bibliographies, my mother, Nancy Fitch, for drawing Figure 11 when circumstances at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo precluded my getting copyright permission for a formal image, and my husband, Jim Dewey, for his encouragement and support. Finally, I thank the trustees of the Elizabeth Iliff Warren Fellowship fund for the Fellowship I received in 2010-2011 in support of the research and writing of this dissertation. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 1 “Glorious Adornment” ............................................................................................ 1 Assumptions ............................................................................................................ 4 Assumptions about the Biblical Text .......................................................... 5 Assumptions from Anthropology ............................................................... 8 Assumptions Relevant to Historical Criticism .......................................... 10 The Plan of This Study ......................................................................................... 11 CHAPTER TWO: APPROACHES AND APPLICATIONS ........................................... 16 Clothing and Cloth as Social Indicators................................................................ 16 Anthropology of Clothing and Cloth ........................................................ 18 Anthropology of Clothing: Ronald Schwarz ................................ 18 Anthropology of Cloth: Jane Schneider and Annette B. Weiner .. 23 Ethnographic Studies of Clothing and Cloth as Social Indicators 32 Linguistics of Clothing ............................................................................. 36 Alison Lurie: The Language of Clothes (1981) ............................ 38 Claudia Bender: Die Sprache des Textilen (2008) ........................ 41 Applications .............................................................................................. 49 Color as Social Indicator ....................................................................................... 55 Anthropology of Color .............................................................................. 59 Color in the Hebrew Bible ........................................................................ 62 Athalya Brenner: Colour Terms in the Old Testament (1982) ..... 62 Color in Ancient Rome and the ANE ....................................................... 67 Meyer Reinhold: History of Purple as a Status Symbol in Antiquity (1970). ........................................................................................... 68 Abigail S. Limmer: Color in Jewelry in Iron Age II Southern Levant (2007). ............................................................................... 71 Summary ............................................................................................................... 74 CHAPTER THREE: CLOTH ........................................................................................... 77 The Textiles (and Skins) of the Tabernacle .......................................................... 80 The Hangings of the Court ........................................................................ 84 šēš mošzār) ................................. 85 ;שֵׁ ש מָשְׁ זָ ר) Twisted Fine Linen Screens for the Entrance to the Court and for the Entrance to the Tent ... 93 Tĕkēlet, ’argāmān, and Tôla‘at Šānî as Dyes ............................... 94 Tĕkēlet, ’argāmān, and Tôla‘at Šānî as (Dyed) Wool ................ 119 Use of Linen and Wool Together in a Textile ............................ 121 Roqēm Workmanship .................................................................. 128 Summary ..................................................................................... 133 The Drapery Cloths and the Pārōket of the Tabernacle ......................... 135 Cloths Used for Packing the Tabernacle Furnishings ............................. 143 Summary ................................................................................................. 149 v Placement of the Textiles within the Tabernacle ................................................ 150 Graded Holiness ...................................................................................... 154 Beyond Graded Holiness: Tabernacle as Social Space ........................... 158 Summary ................................................................................................. 161 The Makers of the Tabernacle Textiles .............................................................. 161 Named Israelite Craftsmen ..................................................................... 163