In order to make a fine linen, you have to let the linen flax macerate on the soil after you have cut it, so it’s subjected to the weather. Thus linen fibers will be easier to be extracted and isolated.Then fibers are crushed and scraped in order to separate them from the straw and from each other. Afterwards you « comb » them, to finally obtain soft and unraveled fibers.
Next, you gather them to form a long « ribbon » which will be stretched and twisted to reinforce its solidity.
After that, the ribbon becomes a Wick that you shall weave so you can produce linen clothes. And to make the finest linen, use hot water so the spinning will be more flexible and soft. Then follows the fibers twisting (again) to obtain thin and homogenous threads.Linen is very resistant, insulating in winter, breathable in summer.
Linen in the Bible has a Paramount role. Whether in the Old or The New testaments, it represents in the same time death, life, purity, holiness. Only the High Priest and his sons In the O.T. could wear linen only, no purple. For purple, when you take a close look at it, is a sort of humanity’s representation, with its flaws of course, like perversity, the thirst for wealth. Check the prostitute or the crying merchants in Revelation, even Lazarus.
When linen is mixed with purple, it announces no good, imho. After all, purple was originally made out of shellfish. Animal.
Linen is used by Jesus when He washes Peter’s feet. His body is covered in linen sheet after He’s been crucified. The man Ezekiel saw in his visions is clothed with linen, even the tabernacle is edified with linen curtains and clothes. And what about fine linen bright and clean given to the Lamb’s bride in Revelation 19:8. It is the finest and expensive linen you would find.
Because, in the Bible, there are « different » linen.
The one used by Our Lord and Savior when washing His Disciples feet is the one that was at that time used by workers and especially servants people. The one used by Lazarus and the merchants comes from Egypt (Bussos, in ancient greek). And the linen wore by this Young man, in Mark 14, that ends up running away naked, is the linen people used to wear when going to sleep, but it’s also the same linen used in Matthew 27:59 : Jesus burial cloth. After all, death is only a sleep.
I forgot Matthew 12:20 (or Isaiah 42:3 if you prefer): the smoldering Wick. Candle wicks can be made of linen. The wick’s role is to fuel a flame and support combustion. Linen as a plant (Exodus 9:31), or a technical material, or a cloth.
A wedding cloth. Isn’t the king of Matthew 22 refering to linen when he sends the speechless man out into the darkness ?
Not wearing linen ! I Wonder.
Linen seems to follow our steps on this path that is Jesus Christ.
First, linen mixed with other fabrics when we walk in the darkness. Then the fabric we are given to purify our hearts. The sheet we are covered with when dying to this world. And after that, the finest and brightest cloth we dress at the King’s banquet.
Aren’t we tracing between our old heart and our new spirit a linen line ?