Various passages wherein Silk is mentioned—The virtuous woman and her household—Probability that the Hebrews were acquainted with Silk—Present cultivation of the Silkworm—The Silk-farms of the Lebanon—Signification of the word Meshi—Silkworms and thunder—Luis of Grenada's sermon—The Hebrew word Gâzam, and its signification—The Palmer-worm of Scripture.
IN the Authorized Version there are several passages wherein silk is mentioned, but it is rather doubtful whether the translation be correct or not, except in one passage of the Revelation "And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:" The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk." (18:11, 12.)
In Prov. 31:2222She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple. (Proverbs 31:22) Solomon writes of the virtuous woman “that she maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple."The word which is here given as “silk" is translated in the Jewish Bible as "fine linen”
In the other two passages, however, in which the word occurs it is rendered as "silk:" “I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badger's skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk” (Ezek. 16:1010I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. (Ezekiel 16:10)). See also verse 13 of the same chapter: “Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver, and thy raiment was of fine linen and broidered work.”
That the Hebrews were acquainted with silk from very early times is nearly certain, but it is probable that until comparatively late years they only knew the manufactured material, and were ignorant of the source whence it was derived. As to the date at which silk was introduced into Palestina, nothing certain is known; but it is most likely that Solomon's fleets brought silk from India, together with the other valuables which are mentioned in the history of that monarch.
At the present day silk is largely cultivated, and the silk-farmers of the Lebanon are noted for the abundance of the crop which is annually produced. The greatest care is taken in rearing the worms. An excellent account of these farms is given by Mr. G. W. Chasseaud in his "Druses of the Lebanon:— Proceeding onward, and protected from the fierce heat of the sun's rays by the pleasant shade of mountain pines, we were continually encountering horse loads of cocoons, the fruit of the industry of the Druse silk-rearer. The whole process, from hatching the silkworms' eggs till the moment that the worm becomes a cocoon, is one series of anxiety and labor to the peasant. The worms are so delicate that the smallest change of temperature exposes them to destruction, and the peasant can never confidently count upon reaping a harvest until the cocoon is fairly set.”
After a long and interesting description of the multiplied and ceaseless labors of the silk-grower in providing food for the armies of caterpillars and sheltering them from the elements, the writer proceeds as follows:" The peasant is unwilling to permit of our remaining and watching operations. Traditional superstition has inculcated in him a dread of the evil eye. If we stop and admire the wisdom displayed by the worm, it will, in his opinion, be productive of evil results; either the cocoon will be badly formed, or the silk will be worthless. So, first clearing the place of all intruders, he puts a huge padlock on the door, and, locking the khlook (room in which the silkworms are kept), deposits the key in his zinnar, or waistband.
“Next week he will come and take out the cocoons, and, separating them from the briars, choose out a sufficiency for breeding purposes, and all the rest are handed over to the women of his family. These first of all disentangle the cocoon from the rich and fibrous web with which it is enveloped, and which constitutes an article of trade by itself. The cocoons are then either reeled off by the peasant himself or else sold to some of the silk factories of the neighborhood, where they are immediately reeled off, or are suffocated in an oven, and afterward, being well aired and dried, piled up in the magazines of the factory.
“Such is a brief account or history of these cocoons, of which we were continually encountering horse-load after horse-load, "As you will perceive, unless suffering from a severe cold in the head, the odor arising from these cocoons is not the most agreeable; but this arises partly from the neglect and want of care of the peasants themselves, who, reeling off basketful after basketful of cocoons, suffer the dead insects within to be thrown about and accumulate round the house, where they putrefy and emit noxious vapors.”
The Hebrew word meshi, which is the one that occurs in Ezek. 16, is derived from a root which signifies “to draw out," probably in allusion to the delicacy of the fiber.
Although our limits will not permit the cultivation of the Silkworm to be described more fully, it may here be added that silk-growers are full of superstition regarding the welfare of the caterpillars, and imagine that they are so sensitive that they will die of fear. The noise of a thunderclap is, in their estimation, fatal to Silkworms; and the breeders were therefore accustomed to beat drums within the hearing of the Silkworms, increasing the loudness of the sound, and imitating as nearly as possible the crash and roll of thunder, so that the caterpillars might be familiar with the sound if the thunderstorm should happen to break near them.
A quaint use of this superstition is made by Luis of Grenada in one of his discourses:—
Dominica IV. post Pent., Conejo 1.
"Sunt rursus alii, quorum pectora sic generis humani hostis ohsedit, ut nullius divinffi vocis fulminibus perterreantur, ved parum animo commoveantur.
“Qua autem ratione eorundem auxes obstruat, proposito hoc exemplo indicabo.
“Bombyces, hoc est vermes illi qui serica fila nectunt, ita tonitruum sonitu gravantur, ut interdum moriantur. Quo fit, ut qui eos nutriunt tympana frequenter pulsent, ut sonitui molliori assueti a graviori tonitrui sono non lledantur. Tales mihi multi sacrarum concionum auditores hác etate esse videntur, qui quotidianis concionibus audiendis sine ello anirni motu assueti, si quia concionator, a Deo actus, gravius aliquid et formidibilius intonet, non idem magis animo permoveantur; utpote qui negligentes audiendi consuetudine pene insensibiles ad verbi Dei tonitrua affecti sint.”
Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Sermon 1.
“Again, others there are of whose breasts the enemy of mankind hath taken such possession, that they be terrified by the thunderbolts of no Divine voice, or are in mind only a little disturbed thereby.
“Now after what sort he stoppeth the ears of these same men I will, by this example, propound and set forth.
“The Bombyxes—that is to say, those worms which do spin the silk threads—are by peals of thunder so troubled that sometimes they die. Wherefore it comes to pass that the keepers of them do ofttimes beat drums, to the end that, being used to the softer noise, they may take no hurt from that sound of the thunder which is heavier. Of such a sort do seem to me to be nowadays many hearers of sacred discourses. For inasmuch as they be used to the hearing of common discourses, by which their minds are nothing moved, if a preacher, urged of God, do sound forth something in any wise solemn and dreadful, they are not, therefore, any the more moved in mind, seeing that by their custom of careless hearing they have grown well-nigh hardened to the thunders of God's Word.”
ABOUT the correct reading of the Hebrew word gâzam, which is translated in the Authorized Version “palmer-worm," there has always been some difficulty. It only occurs in three passages of Scripture, and in each case reference is made to its destructive powers.
The second is in chap. 2:25 of the same book: “I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the canker-worm, and the caterpillar, and the palmer- worm, my great army which I sent among you.”
The third is in Amos 4:99I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. (Amos 4:9): "I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens, and your vineyards, and your fig-trees, and your olive-trees increased, the palmer-worm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.”
The Jewish Bible retains the reading of palmer-worm, but affixes the mark of doubt, as it does to the canker-worm. Some Hebraists have thought that the word gázam is one of the names to designate the locust, either some distinct species, or the same species in its undeveloped condition. Others have thought that, as the Jews were very loose in their nomenclature, they would not have made so great an exception in favor of an insect as to apply two different names to it.
Buxtorf derives the word from a root signifying “to shave," or "to shear," in allusion to the havoc which the gázam makes among the vegetation. The reader will see that it is impossible to decide with any certainty upon the precise species of insect signified by the word gázam; but there can be no harm in following the translation of the Septuagint and Vulgate, both of which render it as “caterpillar." Assuming, therefore, that it is a caterpillar of some kind, I have inserted figures of some butterflies found in Palestine, together with the caterpillar and chrysalis of one of them, namely the Papilio.