74 Rev. Dr Scot on the Fine Linen 



every one is struck as soon as he beholds it. On this ground, 

 several learned men have thought that shesh, translated^^ig linen 

 in the English Bible, comes from a Hebrew verb, which signi- 

 fies to be white. 



This whiteness, derived from nature, and not art, cannot be 

 overlooked in any good description of this substance. Thus, 

 Revelations, xix. and 14. " The armies of Heaven followed him on 

 white horses, clothed in fine linen, (the original term is byssos), 

 white and clean." Thus in Isidore''s Origines, lib. 22. " White 

 robes of byss, made of a kind of coarser lint ;""* and again, lib. 27. 

 " Byss is a material excessively white and soft, which the Greeks 

 call Papas." 



It cannot be denied, however, that, by bleaching, linen can 

 be made whiter even than cotton ; and from comparing Ex- 

 odus xxvii. and 42. with Exodus xxxix. and 28., we find that 

 shesh may denote linen, strictly so called, from this whiteness 

 artificially acquired. 



The truth is, if we look to the Hebrew derivation, shesh is 

 capable of expressing any white substance ; and accordingly it 

 is sometimes used to express white marble, which, like other kinds 

 of marble, is susceptible of a fine polish. 



The Hebrew derivation of shesh, however, does not satisfy 

 every one, Dr Reinhold Forster, in a learned tract De Bysso 

 Antiquorum, and an anonymous writer in the Classical Journal, 

 No. xiv., are of opinion, that shesh translated fine hnen, was 

 x)riginally an Egyptian term, and this opinion rests on solid 

 ground. 



There is the highest probability that the Hebrews borrowed 

 some terms from the Egyptians, and particularly that they bor- 

 rowed shesh, the name of what is rendered fine linen, as they 

 certainly got the knowledge of the thing, from the Egyptians. 



The Hebrews were what are called Nomades, or shepherds who 

 tended their herds and flocks, wherever they could find pasture. 

 In these consisted their wealth, and by these chiefly they were 

 fed and clothed. They neither knew nor sought after the 

 luxuries of life. 



The Egyptians, on the contrary, were a nation considerably 

 civilized, living under a monarchical government, fixed as it were 

 to the soil, and drawing from its productions whatever could 

 contribute to their convenience or comfort, their use or plea- 



