EXHIBIT OF BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 989 



Prophet Elijah ^ was probably the skin of a sheep or some animal with 

 the hair left on, wherefore he is called the " hairy man."^ Jt was (;har- 

 acteristic of the prophet's office.^ " Beware of false i^rophets, which 

 come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves." 

 "And it shall come to pass in that day that the prophets shall be 

 ashamed everyone of his vision when he prophesieth; neither shall 

 they wear a hairy mantle to deceive." " The prophet's (Elijah's) dress 

 proclaimed the mountaineer of the Arabian border exactly the same as 

 is worn today ; the undergarment bound with a broad leather belt, and 

 over it a loose, coarse cloak of sheepskin, with the wool outside, its 

 dark-browu folds floating in the wind as he hurriedly strode along 

 with beard bare and long black locks covering his neck, for he was a 

 Nazarite. The Moslem prophet-dervish, as different from the mollah 

 or dervish of the towns as Elijah from a Levite of Jerusalem, exactly 

 copies this dress and habit."* 



Male costume of Bagdad, Mesopotamia. — The general char- 

 acteristics of Oriental dress have been much the same in all ages. The 

 representations on monuments correspond in general to the raiment in 

 present use. They are the same loose, flowing robes, which can easily 

 be adapted to various purposes. The garments mentioned in the Bible 

 as generally used are the Ketoneth {Greek, j/t&7k, chiton; English ver- 

 sions, "coat"), a kind of shirt worn next to the skin, corresponding to 

 the modern qamis. It reached to the knees or ankles and was either 

 sleeveless or provided only with short sleeves. A person wearing the 

 Ketoneth alone is described as naked.^' Over the shirt there was worn 

 during the day the meU (English versions, "cloak"), which had loose 

 sleeves and was longer than the shirt, answering to the modern Kaftan. 

 It.was thrown oft' when the wearer engaged in manual labor. It was 

 fastened by a girdle and the folds thus formed were used as pockets. 

 It was and is sometimes woven in one piece.*^ These garments are 

 referred to by Jesus in Matthew v, 40 : " And if any man would go to 

 law with thee and take away thy coat (Greek jzro?;', chiton), let him 

 have thy cloak {i/nariov, himation) also." Over these was worn an 

 outer garment, referred to by the terms simlah, heijtd, kemith, and 

 lebush. It consisted of a rectangular piece of woolen cloth, something 

 like a Scotch plaid, and answered to the modern lungi in Central Asia 

 or the aVeih in Egypt, and varied in size and quality with the means 

 of the wearer. There is no special allusion to headdress (except as an 

 ornamental appendage in the description of the dress of the priests). 

 The ordinary headdress of the Bedouin consists of the Kuffiyeh, a square 

 handkerchief, generally of red and yellow cotton, or cotton and silk, 



• I Kings xix, 13, 19; II Kings ii, 13. 



2 11 Kings i, 8. 



=5 Matthew vii, 15; Zechariah xiii, 4. 



■•H. B. Tristram, Eastern Customs in Bible Lands, p. 166. 



"I Samuel xix, 24; Isaiah xx, 2; .lohn, xxi, 7. 



6 John xix, 23. Compare Tristram, Eastern Customs in Bible Lands, p. 156. 



