Quote:
Originally Posted by Joanna Lytton-Vasey
Numbers 3 and 4 are obviously elegant and erudite solutions, Sister Basilissa. However, I do have a question. I was assuming that Dr Pendergast was referring to navel lint. Do you happen to know whether Latin and/or Greek had a word for this specific substance?
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I've read Numbers 3 and 4.
Numbers 3:11-13 The LORD spake unto Moses, saying, And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine; Because all the firstborn are mine; for on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast: mine shall they be: I am the LORD.
The question of lint comes up in
Numbers 4:5-14. Badgers skins, blue, scarlet & purple cloth. Now of course badger paint brushes are much prized because of their precision and stability and we know from
Numbers 3:44-51 that God was prepared to redeem the firstborn for a financial consideration. Would lint-free fabrics have been made from badger to avoid the sin of mingling? I collected some hair following a dog fight, poodle versus a short-haired thing, and it was not at all easy to spin. The poodle was somewhat like goat but (no doubt due to being terrified) had a terrible smell. The other stuff was impossible, like trying to spin pine needles or mink. This was important because if the badger skins and the dyed fabrics were not made exactly as commanded, those responsible for the the oil for the light, and the sweet incense, and the daily meat offering, and the anointing oil, and the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that therein is, in the sanctuary, and in the vessels thereof would drop dead as soon as they saw them.