I was thinkin' about Deuteronomy 22:11, where YHVH tells His people that it is against the law to wear fabrics woven with diverse fibers, like wool and linen together. For a minute or two, I sat there thinking, "That's kind of random... What's so wrong with blended fabrics? Why is it against the law?" I'm a firm believer in God having reasons for all of his laws for Isra'el. So I go to thinking of it then. And this is what I thought up.
A few possibilities from my knowledge of cloth:
1. They are treated differently - Wool can't be at a high temperature or it will felt when wet or burn. Linen, on the other hand, gets wrinkled up and needs ironing. With a blended fabric, you can't iron the linen flat.
2. Different pHs. Animal fibers (like wool, silk, etc) like to be slightly acidic. If you put a little vinegar into the wash-water when you was them, they'll stand up a lot better. Plant fibers (like cotton and linen), on the other hand, will break down in acid. They like slightly basic solutions. With both together, you will invariably have weak parts with the acidic animal fibers woven with sensitive plant fibers. The integrity of the fabric is drastically weakened.
3. Take dye differently. You use different mordants (pre-dye solutions) to prepare the fabric for dye, and they take color radically different. So you have an uneven, mismatching dye that will fade out of one fiber (because you had to use a mordant that was bad for one of the two fibers).
4. Washing techniques. If you wash wool and linen together, the wool will shrink and the linen will stay straight. The result is a pebbly texture that is uncomfortable to wear.
5. Warmth differences. Linen is breathable, but wool will keep you warm. The mingled garment is pointless. Some parts of you will be warm, and other parts cold. Do you wear it in the summer or winter? I'd rather have all linen in the summer and all wool in the winter.
Who knew? Oh, yeah! Our God!
Have any more things to add to my list? This was all just off the top of my head in the last 10 minutes. If you've studied this at all, I welcome your comments!
Female Persimmon Flowers
3 months ago
Interesting list Jen! Something we found out when we were researching about getting rid of blended-fabrics was that pure fabrics allow your skin to breath better, and I think something about bacteria was allowed to die.
ReplyDeleteThese are all great reasons, and yet we don't know the reason YHVH gave this command. It will be interesting to find out if it was just to set us apart or if it was for health reasons (and one we haven't thought of or won't!)
HUGS!
I haven't done any research, but where would polyester or man-made fabrics come in? What about fabrics that melt into plastic when you iron them? Elastic?
ReplyDeleteHehe sorry if that didn't add much to your post... it was just the first thing that came to mind.