Life Walk Lesson 63 — Linen, Purity and Lessons from Rahab
Marriage of the Lamb
7 “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.”
8 It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
9 Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.”
The first time linen is mentioned in the Bible is in Genesis 41:42
“Then Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put the gold necklace around his neck.”
Scripture Reading: Exodus 9-11
Consider an interesting cross reference: Job’s experience of sitting in the ashes, and questioned by his close friends about his righteousness, while covered in boils, having been in Egypt, according to the Ancient Book of Jasher, Chapter 66. [Just scroll down past the Hebrew Translation to the English, for the context.]
Specifically in Exodus 9:31-32, it states the agricultural season in which this occurred, when God used weather patterns to show His power, which did not harm any crops in Goshen, including the flax from which linen is made.
Cross References: 1Enoch 60
2Enoch 29 for God’s description of how He created the lightning and thunder:
29 |Monday is the day. The fiery substance.|
“And for all my own heavens I shaped a shape from the fiery substance. My eye looked at the solid and very hard rock. And from the flash of my eye I took the |marvelous| substance of lightning, both fire
in water and water in fire; •neither does this one extinguish that one, nor does that one dry out this one. That is why lightning is sharper and brighter than the shining of the sun, and softer than water, more solid than the hardest rock.
And from the rock I cut off a great fire, and from the fire I created the ranks of the bodiless armies – the myriad angels – and their weapons are fiery and their clothes are burning flames. And I gave orders that each should stand in his own rank.
|Here Satanail was hurled from the hight, together with his angels.|
But one from the order of the archangels deviated, together with the division that was under his authority. He thought up the impossible idea, that he might place his throne higher than the clouds which are above the earth, and that he might become equal to my power.
And I hurled him out from the height, together with his angels. And he was flying around in the air, ceaselessly above the Bottomless.
And thus I created the entire heavens. And the third day came."
We see Linen mentioned again in the collection to be taken up for the supplies needed for the Tabernacle in the wilderness, and the detailed instructions for its architecture:
Exodus 25:3-7
3 “This is the contribution which you are to raise [literally: take] from them: gold, silver and bronze,
4 blue, purple and scarlet material, fine linen, goat hair,
5 rams’ skins dyed red, porpoise skins, acacia wood
6 oil for lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for fragrant incense,
7 onyx stones for setting stones for the ephod and for the breastpiece.”
Exodus 26:1
“Moreover you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twisted linen and blue and purple and scarlet material; you shall make them with cherubim, the work of a skillful workman.”
Exodus 26:31
“You shall make the veil of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen; it shall be made with cherubim, the work of a skillful workman.”
Exodus 27:9
“You shall make the court of the tabernacle. On the south side there shall be hangings for the court of fine twisted linen one hundred cubits long for one side”
Exodus 28:4-9
4 “These are the garments which they shall make: a breastpiece and an ephod and a robe and a tunic of checkered work, a turban and a sash, and they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, that he may minister as priest to Me.
5 They shall take the gold and the blue and the purple and the scarlet material and the fine linen.
6 They shall also make the ephod of gold, of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen, the work of a skillful workman.
7 It shall have two shoulder pieces joined to its ends, that it may be joined.
8 The skillfully woven band, which is on it, shall be like its workmanship, of the same material: of gold, of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen.
9 You shall take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel,”
Exodus 35:23
“Every man, who has in his possession blue and purple and scarlet material and fine linen and goat’s hair and rams’ skins dyed red and porpoise skins, brought them.”
Exodus 35:25
“All the skilled women spun with their hands, and brought what they had spun, in blue and purple and scarlet material and in fine linen.”
Exodus 36:8
“All the skillful men among those who were performing the work made the tabernacle with ten curtains; of fine twisted linen and blue and purple and scarlet material, with cherubim, the work of a skillful workman, Bezalel made them.
Exodus 38:23
“With him was Oholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, and engraver and a skillful workman and a weaver in blue and purple and in scarlet material, and fine linen.”
Leviticus 13 contains the laws for disease-contaminated garments: no matter where it is in the garment, fabric, or leather — the garment is to be burned.
Leviticus 16 requires the priest to change clothes when he is done ministering to the Lord.
Deuteronomy 22:11
“You shall not wear a material mixed of wool and linen together.”
Proverbs 31:13
“She looks for wool and flax and works with her hands in delight.”
From Isaiah 19:9 it is clear that this was an ongoing commercial venture:
“Moreover, the manufacturers of linen made from combed flax and the weavers of white cloth…”
Judges 15:14 shows us that flax is flammable:
“When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily so that the ropes that were on is arms were as flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds dropped from his hands.”
In Joshua 2, Rahab speaks to the men of the city, redirecting their search for the men of Israel so that they would remain protected under the flax on the roof of her house. Then the gate of the city was shut, and the men of Israel were kept safe under that which she had “laid in order on the roof.” {V6} The NIV Note for this verse states that “rooftops in the Near East are still used for drying grain or stalks. [New International Version Study Bible, Zondervan, 1985; p. 293]
Rahab was also the name of the “sea monster” [Job 9:13; 26:12; Isaiah 30:7; 51:9] Here the two heads of hardship {v. 12} are oppression and guile.
In Job 40-41 God shows His power through the creatures He creates. Modern translations say these are the hippo and the crocodile, however, God created a flying, fire-breathing serpent before, and also vegetarian dinosaurs, which lived in the creation which was destroyed before God began all things anew in Genesis 1:2.
See also: Matthew 14, where Jesus walks on the water in the storm, and Matthew 8 where Jesus speaks to the two modes of opposition, the wind and waves, prophesied in Job 9:8.
In Ezekiel 40:3 flax is used for a measuring line of righteousness:
“So He brought me there; and behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze, with a line of flax and a measuring rod in his hand; and he was standing in the gateway.”
Whereas in the Book of Revelation a gold measuring rod is used to measure the city. Gold measures our faith [1Peter 1:7]
Rahab was judged righteous, for believing God, [Joshua 2:11] and was saved from the destruction of Jericho [6:22-25], and later went on to marry Salmon, and she becomes the mother of Boaz, the father of Obed, who married Ruth; Obed was the father of Jesse, the father of King David. [Matthew 1:5-6]
Rahab had lived a life of prostitution, as did Mary Magdalene, however, God found something redeemable in them both, forgave them, and called them righteous. Rahab was part of the linen making industry, and it is my opinion that she desired to do something righteous, and God presented her with the opportunity, and when she took it, God called her righteous. Mary Magdalene was a worshipper, and she loved Jesus very much, and God called her righteous.
Spinning Flax on a Spindle with a Scarlet Thread
