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Clothing and adornment
Sackcloth
Hebrew saq · Greek sakkos · coarse, dark cloth of goat or camel hair
Sackcloth was a rough, thick cloth woven from goat or camel hair, probably dark in color: Revelation speaks of the sun turning “black like sackcloth of goat hair” (Revelation 6:12). The Hebrew word saq also means a sack, like the grain sacks of Joseph’s brothers. The shape of the garment is disputed. By one view it was sewn like a grain sack, with openings for the head and arms; by another it was a small loincloth, the dress in which Asiatic captives are pictured. The Bible often speaks of putting sackcloth around the waist, which fits the second view, though more than one kind may have been made.
Sackcloth was worn in mourning, along with torn clothes, bare feet, dust on the head and sitting in ashes. Jacob put it on when he thought Joseph was dead (Genesis 37:34), and David ordered it for the burial of Abner (2 Samuel 3:31). It was also worn at fasts and in times of national danger, and not only in Israel: in Nineveh even animals were covered with it (Jonah 3:8). Some have suggested it was meant to hurt the skin, but there is no evidence for this.
Key verses
Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.Then David ordered Joab and all the people with him, “Tear your clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourn before Abner.” And King David himself walked behind the funeral bier.On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth, with dust on their heads.When Mordecai learned of all that had happened, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the middle of the city, wailing loudly and bitterly.Furthermore, let both man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and have everyone call out earnestly to God. Let each one turn from his evil ways and from the violence in his hands.And when I saw the Lamb open the sixth seal, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black like sackcloth of goat hair, and the whole moon turned blood red,Sources
Adapted and shortened from the Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0
Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers · CC BY-SA 4.0 — Sackcloth; Mourning; Cloth and Cloth Manufacturing*: Goat’s Hair
Adapted from Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary: articles chosen, shortened and retold in our own words (history, nature and daily life only) and, in languages other than English, machine-translated. The original work by Tyndale House Publishers is available for free at tyndaleopenresources.com.
