From Exodus we learn[383], that the Israelites in the wilderness among their contributions to the Tabernacle gave goats’-hair, and that it was spun by women. The spun goats’-hair was probably used in part to make cords for the tent; but part of it at least was woven into the large pieces, called in the Septuagint “curtains of goats’-hair.” Such curtains, or Saga, of spun goats’-hair seem to have been commonly used for the covering of tents[384].
[383] “And thou shalt make curtains of goats’-hair to be a covering upon the tabernacle: eleven curtains shalt thou make. The length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and the eleven curtains shall be all of one measure. And thou shalt couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and shalt double the sixth curtain in the forefront of the tabernacle. And thou shalt make fifty loops on the edge of the one curtain that is outmost in the coupling, and fifty loops in the edge of the curtain which coupleth the second. And thou shalt make fifty taches of brass, and put the taches into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be one. And the remnant that remaineth of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remaineth, shall hang over the backside of the tabernacle. And a cubit on the one side, and a cubit on the other side of that which remaineth in the length of the curtains of the tent, it shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side, to cover it.”—Ex. xxvi. 7-13.
[384] “And he made curtains of goats-hair for the tent over the tabernacle: eleven curtains he made them. The length of one curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits was the breadth of one curtain: the eleven curtains were of one size.”—Ex. xxxvi. 14, 15.
Cloths of the same kind were used for rubbing horses[385]. The term for goats’-hair cloth in Hebrew, Chaldee, and Syraic, is שק or סק, i. e. Shac, or Sac, translated ΣΑΚΚΟΣ in the Septuagint, and Saccus in the Vulgate version of the Scriptures. The Latin Sagum, appears to have had the same origin. In English we have Sack and Shag, scarcely differing from the oriental and ancient terms either in sound or sense.
[385] Vegetii Ars Veter. l. i. c. 42.
Cilice, the modern French term for a hair-shirt, is immediately derived from Cilicium, the origin of which has been explained[386].
[386] Menage, Dict. Etym. v. Cilice.
This kind of cloth, which was black or dark brown, the goats of Syria and Palestine being chiefly of that color even to the present day, is alluded to in the sixth chapter of Revelations[387], and in Is. l. 3. “I clothe the heavens with blackness and make sack-cloth their covering.” It was worn to express mourning and mortification. In Jonah we have a very remarkable case, for on this occasion blankets of goats’-hair were put on the bodies both of men and beasts, and one was worn even by the king of Nineveh himself[388]. When Herod Agrippa was seized at Cæsarea with the mortal distemper mentioned in Acts xii. (See [chap. vi. p. 93.]), the common people sat down on hair-cloth according to the custom of their country, beseeching God on his behalf.—Josephus, Ant. Jud. l. xix. cap. 8. p. 872. Hudson. So according to Josephus (Ant. Jud. l. vii. cap. 7. p. 299.), David fell down upon sack-cloth of the same description and lay on the ground praying for the restoration of his son.
[387] “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became as black as sack-cloth of hair, and the moon became as blood.”—Rev. vi. 12.
[388] “So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sack-cloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. The word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sack-cloth, and sat in ashes.”—Jonah iii. 5, 6. In v. 5. we should translate “put on hair-cloths;” for the word is plural in the Hebrew.