This is the sort of thing that niggles at me when I do a Bible study. I send myself down ecclesiastic and archaeological rabbit holes. That's always assuming that I don't get sidetracked by someone's name or other, resulting in several fun and exciting hours spent in Strong's Exhausting Concordance, leaving my original Bible study homework neglected and unfinished.
(Yes, I KNOW the proper name is Strong's Exhaustive Concordance. If you've ever attempted to pick one up in order to casually leaf through its pages only to undergo emergency hernia surgery for your trouble, you will understand my alternative appellation.)
This particular post traces some of its origin to when I was researching the different looms that would have been in use during the First Century BC/AD and also during the construction of the Wilderness Tabernacle and the Conquest of Canaan. I looked up every biblical reference to weaving I could find. Samson and Delilah was one of those.
Samson, bless his heart, does not appear to be using his brain for thinking. Especially when it comes to his relationships with women. This is a crucial point. The story of Samson and Delilah runs like Weird Al Yankovic's song, "Got a Funny Feeling You Don't Love Me Anymore" from the album, Smells Like Nirvana. His lack of mental acuity might partially explain why he didn't wake up when Delilah was tugging on his hair while weaving it into the loom. Ah well, "God's grace is made perfect in weakness," etc. But I want to focus on Delilah's loom.
Let's look at the passage:
Judges 16:13-14 (NIV)
There are a couple of factors that will help to narrow down the loom possibilities. Samson has to be able to stay asleep the entire time while he's getting the "hair weave". The hair is tightened/secured with a pin. It is possible that his hair was used as warp, not weft, but either one would work.
At this point in cultural development, there were two or three types of looms that would have been used. There may have been more, but a working loom has never been dug up. If we didn't have models found in an Egyptian tomb, we'd have even less of an idea of what existed. Weaving is a very conservative trade. At this point in time, we have the warp weighted, the double beam vertical, and the horizontal peg looms.
Warp Weighted Loom
The warp weighted loom is a vertical loom with the cloth beam held in the crotch of two uprights, and the other end of the warp threads tied to weights. You weave standing up. The resulting fabric is beaten upwards and wound around the cloth beam.
While it is possible that this was the loom Delilah was using, it's not likely. Both she AND Samson would have to be standing in order to weave in his hair. If you remember, in each of these "Samson, tell me the secret of your strength," episodes, Delilah waits until he's asleep to try out whatever cockamamie story he's told. Also, Samson says that his hair should be tightened (secured?) "with the pin". There is no pin used to secure warp or weft in this loom.
Samson, bless his heart, does not appear to be using his brain for thinking. Especially when it comes to his relationships with women. This is a crucial point. The story of Samson and Delilah runs like Weird Al Yankovic's song, "Got a Funny Feeling You Don't Love Me Anymore" from the album, Smells Like Nirvana. His lack of mental acuity might partially explain why he didn't wake up when Delilah was tugging on his hair while weaving it into the loom. Ah well, "God's grace is made perfect in weakness," etc. But I want to focus on Delilah's loom.
Let's look at the passage:
Judges 16:13-14 (NIV)
13 Delilah then said to Samson, “All this time you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied.”
He replied, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I’ll become as weak as any other man.” So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric 14 and[b] tightened it with the pin.
Again she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.
There are a couple of factors that will help to narrow down the loom possibilities. Samson has to be able to stay asleep the entire time while he's getting the "hair weave". The hair is tightened/secured with a pin. It is possible that his hair was used as warp, not weft, but either one would work.
At this point in cultural development, there were two or three types of looms that would have been used. There may have been more, but a working loom has never been dug up. If we didn't have models found in an Egyptian tomb, we'd have even less of an idea of what existed. Weaving is a very conservative trade. At this point in time, we have the warp weighted, the double beam vertical, and the horizontal peg looms.
Warp Weighted Loom
The warp weighted loom is a vertical loom with the cloth beam held in the crotch of two uprights, and the other end of the warp threads tied to weights. You weave standing up. The resulting fabric is beaten upwards and wound around the cloth beam.
While it is possible that this was the loom Delilah was using, it's not likely. Both she AND Samson would have to be standing in order to weave in his hair. If you remember, in each of these "Samson, tell me the secret of your strength," episodes, Delilah waits until he's asleep to try out whatever cockamamie story he's told. Also, Samson says that his hair should be tightened (secured?) "with the pin". There is no pin used to secure warp or weft in this loom.
Double Beam Vertical Loom
This loom was used in Egypt, around the time of the 18th dynasty. It may have come in before that, but that's when the tomb painting depicting this loom was found. This is more what we're used to as far as weaving is concerned. The cloth beam is at the bottom and the warp beam is at the top. Some similar modern examples would be the Navajo loom and the tapestry loom--these are both double beam vertical looms. You can sit down to weave at this loom. The fabric is beaten downwards, toward the weaver and the cloth wound around the bottom beam.
This is more plausible, but still awkward. The plane of the fabric is vertical. There would be too much pulling--too much of an angle involved to keep Samson sleeping soundly. There is also no pin needed for this loom.
Horizontal Peg Loom
This loom consists of a warp beam, a cloth beam, maybe a heddle bar, pegs or posts to hold the beams in place, and, possibly, pegs with a slot or a shelf (think of a newel post with half of the "ball" on top cut away) to raise and lower the heddle bar. It is similar to a rigid heddle loom. This loom works for the story. It was used mainly for linen weaving and done during the dry season, where it could be pegged out in the courtyard. There would not be room to have it pegged out inside.
In my opinion, this may have been one of the reasons for the move to the vertical looms. You can lean those against the wall and they don't take up all the floor space. Significant others are not going to trip over a vertical loom when coming in after dark, perhaps injuring themselves, or worse, tearing up your project.
Conclusions
So we have Samson, sleeping obliviously beside the loom (or perpendicular to it) with his head next to Delilah at the loom. She takes and weaves his braids (some versions say "locks") into the cloth, maybe interspersing them with lines of normal thread--I would have--and one translation of the passage sort of bears this concept out. When she's finished, on the opposite side of the loom from where Samson is lying, Delilah gathers up Samson's braids, and ties them to the pin, maybe winding them around the pin so that they won't pull out and pounds the pin into the ground.
I don't think she would have made more than one pass or pick with each braid, two at most. If you are going to do more than one pass, then you'd have to do three if you want all the ends on the other side. Assuming a growth rate of around 4 inches a year, and that it had never been cut, and estimating that he was between 35 and 40 when the loom incident took place, taking into account that his hair was braided (maybe), it could have been up to 10 or 13 feet long. Length would also depend on how curly/straight and thin/thick the hairs are and the length lost from braiding, if it was braided. I'm assuming a weaving width between 18-22 inches to possibly 36 inches. It is hard to reach anything wider than that, even with modern shuttles, which Delilah didn't have. I'd want to leave about 6 to 12 inches from the scalp--you don't want his head up against the edge of the warp--not if you want him to stay asleep. All the ends of the hair need to be on the opposite side of the loom so you can tighten them with the pin. So, you'd end up with 2 to 3 feet of braided hair in the loom per braid, one foot on the head side and then you'd need two feet for tightening. Not all the braids would be the same length.
Although it would be possible to have used Samson's hair as warp, rather than weft, it would have taken much more time to set up. Besides, Judges says "...into the fabric..." or "...into the web...". Web meaning the cloth that has been woven already. The Complete Jewish Bible is even more specific: "...if you weave my hair across thread in the loom..." and "...he pulled away the loom pin and the interwoven cloth...". This version does something different with the pin and doesn't make sense for this loom to me. I think my explanation of the purpose of the pin is the correct one.
You know, it's really amazing how dense this whole situation was on Samson's part and how horribly cruel on Delilah's. He ought not to have gone back to her after the first time she sicced the Philistines on him. She didn't love him. She had to know that the result of binding him and turning him over to them would be his death. But anyway, I had fun figuring out the loom and what I think would have happened. I could be wrong, of course.
This loom was used in Egypt, around the time of the 18th dynasty. It may have come in before that, but that's when the tomb painting depicting this loom was found. This is more what we're used to as far as weaving is concerned. The cloth beam is at the bottom and the warp beam is at the top. Some similar modern examples would be the Navajo loom and the tapestry loom--these are both double beam vertical looms. You can sit down to weave at this loom. The fabric is beaten downwards, toward the weaver and the cloth wound around the bottom beam.
This is more plausible, but still awkward. The plane of the fabric is vertical. There would be too much pulling--too much of an angle involved to keep Samson sleeping soundly. There is also no pin needed for this loom.
Horizontal Peg Loom
This loom consists of a warp beam, a cloth beam, maybe a heddle bar, pegs or posts to hold the beams in place, and, possibly, pegs with a slot or a shelf (think of a newel post with half of the "ball" on top cut away) to raise and lower the heddle bar. It is similar to a rigid heddle loom. This loom works for the story. It was used mainly for linen weaving and done during the dry season, where it could be pegged out in the courtyard. There would not be room to have it pegged out inside.
In my opinion, this may have been one of the reasons for the move to the vertical looms. You can lean those against the wall and they don't take up all the floor space. Significant others are not going to trip over a vertical loom when coming in after dark, perhaps injuring themselves, or worse, tearing up your project.
Conclusions
So we have Samson, sleeping obliviously beside the loom (or perpendicular to it) with his head next to Delilah at the loom. She takes and weaves his braids (some versions say "locks") into the cloth, maybe interspersing them with lines of normal thread--I would have--and one translation of the passage sort of bears this concept out. When she's finished, on the opposite side of the loom from where Samson is lying, Delilah gathers up Samson's braids, and ties them to the pin, maybe winding them around the pin so that they won't pull out and pounds the pin into the ground.
I don't think she would have made more than one pass or pick with each braid, two at most. If you are going to do more than one pass, then you'd have to do three if you want all the ends on the other side. Assuming a growth rate of around 4 inches a year, and that it had never been cut, and estimating that he was between 35 and 40 when the loom incident took place, taking into account that his hair was braided (maybe), it could have been up to 10 or 13 feet long. Length would also depend on how curly/straight and thin/thick the hairs are and the length lost from braiding, if it was braided. I'm assuming a weaving width between 18-22 inches to possibly 36 inches. It is hard to reach anything wider than that, even with modern shuttles, which Delilah didn't have. I'd want to leave about 6 to 12 inches from the scalp--you don't want his head up against the edge of the warp--not if you want him to stay asleep. All the ends of the hair need to be on the opposite side of the loom so you can tighten them with the pin. So, you'd end up with 2 to 3 feet of braided hair in the loom per braid, one foot on the head side and then you'd need two feet for tightening. Not all the braids would be the same length.
Although it would be possible to have used Samson's hair as warp, rather than weft, it would have taken much more time to set up. Besides, Judges says "...into the fabric..." or "...into the web...". Web meaning the cloth that has been woven already. The Complete Jewish Bible is even more specific: "...if you weave my hair across thread in the loom..." and "...he pulled away the loom pin and the interwoven cloth...". This version does something different with the pin and doesn't make sense for this loom to me. I think my explanation of the purpose of the pin is the correct one.
You know, it's really amazing how dense this whole situation was on Samson's part and how horribly cruel on Delilah's. He ought not to have gone back to her after the first time she sicced the Philistines on him. She didn't love him. She had to know that the result of binding him and turning him over to them would be his death. But anyway, I had fun figuring out the loom and what I think would have happened. I could be wrong, of course.
