Fuller
“Washer, from treading or trampling”
Summary
A tradesman who cleaned, thickened, and whitened cloth, working outside city walls due to the space required and offensive processes used.
☩The Fuller's Trade
The Hebrew word kobhes means 'to tread,' referring to the fuller's method of treading clothes in tubs of water with various cleansing agents. The process involved rubbing with alkalis, stamping with feet or beating with bats, then spreading cloth to dry in the sun. Various substances were used including natron, putrid urine, and ashes of certain desert plants called 'soap.'
☩Location Outside the City
The fuller's trade was carried on outside Jerusalem, both because of the offensive smells produced and the space required for drying cloth. The 'highway of the fuller's field' near Jerusalem appears in the Assyrian siege narrative. En-rogel ('foot fountain') may have been named for fullers treading clothes there.
☩Spiritual Significance
The coming of the Lord is compared to a 'refiner's fire and like fullers' soap,' when the dross and dirt will be cleared away. At the Transfiguration, Christ's clothing became so white that it exceeded the whiteness any fuller on earth could produce—a reflection of heavenly glory. White garments typify Christ's spotless righteousness put on the saints.
Related Verses5 mentions
See Also
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Fuller," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. III (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Fuller," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. II (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.George Morrish, "Fuller," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).
- 4.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Fuller," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).