They were placed at the bend of the left arm. Those worn on the forehead were written on four
strips of parchment, and put into four little cells within a square case on which the letter was written.
The square had two thongs, on which Hebrew letters were inscribed. That phylacteries were used
as amulets is certain, and was very natural. The expression “they make broad their phylacteries,”
(Matthew 23:5) refers not so much to the phylactery itself, which seems to have been of a prescribed
breadth, as to the case in which the parchment was kept, which the Pharisees, among their other
pretentious customs, (Mark 7:3,4; Luke 5:33) etc., made as conspicuous as they could. It is said
that the Pharisees wore them always, whereas the common people only used them at prayers.
Fuller
The trade of the fullers, so far as it is mentioned in Scripture, appears to have consisted chiefly
in cleansing garments and whitening them. The process of fulling or cleansing clothes consisted
in treading or stamping on the garments with the feet or with bats in tubs of water, in which some
alkaline substance answering the purpose of soap had been dissolved. The substances used for this
purpose which are mentioned in Scripture are natron, (Proverbs 25:20; Jeremiah 2:22) and soap.
(Malachi 3:2) Other substances also are mentioned as being employed in cleansing, which, together
with alkali, seem to identify the Jewish with the Roman process, as urine and chalk. The process
of whitening garments was performed by rubbing into them calk or earth of some kind. Creta
cimolia (cimolite) was probably the earth most frequently used. The trade of the fullers, as causing
offensive smells, and also as requiring space for drying clothes, appears to have been carried on at
Jerusalem outside the city.
Fullers Field, The
a spot near Jerusalem, (2 Kings 8:17; Isaiah 7:3; 36:2) so close to the walls that a person speaking
from there could be heard on them. (2 Kings 18:17,26) One resort of the fullers of Jerusalem would
seem to have been below the city on the southeast side. But Rabshakeh and his “great host” must
have come from the north; and the fuller’s field was therefore, to judge from this circumstance, on
the table-land on the northern side of the city.
Funerals
[Burial, Sepulchres]
Furlong
[Weights And Measures AND Measures]
Furnace
Various kinds of furnaces are noticed in the Bible, such as a smelting or calcining furnace,
(Genesis 19:28; Exodus 9:8,10; 19:18) especially a lime-kiln, (Isaiah 33:12; Amos 2:1) a refining
furnace, (Proverbs 17:3) Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace, a large furnace built like a brick-kiln, (Daniel
3:22,23) with two openings one at the top for putting in the materials, and another below for
removing them; the potter’s furnace, Ecclus. 27:5; The blacksmith’s furnace. Ecclus. 38:28. The
Persians were in the habit of using the furnace as a means of inflicting punishment. (Daniel 3:22,23;
Jeremiah 29:22)
Gaal
(contempt), son of Ebed, aided the Shechemites in their rebellion against Abimelech. (Judges
9:1) ... (B.C. 1206.)