The Fold of the Eastern Garment
By Paxton
Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down; and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you again. Luke vi, 38. Instead of the fibula that was used by the Romans, the Arabs join together with thread, or with a wooden bodkin, the two upper corners of this garment; and after having placed them first over one of their shoulders, they then fold the rest of it about their bodies. The under fold serves them frequently instead of an apron, in which they carry herbs, loaves, corn and other articles, and may illustrate several allusions made to it in Scripture, thus: “One of the sons of the prophets went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds, ‘his lap full’” And the Psalmist offers up his prayer, that Jehovah would “render unto his neighbors seven-fold into their bosom; their reproach.” The same allusion occurs in our Lord’s direction to his disciples: “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom.” It was also the fold of this robe which Nehemiah shook before his people, as a significant emblem of the manner in which God should deal with the man who ventured to violate his oath and promise, to restore the possessions of their impoverished brethren: “Also, I shook my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, that performeth not his promise, even thus be he shaken out and emptied.”—Paxton.