THE ancient Hebrews had different sorts of Dresses for their Bodies, as well as their Legs and Feet, which distinguished them from other Nations. We have already spoken of the Habits of the Priests in the Article relating to them.
Melchior Leidecker, de vestibus & ornamentis Hebræorum privatorum, de Rep. Hebr. l. 12. c. 8. See his Title in the Index.
Julii Bartolocci, de iisdem, t. 1. Bibl. Rabb. p. 556, 576, 579.
Mich. Beck, de usu Phylacteriorum Judaic. The Author wrote two different Pieces upon the Phylacteries of the Jews, one printed at Jena, 1676, in 4to. the other ibid. 1684, in 4to. See his Title in the Index.
Matth. Hiller, de vestibus Hebræorum Fimbriatis. Tubingen, 1701. We have spoken of him above.
Fred. Adolphi Lampe, de sacco, cilicio, cinctura, & Calceis Hebræorum.
Antonii Bynæi, de Calceis Hebræorum. This Treatise contains two Books, with Figures, printed at Dort, 1682, in 12mo. and in 1695. in 4to. an Edition revised and enlarged. No one had hitherto treated so fully of this Matter as this Author: Which engages us to give here a short Abridgment of his Work.
He begins his first Book with the Original of Shoes, which Baldwin attributed to Adam, or to God himself, and says that without carrying things too high, or determining any thing positively in this Particular, which can be founded only on uncertain Conjectures, he says, that probably the want which there was always of them, as well as of Cloaths, did not suffer Men to be long without them. He shews therefore, from several Passages of Scripture, that the use of Shoes was already very much in vogue in Abraham’s time; and that, excepting some religious Ceremonies or particular Customs which we shall hereafter mention, the Hebrews always walked with Shoes on. From hence he concludes, with St. Austin, St. Chrysostom, &c. that Jesus Christ, who observed exactly their most inconsiderable Customs, did not go barefoot in his Life-time, as is affirmed by St. Jerome, Dennis the Carthusian, and some others.
As for the Matter whereof the Covering of the Legs and Feet was made, he believes it was of Leather, and Skins, which almost all People used for the same purpose. Empedocles is the first whom we find to have worn Shoes of Iron; and notwithstanding it is said in Scripture, Ferrum & es Calceamentum ejus, we should not from thence infer that Shoes of this kind were ever worn by the Hebrews, Moses in this Place alluding to what Soldiers were used to wear upon their Legs and Feet, and the Metals they were adorned with, in order to express thereby that the People of the Tribe of Asher would be valiant Men, and great Warriors.
The most common Colour of things of this nature was White: Black was in use only among Men: Red and Scarlet were the most rare, and most in esteem. The Judges of the Sanhedrim went to the Temple three times every Year with Shoes of this Colour. The Kings of Albania and Rome, and after them the Emperors of Constantinople, made use of them, as the Kings of France wear Blue, upon their Coronation-Day.
What they wore about their Feet at first consisted only, according to this Author, in Soles of Shoes, which gave rise to the Custom among the Hebrews of washing the Feet of such Persons as they received in their Houses, before they made them sit down to Table. But because this seems repugnant to what he advances concerning the Colour of this part of Dress, for if it covered only the Soles of the Feet, and not the upper part, it could not be discerned: His Meaning is, that this should be understood of the Strings with which these Soles were tied. The Strings in the Beginning did not go behind the Heel and above the Foot, after the manner of Sandals; but afterwards they were continued, and interwoven more or less, forward, along the Legs, which formed several different Species of Dresses for the Feet and Legs. One there is of a pretty extraordinary kind, resembling a Lamp, which this Author says was peculiar to Soldiers, as Boots and Buskins were to Generals of Armies and Emperors.
Having said so much of the Original, Matter and Form of Shoes, he explains, and gives an account of several Customs among the Hebrews relating to this Subject. Thus he says they were forbidden to go into the Temple any otherwise than bare-foot; which has been observed likewise by several other People, and is so at this Day by the Christians of Ethiopia. That on Days of Mourning, at the Feast of Expiation, and upon fulfilling their Vows, the Jews went likewise bare-foot. That when in the old Law the Widow who was refused by her Brother-in-law plucked off his Shoe, this is an Indication that he forfeited the Right he had before over her. This Form was used at that time in Contracts, to signify that People divested themselves of their Rights. That it was a Sign of Contempt, and a great Affront among the Hebrews to strike any one with their Shoes, or to throw them at any one; as on the contrary among the Arabians it was a Shew and Protestation of inviolable Fidelity. There are many other particular Remarks, and several good Emendations of Profane Authors and the Fathers, as well as of some Places in the very Text of Scripture. Thus in the third Chapter of Isaiah, where in the Vulgate it is, Auferet Dominus ornamentum calceamentorum vestrorum & Lunulas, he says the last Word is transposed, and should be read after that of Torques, as it is in the Hebrew Text: And this he thinks the rather, because it never was a Custom with this People to adorn their Shoes with Crescents, but their Collars only.