Sackcloth

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SACKCLOTH.—The sackcloth of OT was a coarse dark cloth made on the loom from the hair of goats and camels. In the extant literature it is almost always associated with mourning for the dead (Gen_37:34, 2Sa_3:31 and oft.): and especially with the public expression of humiliation and penitence in view of some national misfortune, present or impending (1Ki_21:27, Neh_9:1, Jon_3:5 etc.). For other tokens of grief and penitence, associated with the donning of sackcloth, such as ashes or dust on the head, and the rending of garments (this being a later substitute for their entire removal), see Mourning Customs. In such cases the person or persons concerned are generally said to ‘gird’ themselves with sackcloth, or to have sackcloth about their loins, from which it is evident that the sackcloth was worn in the form of a loincloth or waistcloth, tied in the ancient manner in a knot in front (cf. Isa_20:2 ‘loose the sackcloth,’ lit. ‘untie the knot’). It was worn by women as well as by men (Isa_32:11, Jdt_9:1). The putting of it upon cattle, however, as mentioned in Jon_3:8 and Jdt_4:10, and even upon an altar (Jdt_4:11), is, from the nature of the passages cited, rather a literary than a historical extravagance.
In this custom most modern scholars recognize an illustration of conservatism in religious practice. The waistcloth is known to have been the oldest article of dress among the Semites (see Dress, § 2), and as such it appears to have been retained in mourning customs and in humiliation before God, and perhaps in the exercise of the cultus, long after it had ceased to be the only garment of the people. The ihram or waistcloth still worn by the Moslem pilgrims during their devotions at the sacred shrine at Mecca, has often been cited as a modern parallel.
A. R. S. Kennedy.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

Of coarse, dark goat's hair. Used for sacks, also for close fitting raiment in mourning; secured by a girdle (Gen_42:25; 1Ki_21:27; 2Sa_3:31).
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.

Sackcloth. Cloth used in making sacks or bags, a coarse fabric, of a dark color, made of goat's hair, Isa_50:3; Rev_6:12, and resembling the eilicium of the Romans. It was used also for making the rough garments used by mourners, which were, in extreme cases, worn next the skin. 1Ki_21:27; 2Ki_6:30; Job_16:15; Isa_32:11.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863

a sort of mourning worn at the death of a friend or relation. In great calamities, in penitence, in trouble also, they wore sackcloth about their bodies: “Gird yourselves with sackcloth, and mourn for Abner,” 2Sa_3:31. “Let us gird ourselves with sackcloth; and let us go and implore the clemency of the king of Israel,” 1Ki_20:31. Ahab rent his clothes, put on a shirt of haircloth next to his skin, fasted, and lay upon sackcloth, 1Ki_21:27. When Mordecai was informed of the destruction threatened to his nation, he put on sackcloth, and covered his head with ashes, Esther 4. On the contrary, in time of joy, or on hearing good news, those who were clad in sackcloth tore it from their bodies, and cast it from them, Psa_30:11. The prophets were often clothed in sackcloth, and generally in coarse clothing. The Lord bids Isaiah to put off the sackcloth from about his body, and to go naked, that is, without his upper garment, Isa_20:2. Zechariah says that false prophets shall no longer prophesy in sackcloth, to deceive the simple, Zec_13:4.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.

People put on sackcloth as a sign of mourning, whether for those who had just died (Gen_37:34; 2Sa_3:31), for some personal distress (Job_16:15), or for a national disaster (Est_4:1; Lam_2:10). They also put on sackcloth as a sign of sorrow for personal sins (1Ki_21:27-29; Neh_9:1-2) or urgency in prayer (Dan_9:3). The sackcloth was worn either over the top of, or instead of, their normal clothing (2Ki_6:30; Job_16:15; Jon_3:6; see DRESS).
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.

sak?klōth. See BURIAL.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.

The sackcloth mentioned in Scripture was, as it is still in the East, a coarse black cloth, commonly made of hair (Rev_6:12), and was used for straining liquids, for sacks, and for mourning garments. In the latter case it was worn instead of the ordinary raiment, or bound upon the loins, or spread under the mourner on the ground Gen_37:34; 1Ki_20:32; Isa_58:5; Joe_1:8; Jon_3:5) [MOURNING]. Such garments were also worn by prophets, and by ascetics generally (Isa_20:2; Zec_3:4; comp. 2Ki_1:8; Mat_5:4).




The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.

2Sa_3:31 (b) This is a type of sorrow, grief and mourning. Those who wore this cloth publicly announced that they had broken hearts and sorrowing spirits. (See also 1Ki_20:31; 2Ki_6:30; Job_16:15; Psa_35:13; Psa_69:11; Psa_32:11; Jer_4:8; Dan_9:3; Joe_1:13; Rev_11:3).
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.

Sackcloth
(שִׂק, sak, from its net-like or sieve-like structure; a word which has descended pure in the Greek σάκκος and modern languages) is the name of a coarse material, apparently made of goat's or camel's hair (Rev_6:12), and resembling the cilicium of the Romans (Gen_37:34; 1Ki_20:31; 2Ki_19:1 sq.; Mat_11:21; Luk_10:13; comp. Josephus, Ant. 7, 1, 6; Porphyr. Abstin. 4, 15; Plutarch, Superst. c. 7). It was probably dark brown or black in color (Isa_1:3; Rev_6:12; comp. the black dresses of the Greeks: Eurip. Alc. 440; Orest. 458; Helen, 1088; and Romans, Ovid, Metam. 6, 568; Tacit. Annal. 3, 2; Becker, Gallus, 2, 289; see Josephus, Life, 28). It was used for the following purposes:
(1.) For making sacks for grain, the same word describing both the material and the article (Gen_42:25; Lev_11:32; Jos_9:4). Sacks are usually made of hair in the East; whence we may understand that where sackcloth is mentioned haircloth is intended.
(2.) This material was certainly employed for making the rough garments used by mourners (Esther 4:21), which were in extreme cases worn next the skin (1Ki_21:27; 2Ki_6:30; Job_16:15; Isa_32:11), and this even by females (Joe_1:8; 2Ma_3:19), but at other times were worn over the coat or kethoneth (Ton. 3, 6) in lieu of the outer garment. The robe probably resembled a sack in shape, thus fitting closer to the person than the usual flowing garments of the Orientals (Niebuhr, Beschreib. p. 340), as we may infer from the application of the term חָגִר, to bind, to the process of putting it on (2Sa_3:31; Ezr_7:18, etc.). It was confined by a girdle of similar material (Isa_3:24). Sometimes it was not laid aside even at night (1Ki_21:27). Prophets and ascetics wore it over the underclothing, to signify the sincerity of their calling (Isa_20:2; Mat_3:4; see Wetstein, N.T. 1, 384 sq.). The Apocrypha intimates that this habit of sackcloth was that in which good people clothed themselves when they went to prayers (Bar_4:20). The use of haircloth as a penitential dress was retained by the early Oriental monks, hermits, and pilgrims, and was adopted by the Roman Church, which still retains it for the same purposes. Haircloth was, indeed, called “sackcloth” by the early Greek and Latin fathers. It does not appear that sackcloth is now much used in token of grief in the East; but ornaments are relinquished, the usual dress is neglected, or it is laid aside, and one coarse or old assumed in its place (comp. Liske, De Sacco et Cinere [Vitemb. 1693]). SEE MOURNING.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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