Breeches

BREECHES brich'-iz, brech'-iz:

A garment, extending from the waist to or just below the knee or to the ankle, and covering each leg separately. Breeches are not listed among the garments of an ordinary wardrobe, but the priests in later times (Exodus 20:26) wore a garment resembling modern trousers. These priestly linen breeches, mikhnece bhadh, were worn along with the linen coat, the linen girdle and the linen turban by Aaron on the Day of Atonement, when he entered the "holy place." (The word mikhnece is derived from a root, kanac = ganaz, "to cover up," "hide.") Ordinary priests also wore them on sacrificial occasions (Exodus 28:42; 39:28; Leviticus 6:10; Ezekiel 44:18). Apart from the breeches just referred to, the only reference to a similar garment among the Israelites is found in Daniel 3:21, where the carbal, the Revised Version (British and American) "hosen," is mentioned. (The King James Version translates "coats.") The rendering of the King James Version is the more likely, though the meaning of the Aramaic sarbal is obscure (compare the thorough discussion in Ges., Thesaurus). In Targum and Talmud (compare Levy, NHWB, under the word), and is so taken by the rabbinical commentators. Still, Aquila and Theodotion (sarabara), Septuagint in Daniel 3:27, Symmachus (anaxurides), Peshitta, express the meaning "trousers" (of a looser kind than those worn by us), a garment known (from Herodotus and other sources) to have been worn by the ancient Scythians and Persians, and to have been called by them sarabara. The word, with the same connotation, was brought into the Arabic in the form sirwal. In both these senses the word may be originally Persian: in that of mantle, meaning properly (according to Andreas) a "head-covering" (sarabara), for which in Persia the peasants often use their mantle; in that of "trousers," corresponding to the modern Persian shalwar, "under-breeches." Cook has pointed out that "mantles, long-flowing robes, and therefore extremely liable to catch the flames," are more likely to be especially mentioned in this chapter than trousers, or (Revised Version) "hosen."

The word paTish (Daniel 3:21), is also uncertain. The Septuagint and Theodotion render tiarai, "turbans"; Peshitta has the same word, which is variously taken by Syrian lexicographers as "tunic," "trousers," or a kind of "gaiter" (Payne Smith, Thes. Syriac., col. 3098). (For further discussion of these words, compare commentaries on Da of Jour. Phil., XXVI, 307 if.)

In general, we must remember that a thorough discussion of Israelite "dress" is impossible, because of the limitations of our sources.

H. J. Wolf

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Bibliography Information

Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. "Entry for 'BREECHES'".  "International Standard Bible Encyclopedia".  1915.