CRAFTS, manual skills requiring special abilities. Those engaged in the various crafts are designated generally by the word חָרָשׁ, H3093, “one who cuts in, devises,” and is used of the skilled metal-worker (Exod 38:23) whether in copper (Gen 4:22), or iron (Isa 44:12), or those who prepared the basic metal (Jer 10:9). The word is applied also to stone masons (2 Sam 5:11), woodworkers (2 Kings 12:11; Isa 44:13), lapidarists (Exod 28:11), and to idol makers (Isa 44:9). On one occasion knowledge of a craft was imparted by direct action of God (Exod 31:3) but traditionally crafts were learned by the son from the father.
Craftsmen grouped into guilds after the time of Nehemiah (Neh 3:8) and the localization of a particular guild in one or another city marked it out particularly, as Debir was known for dyeing and weaving (1 Chron 4:14). In other cases certain parts of some cities were known as the quarter of this or that craft, as in Jerusalem where was “the valley of the craftsmen” (1 Chron 4:14); elsewhere the potter was located (Matt 27:7). By Nehemiah’s time one’s membership in a craft was designated by “a son” of his craft (Neh 3:8, 31). Crafts requiring skill should be distinguished from the common duties which required no particular skill. Slaves were not usually taught the particular skills.
The Israelites were largely uneducated in the crafts. When they went to Egypt, they were herdsmen (Gen 46:32) and continued as such for Pharaoh. About the only craft they did learn in Egypt was that of brickmaking and building of mud-brick structures (Exod 1:14). Archeological evidence from Pal. indicates their lack of understanding of better construction methods and materials by the poor character of the remains of their houses. (See Architecture.) They did not know iron making, therefore they resorted to the Philistines for iron implements and files (1 Sam 13:20). David’s sojourn there is credited with bringing knowledge of iron smelting and working into Israel.
For finer stone work Solomon called in stone masons from Hiram, king of Tyre (1 Kings 5:15), and for other finer craftwork Hiram (var. Huram) was given, a man knowledgeable in many crafts to guide, oversee the whole and train others also. When later Ahab built his palace at Samaria, his wife Jezebel must have provided the connection by which he secured craftsmen to perform the building work, for, judged by the cessation of fine stone-work after this time until the Gr. period, not many learned the art of stone-cutting in order to maintain in Israel the quality of work of Solomon’s Temple.
Work in both copper and iron developed before the Flood (Gen 4:22), but afterward copper was not again worked significantly until the advent of the Chalcolithic Age, and bronze did not come into use until after 4000 b.c. Tools up to the Iron Age were of hardened copper, or later of bronze. It was only through David that iron working was brought into Israel and that good tools of iron became plentiful (1 Kings 6:7), as the axe and similar tools. Both in the Bronze Age and Iron Age, axes, swords, daggers, spear points and other tools were made in Syria-Pal and traveled as far as Greece (J. Van Seters, The Hyksos [1966], 54, 55). Most occurrences of the word brass (נְחֹ֫שֶׁת֒, H5733) should be tr. copper; the only occurrence of actual brass (alloy of zinc and copper) is in Ezekiel 1:4 (ḥasmal) which designates it by the “gleaming” character. There is no word in the OT for steel; that word in KJV 2 Samuel 22:35, etc., should be copper.
Principal crafts are: Pottery making, which appeared first at Jericho c. 5000 b.c., was by hand molding until about 3000 b.c. when the wheel appeared. The process is described in Jeremiah 18:3. Clay was trodden by the feet in the pit to refine it for better quality vessels. The pit and kiln at Qumran are easily distinguished.
Building was done according to a plumb line (Amos 7:7, 8), and measuring was done with a reed (Eng. rod), marked by the cubit (cf. Ezek 40:3). The plumb line tested for verticality, metaphorically a test of the truth.
Carpentry was the trade of Jesus (Mark 6:3), and tools consisted of a marking tool, adz (Isa 44:13), saw files, bow drill, wooden mallet (Judg 5:26) and chisels and awls. These were used to construct beds, couches, tables, chairs, footstools, and carved work for decoration.
The smith learned to cast by the lost wax method (see Jerusalem Temple) as well as in clay (2 Chron 4:17). The remains of preliminary stage smelters are found in the Wadi Surhan and in the Arabah S of the Dead Sea. Solomon’s kingdom had its largest revenue through the export of copper. See also Potter.
Bibliography I. Mendelshon, “Free Artisans and Slaves in Mesopotamia,” BASOR 89 (1943), 25ff.; A. Lucas, Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries (1948); C. Singer, ed. A History of Technology, I (1958); R. J. Forbes. Studies in Ancient Technology, I-VIII (1955-1964); L. S. de Camp, The Ancient Engineers (1963).