DRESS. Our knowledge of the kind of clothing worn by the people of biblical times comes from biblical statements; from representations of the people and their clothing found on monuments, reliefs, seals, plaques, and tomb-paintings; and from graves and tomb remains.
All these, coupled with the traditions and usages extant among the present Bedouin Arab tribes, lead us to conclude that at a very early period people learned the art of spinning and weaving cloth of hair, wool, cotton, flax, and eventually silk (Gen.14.23; Gen.31.18-Gen.31.19; Gen.37.3; Gen.38.28; Job.7.6; Ezek.16.10, Ezek.16.13). From these they established certain simple styles that were continued from generation to generation, then carried by Esau and Ishmael and their descendants into Arabia, where the Arab continued them through the centuries—always with a feeling that it was decidedly wrong to change.
When the Arabs overran the larger part of the Bible lands in the sixth century a.d., they returned with these patterns of clothing. In general they have so nearly continued the basic forms that in unspoiled areas much the same garments are worn today as were worn by Jacob of OT times and by Jesus of NT times.