My name is Hannah. My family has survived because our men are shepherds and the women spin the wool from the sheep. We then weave it into cloth, thus providing clothing for sale in the marketplace. It’s not an easy task. For one thing, the wool smells bad. We must first wash it in the river to get the stink off of it. Then we spin – a laborious task which takes much time and perseverance. It seems to take an eternity to spin enough thread for one garment. Once the thread is spun, it’s placed on the loom. Strings of thread are attached to the loom and the shuttle feeds other thread through in the opposite direction. A tool called a comb tightens the cloth together, so it is extremely resistant to the elements. Spinning a piece of cloth that has no seams is quite unusual and very time consuming.

Once the cloth is woven, it can be dyed, depending on the customer. If they are wealthy they can afford to purchase dyed fabric of purple, blue or red. The dyes for those colors are extremely expensive. Most dyes are made from herbs and natural items – like berries, flowers and other sources from the earth.

We’d carry the finished products to market to sell. This year I brought one of those special garments in hopes of selling it. It was the week of Passover. The sales had to be enough to sustain us for the long year ahead. Passover is one of the major festivals for the Hebrew people. Many come to celebrate and purchase things to take back home. The city was buzzing with activity. I was especially proud of the seamless, tightly woven robe of crimson. Maybe a prince would pass by and purchase I’m pretty good at selling. All I had to do was convince someone that the color was the result of a special dye made from murex sea snails when in actuality, the dye was made from the roots of the madder plant. I was stretching the truth, but someone might see the hidden value in this piece of work.

One of the Roman centurions approached my tent. I started my sales pitch. I showed him the crimson tunic. He bought it with very little hesitation. He paid a good price, and we were both satisfied with the transaction. I wondered what he would do with a garment of that sort. He was physically much too big to wear it himself. He certainly could afford richer fabric, but I said nothing.

I discovered later that the robe was going to be used by the leaders of the Sanhedrin. Apparently, there was a man named Jesus who was preaching contrary to their beliefs. They planned to make an example of this so-called zealot. This innocent man would stand trial, be beaten and tortured. Since the people were claiming Jesus was a king, a crown of razor-sharp thorns was placed on his head and a homespun, seamless robe would be placed on his bloodied body to mock Him. Once the garment was sold, I never heard another thing about it. I don’t know where it wound up, but I know that whoever it was intended for was a true prince – one who was willing to sacrifice His own life for the sins of all people.

Life goes on in my world. I continued to spin wool into thread and make garments to sell. I will die someday, but I believe that Jesus is more than a mere prince. He is the Son of God who died and rose again for my eternal life. That’s the best deal ever and it didn’t cost a cent.

Psalm 22:18 “they divide my garments among them,
    and for my clothing they cast lots.”