Priscilla - Her Life And Times

Priscilla - Her Life And Times

TENTMAKING

Although tents themselves are often mentioned in the Bible, the skill of tentmaking is only mentioned once, here in Acts 18. Paul stayed with Aquila and Priscilla and worked with them in their tentmaking trade.

By New Testament times the Israelites had settled in towns and cities. They no longer lived a nomadic lifestyle, moving their tents from place to place. However, traders and travelers still used these tents, and some Near Eastern desert peoples still lived in them. Indeed, some desert peoples still live in tents today.

Tents of the time were made of strong cloth woven of goat hair. Lengths of the cloth were sewn together to form tents that were sometimes round and sloping, sometimes oblong. Poles held the tent up, along with ropes that were stretched to stakes, which were driven into the ground to hold the poles and the cloth firmly in place. Mats of papyrus or more goat hair formed side curtains and interior walls to divide the inhabitants from each other or from their animals.

Paul was originally from Tarsus, a major city of Cilicia, a province known for its production of superior cloth made of goat hair. Jewish parents took seriously the responsibility of teaching their sons a trade, and Paul’s parents were no exception. Paul learned his trade and used it at times to support himself during his years of ministry.

As a tentmaker, Paul’s skill may have been used in making things other than tents themselves. In the settled culture of his day, the market for tents was small. He may have instead produced leather products or clothing.

We usually think of Paul in terms of his great missionary adventures. Seldom do we think of him in terms of a trade that involved working not with his quick and able mind so much as with his hands. More than anything, Paul’s work reveals to us the sacred nature of all work, whether esteemed or not by our culture. All work is valuable and worthwhile in God’s sight, and all work is worth doing “with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. . . . It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Colossians 3:23 – 24).