In the parsha/portion of פקודי PiQOODaY Exodus 38:21
we return to the precious materials of the Mishkan/Tabernacle as metaphors of the preciousness of the Divine Presence in our midst.
תולעת שני TOALA’[A]T SHaNeeY, as a combination in Exodus 39:1, is somehow translated by KJV-old JPS as “scarlet” (crimson-dyed wool), by the new JPS as “fine linen” and by ArtScroll , The Jerus. Bible/Koren and The Living Torah as “scarlet wool.” All of these cannot be right.
Both words, separately, are somehow rendered “scarlet” or “crimson.” There are other words in Tanach for wool or fine linen, and neither material is luxurious enough to fit in with the gold and jewels of the Tabernacle, where even the construction braces are pure silver.
Tanach has other words for crimson. תולעת TOALA’[A]T means “worm” (Exodus 16:20). Scarlet, and especially crimson dye IS associated with a worm. But a worm has not yet been found to produce wool or fine linen. The deep red material famously produced by worms, and material luxurious enough for the tabernacle is SILK. Edenically, scarlet can be spun by ולעתת (S)OALA’[A]T , but the better fit is with SILK from the essential worm: ולעת TOAL[A]h. Older words for SILK are even better traced from ולעתת (S)OALA’[A]T , like Old English siolic .
But SILK in antiquity was only made in China. Could SILK be obtained by Israelites in the wilderness? Yes, there’s a reason why the long trade route from Egypt to China was called the “SILK ROAD.” The Israelites had expensive fineries thrown at them to urge them to leave Egypt. Giving the slaves reperations for long years of slavery might allow their powerful God to forgive and spare them. The slaves also had much jewelry that washed ashore from the drowned Egyptian cavalry. They could buy SILK and other exotic luxuries from caravans of merchants from the SILK Road. This camelback shopping mall is first documented in Genesis 37:25.
This is also how the Mishkan/Tabernacle-builders got waterproof sealskins from the Persian Gulf, the תחש TahK[H]ahSH or (S)ahK[H]ahSH – a Russian seal word seen at the “SEECATCH” entry.
שני SHaNeey remains a problem. סין $eeYN in Isaiah 49:12 is said to mean “China.” Perhaps שני can be better understood as meaning like the sound-alike סיני $eeNeeY, Chinese? Several ס Sin words were spelled with a ש Shin in their earlier, Biblical appearance. Examples: םטה/שטה, םער/ שער, סרף/שרף.
In Klallam, the extinct Native American language of my birthplace (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) the non-borrowed word for Chinese person is somehow čani (much like סיני $eeNeeY, Chinese).
Archeology shows that the Pharaohs had silk 1000 years B.C.E. The commoners had access to this royal luxury only several hundred years later.
So תולעת שני (S)OALA’[GH]aT SHaNeeY in the Tabernacle may have a better, more dyed-in-the-wool (thorough) translation as rare and luxurious Chinese silk rather than common wool dipped in red.
Isaac Mozeson, edenics.org