In the Bible, there are several references to a fuller’s field, indicating that there is a profession of fuller. Fulling is a special wash given to woolen cloth before it is worn. Typically, wool has oils such as lanolin, which must be removed before use. Fulling cleans and thickens the cloth, making it more usable and giving it insulating properties. Today special washing machines and detergents do the job.
Fulling was one of the essential industrial tasks of the ancient world. In Ezekiel chapter 9 and 10, there are 6 references to linen, which was the alternative cloth to wool. In each case, the use of linen is presented as something unusual. Linen was used more extensively farther south, in Egypt. Cotton, indigenous to India, had not been developed and silk was far too expensive to use for ordinary people. Most people wore wool. In the winter it was needed for protection against the cold. Fulling increased the insulating value of wool, as well as making it clean for use. It was an important step in clothmaking.
It is typical of ancient practice to use slaves as machines, more valued for their muscle than for their minds. One Roman writer famously compared the work of four men with one horse and recommended using the men whenever their purchase price was low and feed for horses was high. Fulling was typical slave labor. There might be craftsman-slaves, but they did not constitute more than a small slave aristocracy. Fulling slaves were much more typical of how slaves were treated in ancient times. Fulling proceeded in the following way. The woolen cloth was placed in a trough, and stale urine (urine in ancient times was used as a cleaning agent) was poured into the trough until it covered the cloth. Several slaves got into the trough and began marching in place. They marched all day long in place in the trough, with the stench of urine in their nostrils. Occasionally, a whip was used to encourage their efforts. At the end of the day, they received a ration of bread. This was repeated every day (including Sundays) until they died and were replaced with other unfortunates, purchased in a Roman slave market.
No one should need to be told that this is no way to treat other humans, and yet this was common in the ancient world. Ancient paganism didn’t care about the poor and unfortunate. The gods had given them into the hands of the victorious armies of Rome (or Greece or another ‘glorious’ conqueror), and the losers suffered their fate. When you read history, remember that you are reading about the upper crust of society: kings, rulers, priests and generals. This is what life was really like at the bottom of society. No one cared, because the ancient religions made no mention of it. Mention of it was, of course, a feature of Judaism, but its priests cared more for their sacramental roles. The prophets were sent to protest this situation but were mostly exiled or imprisoned. No one in power listened to them. The people running the society did not care about the ‘little people’, and they did not want to care about them.
Christianity changed all of that. Jesus said,
“…the last shall be first…” (Matthew 19:30, KJV)
which was a shocking sentiment in the ancient world. God favored WHO? The fulling slave?
By Medieval times, fulling mills had replaced slaves. They were powered by water and they were common throughout the Medieval world. The Medieval industrial revolution replaced human power with wind, water and tidal power. The degrading spectacle of men marching in place in a trough of urine had ended. It was part of a larger drive by Medieval Christians to improve the lot of the poor and powerless.
The way history is written, only the top of society is mentioned. There is little about the bottom of society, yet these are the people God loves. We read about the glory of conquest or of a splendid palace. We never read about the losers: the slaves sold in a market or the women forced into sexual servitude. The young Christian should not let the way history is written blind him to the reality of injustice and inhumanity. God is just. When you read a history, remember these words:
“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:24, KJV)
Once you understand what the rich and powerful were doing to the poor and weak in ancient society, those words of Lord Jesus make perfect sense. History might gloss over the fate of the fulling slave, but you should remember him. The ancient slave, like the emperor and the mighty empire he ruled, is dust, gone forever. We, like them, all have one fate. We will all be judged by Lord Jesus. Let us not be found wanting when He weighs up our deeds.
