A sister with a history of work in the garment industry and a brother were talking about making linen from the flax plant.
Flax occurs 10 times in the Bible (9 in the Old Covenant and 1 in the New Covenant).
Flax is first mentioned in Exodus when the hail damaged the barley and flax plants.
Exo 9: v27. And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time: Yahweh is righteous, and I and my people [are] wicked.
V28. Intreat Yahweh (for [it is] enough) that there be no [more] mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer
V29. And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto Yahweh; [and] the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth [is] Yahweh's.
V30. But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear Yahweh.
V31. And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley [was] in the ear (young tender plant), and the flax [was] bolled (bud stage/young plant).
V32. But the wheat and the rye were not smitten: for they [were] not grown up (through the soil)
V33. And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands unto Yahweh: and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth.
Some use these scriptures as proof that barley is Yahweh’s clock . It's just the opposite Yahweh's clock is the motion of the earth around the sun once a year and around it’s axis (which is tilted) once a day that drives the seasons. If you search for the first new moon after the spring equinox the Passover will always be at the correct time. In Israel there are three harvests. The first is the least expensive barley harvest. The second wheat harvest later is a more expensive. The final most expensive end harvest of everything else at end the growing season.
Our Creator (the Yahweh of the Old Covenant) gave Moses instructions regarding the Wave Sheaf offering of first fruits.
Lev 23: v9. And Yahweh spake unto Moses, saying,
V10. Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf (handfull) of the firstfruits of your harvest (barley) unto the priest
V11. And he shall wave the sheaf (wave offering) before Yahweh, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.
Our Creator after he was resurrected into a spiritual body offered himself as YahwehShua (the true Wave Sheaf) to the Father at the Father’s Holy of Holies.
Jhn 20: v17. YahwehShua saith unto her, touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father Yahweh, and your Father Yahweh.
Heb 9: v14. How much more shall the blood of Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to Yahweh the Father, purge your conscience (mind) from dead works to serve the living YahwehShua?
V24. For YahwehShua is not entered into the holy places made with hands, [which are] the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of Yahweh the Father for us:
Our Creator also instructed Moses regarding the two wheat wave loaves offering at Pentecost.
Lev 23: v15. And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath (start the count the day after the weekly Sabbath on the first day of the week), from the day ( within the Feast of Unleavened Bread) that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:
V16. Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days (stop the count on the first day of the week); and ye shall offer a new meat (grain) offering unto Yahweh.
V17. Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour (wheat); they shall be baken with leaven; [they are] the firstfruits unto Yahweh.
Exo 34: v22. And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest.
This is symbolic of the disciples getting the Holy Spirit poured out on them at Pentecost as well as the future two witnesses (likely Moses and Elijah first two of the 144,000) and the Saints to ascend to YahwehShua at Seventh Trump in spiritual bodies.
The Old Covenant also mentions a final harvest corresponding to the Feast of Tabernacles.
Exo 34: v22. And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.
This likely corresponds to the future harvest of the Innumerable Multitude at the end of the first hundred years of the Last Great Day. Our Creator follows patterns or plans given to him by the Father. YahwehShua ascended to the Father, 144 thousand Saints will ascend to YahwehShua (at the 7th trumpet prior to Armageddon), perhaps the Innumerable Multitude will ascend to the 144 thousand Saints just prior to the great battle of Gog/Magog.
Rev 20: v7. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
V8. And shall go out to deceive the nations (people who previously knew YahwehZidkenu for a 1000 years) which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom [is] as the sand of the sea.
V9. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the Saints (Ezekiel’s Millennial Temple in Jerusalem) about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from the Wrath of Yahweh out of heaven, and devoured them.
Paul confirms that the Feast of Tabernacles is a future event and not part of the Doctrine of Messiah (see Heb 6:2). During the future Millennial Sabbath everyone who is not a Saint at the seventh trumpet will likely have their physical life extended (see article on life and death Dec 19,2020) into the Millennium and learn directly from our Creator (YahwehZidkenu) and be begotten. However, the growth of Messiah cannot occur until the adversary is let out during the first hundred years of the Last Great Day. Overcoming the adversary allows the growth of Messiah in you.
Gal 4: v19. My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until YahwehShua be formed in you.
Everyone who is not one of the 144,000 will have a chance to be in the family or Kingdom as part of the Innumerable Multitude similar to the Levites supporting role of Aaron and his sons.
Our Creator quotes Isaiah42:3 and mentions flax.
Mat 12: v20. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.
What does this mean? Scriptures can give us the clues. Ezekiel saw our Creator with reed and flax.
Ezk 40: v2. In the visions of Yahweh brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, by which [was] as the frame of a city on the south
V3. And he brought me thither, and, behold, [there was] a man, whose appearance [was] like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax (flax can be made in to thin rope to measure long distances) in his hand, and a measuring reed (water reed 6 cubits or 9 feet long to measure shorter distances); and he stood in the gate.
V4. And the man said unto me, Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall shew thee; for to the intent that I might shew [them] unto thee [art] thou brought hither: declare all that thou seest (future Millennial Temple) to the house of Israel.
Our Creator is sizing us up now (with reed and flax so to speak) to be in the future spiritual temple as one of the 144,000.
Paul says we need to examine ourselves (2Co 13: v4). For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of Yahweh the Father. For we also are weak (now in this flesh body or perhaps our measuring tool reed and flax is weak) in him, but we shall live with him by the power of YahwehShua toward you.
V5. Examine yourselves (get out your reed and flax measuring rope so to speak/the Word/the Bible), whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that YahwehShua is in you, except ye be reprobates?
Back to the bruised reed and the smoking flax. Samson gives a clue.
Jdg 15: v12. And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves.
V13. And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords (probably flax rope) , and brought him up from the rock.
V14. [And] when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of Yahweh came mightily upon him, and the cords that [were] upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire (smoking flax /weakening the flax rope), and his bands loosed from off his hands
V15. And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.
The smoking flax can also be a dim barely burning wick of a candle. Isa 42: v1. Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, [in whom] my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
V2. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
V3. A bruised reed (weak measuring reed) shall he not break, and the smoking flax (dim light/weak flax measuring rope) shall he not quench (put out) he shall bring forth judgment unto truth
Isa 42: v4. He shall not fail !
Our Creator through Paul tells us to examine or measure ourselves. Though our human measuring tools (bruised reed and smoking flax) are weak in the flesh his tools are perfect and someday the Saints will be like him with perfect measuring tools. If we quit and fail to repent daily and overcome then he will be sure to quench or put out our light.
Is your reed bent over (weak)? Is your flax on fire smoking (weak)? Is YahwehShua to weak to fix you ? Yahweh forbid!
Straighten up Soldier (your reed)! Call the only Spirtual Fireman to put the flax fire out!
HalleluYahwehShua