The Parable of the Cotton Gin

by Ken Raggio

When Eli Whitney invented the Cotton Gin in 1793, he changed the world. Before his time, cotton cloth was expensive and difficult to make. Most clothing was derived from the wool of lamb. Only the wealthy could afford cool, comfortable cotton. Europeans called cotton the "vegetable wool." A cotton plant flowers into a "snowball" called a BOLL at maturity. These soft, white fibers are attached to many small seeds which must be removed before the fibers can be spun into yarn or thread.

A Cleaning Process

After harvesting, the boll of cotton is filled with seeds, hulls, and plant trash. Working by hand, it took a man an entire day to pick seeds and trash out of ONE POUND of cotton. But Whitney's cotton engine, or "gin," changed that. Now, modern power gins clean THOUSANDS of pounds of cotton in a day.

The Process of Separation

Cotton is placed in the top, and passes a cylinder with metal teeth and brushes which rotate inside narrow slots. The slots are too narrow for seeds and trash to pass through, so they fall out. Only the valuable fibers continue into another compartment.

A Profitable Process

One year before the cotton gin came along, the United States produced only 140,000 pounds of cotton. In only eight years, that increased to 35 MILLION pounds annually.

Value Increased Universally

As a result, cotton is now the world's most common material for clothing and other fabrics, and many millions of people earn their living in cotton-related industries.

A Biblical Perspective

In Bible times, cotton was a rare commodity. Most people only knew of cotton when they saw fine linens. The word "cotton" is nowhere in the Bible. However, there is a strange, single occurrence of the Hebrew word "karpac," meaning "fine vegetable wool" in the Book of Esther.

Awnings in the Palace

King Ahasuerus' palace in Shushan had white, green and blue hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings. The Hebrew for 'white' was 'bleached'. 'Blue' was derived from 'mussel shell'. And the 'green' was 'vegetable wool' or COTTON.

Cotton for Fine Linens

Actually, there are many references to fine linens, especially in the books of Exodus and Leviticus. Two prominent occurrences of linen were in the interior of the Tabernacle, and in the Priests' clothing.

Sacred Adornment

In both cases, the linen was sacred adornment. It gave holy beauty to the Tabernacle and the Ministry. Both are types of the New Testament church.

The Church In Linen

At the Great Marriage of the Lamb (Jesus) and His Bride (Saints of all the ages), she shall be "arrayed in fine linen, clean and white; for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints" (Revelation 19:8).

Linen or Filthy Rags?

No MAN is righteous. Righteousness means "right doing." The little bit of right we sometimes do is spoiled by the many things that we do wrong! "Our righteousness is as filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6). Only God can produce righteousness in us. James taught that men's emotions do not produce the righteousness of God.

Nothing but God's Process Produces Righteousness

Abraham was an example that subjecting oneself to God's process culminates in righteousness. "Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness" (James 2:23).

Righteousness by Faith?

What did Abraham actually do? He surrendered himself to God's "ginning." That is obedience; submission. Allowing God to rip and tear away his own ambitions and desires, and bearing only the fruit God wants to see.

You and I in the Gin

Righteousness is what results after I have been through God's complete process. Like the Gin, He does two primary things. First, He separates out everything that is impertinent in our lives. Then, He forces the things that are acceptable to the forefront.

A Violent Process

The metal teeth in Eli Whitney's invention ripped and tore at the raw mixture of cotton and trash. Everything about the procedure is designed to eliminate worthless things that trash our lives. Paul called it CHASTENING. "Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth" (Hebrews 12:6). And, "no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of RIGHTEOUSNESS" (verse 11). God's cotton gin is painful to our human nature. But it yields a peaceable fruit! Righteousness!

Don't Think It Is Strange

Peter said, "Think it NOT STRANGE concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some STRANGE THING happened unto you" (1 Peter 4:12).

Then and Now the Same

Ezekiel told Israel that God would judge them for their sins. They would be scattered and lost. But he also emphasized that God would have "a REMNANT." The remnant would compensate for all that was lost. "And they shall comfort you, when ye shall see their ways and their doings: and ye shall know that I HAVE NOT DONE WITHOUT CAUSE ALL THAT I HAVE DONE IN IT, saith the Lord God." Ezekiel 14:22,23).When you finally see how beautiful the linen is that He has made, you will understand WHY God had to put YOU through the Gin.


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SEE ALSO: THE IMPORTANCE OF DELAYED GRATIFICATION

SEE ALSO: THE FATHER SPIRIT -The Glory of the Father is in the Son

THANKS!
And God bless you!
Ken Raggio