# Laodicea 160223 ## TL;DR - This passage has nothing to do with physical nakedness or textile clothing ## Background - ## ToDo - ToDo Study - - ToDo Transfer - Clean up links ## Notes 2016.02.23 I thought I had written about this in the past, but I can’t find a note on it.  Maybe I’ll find it in Evernote someday. At some point in the past, it seemed that people in the Bible and especially today, rely on clothing to “protect” themselves instead of relying on God.  Now, I am NOT talking about protection from environmental conditions.  I am referring to the need to cover up when fearful.  There are many examples in the OT of this behavior.  The first such one is Genesis 3.7.  This behavior demonstrates a lack of faith in God!  I think a case could be built that when we show a lack of faith it is sin and we need to repent.  I can think of many examples in the OT where God / His prophets criticized the hearers for their lack of faith.  There are also lots of examples where Jesus criticized His disciples for their lack of faith.  I should do a study of faith to evaluate the connection between lack of faith and sin. That whole paragraph above was off the topic.  I originally planned to write about Laodicea as discussed in **Revelation 3.14-22**. According to the [Holman Bible Dictionary](http://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/hbd/view.cgi?n=3759), they were known for their wealth, textile industry and eye-salve. > Laodicea was well known in the ancient world for its wealth. The extent of its wealth is illustrated by the fact that Laodicea was rebuilt without the financial help of Rome after the disastrous earthquake of A.D. 60. Laodicea earned its wealth in the textile industry in the production of black wool and in the banking industry. Laodicea was also known for its medical school which concocted a spice nard for the treatment of ears and an eyesalve. The major weakness of Laodicea was its lack of a water supply. This need was met by bringing water six miles north from Denizli through a system of stone pipes (another sign of Laodicea's wealth). There are lots of observations and conclusions that can be made about the Revelation passage in comparison to what we know about Laodicea.  However, for this journal entry, I want to focus on the naked / white clothes part. Since the Laodiceans were known for their black wool textiles, it is very doubtful they would have been running around with their genitals showing.  Doing so would have impacted the textile industry.  However, Jesus made it clear that they were naked.  It is also reasonable to assume Jesus is not getting in the middle of a white / black fashion dispute.  So, it is reasonable to conclude that Jesus was referring to spiritual nakedness and that “white clothes” are not a particular textile item Jesus wants us to wear in heaven. To emphasize the points made above, Jesus said they were poor and needed to buy gold and they were blind and needed salve to anoint their eyes.  The Laodiceans were wealthy.  So Jesus wasn’t talking about earthly mammon.  The Laodiceans had a well respected eye salve.  Again, Jesus wasn’t talking about an earthly eyesalve. See also my notes at: [Revelation 3.17-18](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Nu1QFcqIvDRavhbJFDp0MsuFdXiyqtrdqiDRLzCoMBU/edit#bookmark=id.vm3v2sbba01p) - tl;dr: This passage has nothing to do with physical nakedness or textile clothing. 777 - Lord, please correct all that I got wrong and add to all the things I missed.