Colours

VIEW:49 DATA:01-04-2020

COLOURS.—The colours named in OT and NT, as in other ancient literatures, are few in number, and of these several are used with considerable latitude.
1. White as the colour of snow in Isa_1:18, of the teeth described as milk-white (Gen_49:12), and of horses (Zec_1:8; Zec_6:3; Zec_6:6); also of wool (Rev_1:14)—the prevailing colour of the Palestinian sheep being white (see Son_4:2; Son_6:6)—and of garments (Ecc_9:8, Mar_9:3). Gray (and grey) occurs only in the expression ‘gray hairs,’ while grisled (lit. ‘grey,’ from French gris) apparently means black with white spots (Gen_31:10, Zec_6:3; Zec_6:6; Zec_6:1-15 below). Green is not a colour adjective (in Est_1:6 read as RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ), but a noun signifying green plants and herbs, as e.g. in Gen_1:30 and Mar_6:39. A kindred word rendered greenish (Lev_13:49; Lev_14:37) is probably a greenish yellow, since it is also used in Psa_68:13 of ‘yellow gold.’
2. The darker colours likewise merge into each other, black and brown, for example, not being clearly distinguished. Black is the colour of hair (Son_5:11 ‘black as a raven’), of horses (Zec_6:2; Zec_6:6, Rev_6:5), and of ink (2Co_3:3). In Son_1:5 the same Heb. word signifies dark-complexioned (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘black’). Laban’s black sheep (Gen_30:32 ff. RV [Note: Revised Version.] ) were probably dark brown (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] brown).
3. Red is the colour of blood (2Ki_3:22), and of grape juice (Isa_63:2). The same word is used of the reddish-brown colour of the ‘red heifer’ of Num_19:1-22, and of the chestnut horse of Zechariah’s vision (Num_1:8, AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘red’), although the precise colour distinction between the latter and his companion, the sorrel (AVm [Note: Authorized Version margin.] bay; in Zec_6:3 EV [Note: English Version.] ‘bay’ should prob. be ‘strong,’ and in Zec_6:7 [by a slight change of text] perh. ‘red’) horse, is not clear. ‘Red’ is used also of the sky (Mat_16:2 f.—lit. ‘of the colour of fire’).
4. Crimson and scarlet are shades of the same colour, and were both derived from the same insect, the coccus ilicis or cochineal, which ‘attaches itself to the leaves and twigs of the quercus coccifera’ (Post), and is termed in Hebrew ‘the scarlet worm.’ Scarlet-coloured garments were regarded as a mark of distinction and prosperity (2Sa_1:24, Pro_31:21), but in OT scarlet is most frequently mentioned as one of the four liturgical, or, as we should say, ecclesiastical colours (see below). Vermilion is mentioned as a pigment (Jer_22:14, Eze_23:14).
5. Associated with scarlet in the Priests’ Code of the Pentateuch are found two colours, ’argâmân rendered purple, and tĕkhçleth rendered blue. In reality these are two shades of purple, the red tone predominating in the former, the blue tone in the latter. Since blue predominates in our modern purple, it would be well to drop the cumbrous terms red-purple or purple-red, and blue-purple or purple-blue, in favour of the simpler names purple and violet, as in the margin of Est_1:6; Est_8:15 (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ). Both shades were obtained by the use, as a dye, of a colourless fluid secreted by the gland of a shell-fish, the murex trunculus, which was found in great quantities on the Phœnician coast. Hence Tyre became the chief seat of the manufacture of the purple cloth for which Phœnicia was famous throughout the ancient world (cf. Eze_27:7; Eze_27:16). Purple raiment is repeatedly mentioned in Scripture as worn by kings and nobles. It was as ‘King of the Jews’ that our Lord was derisively robed in purple (Mar_15:17, Joh_19:2).
In the Priests’ Code, as has been noted, from Exo_25:1-40 onwards, ‘violet’ (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘blue’), ‘purple,’ and ‘scarlet’ are used—and always in this order—to denote the fine linen thread, spun from yarn that had been dyed these colours (see esp. Exo_35:25), which, with the natural white thread, was employed in weaving the rich material for the various hangings of the Tabernacle, and for certain parts of the priests’ dress.
6. Jacob’s small cattle, ‘ring-straked, speckled, and spotted’ (Gen_30:39 etc.), showed white mixed with black or brown in the case of the sheep, and black mixed with white in the case of the goats. For Joseph’s ‘coat of many colours’ see Dress, 2 (d).
It may be added that the art of dyeing was one in which the Jews of later times excelled. According to tradition, as we have just seen, purple and scarlet—also red (Exo_26:14)—dyes were known as early as the Exodus time (cf. Jdg_5:30 RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ). In NT times, as may be seen from the Mishna, dyeing was a flourishing branch of native industry. The true Tyrian purple was always a monopoly, and consequently imported; but many less costly dyes were known, such as the cochineal insect for scarlet, dyer’s woad (isatis) for true blue, madder (Heb. pûah, cf. Tola ben-Puah, i.e. ‘Cochineal, son of Madder,’ Jdg_10:1), and others.
A. R. S. Kennedy.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

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