colors Summary and Overview

The terms relative to color, occurring in the Bible, may be arranged in two classes, the first including those applied to the description of natural objects, the second those artificial mixtures which were employed in dyeing or painting. The purple and the blue were derived from a small shellfish found in the Mediterranean, and were very costly, and hence they were the royal colors. Red, both scarlet and crimson, was derived from an insect resembling the cochineal. The natural colors noticed in the Bible are white, black, red, yellow and green. The only fundamental color of which the Hebrews appear to have had a clear conception was red; and even this is not very often noticed.

COL'ORS . Gen 37:3. The art of coloring cloth seems to have attained to great perfection among the Jews, though it did not originate with them, but with their idolatrous neighbors, the Phoenicians and Egyptians, the former supplying the dyes, the latter the mode of applying them. Four artificial colors are spoken of in the Bible. 1. Purple, which was derived from a shell-fish native to the Mediterranean Sea. The coloring-matter was found in a small vessel in the fish, and the rest of the fish was useless. Purple was the royal and noble color, indicative of wealth and station. Jud 8:26; Esth 8:15; Luke 16:19; Rev 17:4. 1. Blue, produced from a similar source, used in the same way, and for the same purposes. Ex 25:4; Esth 1:6. 2. Scarlet, and crimson appear to express the same color. "The dye was produced from an insect somewhat resembling the cochineal, which is found in considerable quantities in Armenia and other Eastern countries" -Smith. The three colors above mentioned, together with white, were employed in the tabernacle curtains and in the vestments of the priests. 3. Vermilion was used in fresco-painting, Eze 23:14, for coloring the idols themselves, and for decorating the walls; and beams of houses. Jer 22:14. The natural colors noticed in the Bible are white, black, red, yellow, and green, yet only three colors are sharply defined, white, black, and red. To show the vagueness of the use of the others, the tint green (translated "yellow" in the A.V.) is applied in the Hebrew to gold, Ps 68:13, and to the leprous spot. Lev 13:49.