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Bible Dictionaries
Colours
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or 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 Isaiah 1:18 , of the teeth described as milk-white ( Genesis 49:12 ), and of horses ( Zechariah 1:8; Zechariah 6:3; Zechariah 6:6 ); also of wool ( Revelation 1:14 ) the prevailing colour of the Palestinian sheep being white (see Song of Solomon 4:2; Song of Solomon 6:6 ) and of garments ( Ecclesiastes 9:8 , Mark 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 ( Genesis 31:10 , Zechariah 6:3; Zechariah 6:6; Zechariah 6:1-15 below). Green is not a colour adjective (in Esther 1:6 read as RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ), but a noun signifying green plants and herbs, as e.g. in Genesis 1:30 and Mark 6:39 . A kindred word rendered greenish ( Leviticus 13:49; Leviticus 14:37 ) is probably a greenish yellow , since it is also used in Psalms 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 ( Song of Solomon 5:11 ‘black as a raven’), of horses ( Zechariah 6:2; Zechariah 6:6 , Revelation 6:5 ), and of ink ( 2 Corinthians 3:3 ). In Song of Solomon 1:5 the same Heb. word signifies dark-complexioned (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘black’). Laban’s black sheep ( Genesis 30:32 ff. RV [Note: Revised Version.] ) were probably dark brown (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] brown ).
3. Red is the colour of blood ( 2 Kings 3:22 ), and of grape juice ( Isaiah 63:2 ). The same word is used of the reddish-brown colour of the ‘red heifer’ of Numbers 19:1-22 , and of the chestnut horse of Zechariah’s vision ( Numbers 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 Zechariah 6:3 EV [Note: English Version.] ‘bay’ should prob. be ‘strong,’ and in Zechariah 6:7 [by a slight change of text] perh. ‘red’) horse, is not clear. ‘Red’ is used also of the sky ( Matthew 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 ( 2 Samuel 1:24 , Proverbs 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 ( Jeremiah 22:14 , Ezekiel 23:14 ).
5. Associated with scarlet in the Priests’ Code of the Pentateuch are found two colours, ’argâmân rendered purple , and tÄ•khçleth 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 Esther 1:6; Esther 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 PhÅ“nician coast. Hence Tyre became the chief seat of the manufacture of the purple cloth for which PhÅ“nicia was famous throughout the ancient world (cf. Ezekiel 27:7; Ezekiel 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 ( Mark 15:17 , John 19:2 ).
In the Priests’ Code, as has been noted, from Exodus 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. Exodus 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 ’ ( Genesis 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 ( Exodus 26:14 ) dyes were known as early as the Exodus time (cf. Judges 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,’ Judges 10:1 ), and others.
A. R. S. Kennedy.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Colours'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/c/colours.html. 1909.
