SPECIAL TOPIC: ANE SACRED COLORS

It is difficult to be precise about the exact shades of colors in the ANE. Terminology changed from language to language and period to period. In Exod. 25:4, several special colors are mentioned to decorate the tabernacle and High Priest's clothing.

1. "blue" – BDB 1067, KB 1732-3, denotes a blue, violet, or purple color. This color comes from mollusks and was developed by the Phoenicians.

2. "purple" – BDB 71, KB 84, denotes a reddish purple. It is possibly from an Akkadian root.

3. "scarlet" – BDB 1040, KB 1603, the etymology and color are uncertain, possibly crimson. The root seems to mean "dyed," "plunged" from a certain insect (IDB, p. 233), possibly also from Phoenicia