"The terms relative to colour, occurring in the Bible, may be arranged in two classes, the first including those descriptive of natural objects, the second the artificial mixtures employed in dyeing and painting. ...[A]n exact terminology of colours is of modern growth. Ancient peoples, even so artistic a nation as the Greeks, used the names of colours very vaguely. The had not the artistic faculty at all strongly developed, and their names for colours, especially those of the first class, cannot be interpreted in any hard and fast manner. (1) The natural colours noticed in the Bible are , black, red, and . ...green is apparently applied more to the freshness and beauty of vegetation than to... colour; while yellow (used very seldom) is difficult to discriminate from some shade of green. White is prominent, especially as representing light, which deeply impressed the Heb. mind... by its divine symbolism, and its profound moral connotation. Black is prominent also as the physical and moral opposite of white... Red was also vividly appreciated by the Hebrew, as the colour of blood (the sacred principle of life), of wine, and of many natural objects, especially perhaps the red soil and red cliffs... (2) Artificial colours. ...there is no evidence ...that the Hebrews of the period of the Exodus were themselves acquainted with the art of dyeing. They were probably indebted ...to the Egyptians and the ns, to the latter for the dyes and to the former for the processes. The principal dyes were purples, light and dark... and crimson... was introduced at a late period. (a) '... well known and valued over the whole ancient world, was obtained from the secretion of a... shell-fish, the Murex trunculus of Linnaeus... probably a lighter shade, in which red predominated over blue; while the darker purple, a violet was produced from another species of shell-fish. ...Robes of purple were the characteristic decoration in antiquity of kings... the highest officers, civil and religious ...the wealthy and luxurious ...(b) ' This dye was procured from a species of shell-fish found on the coast of Phoenicia, and called by modern naturalists Helix lanthina. ...it was emblematic of ...the deep, dark hue of the Eastern sky. (c) Scarlet ('...) [T]he worm or grub whence the dye was procured... was a insect... found in considerable quantities in Armenia, Palestine, and other Eastern countries... ) The tint produced was crimson rather than scarlet. The only natural object to which it is applied in Scripture is the lips... It was the characteristic colour of the soldier's dress, especially in the Roman armies. (d) Vermilion... was a pigment of mineral extraction used in fresco paintings... or for decorating the walls and beams of houses... Vermilion was a favourite colour among the Assyrians... Symbolical and mystical meanings of colours. ...White is associated with moral purity and innocence ...with joy, festival, and victory ...Black is the symbol of evil, misery, and death ...Red and also scarlet are connected ...with war and bloodshed ...A deeper significance, more appropriate to the special divine purpose ...particularly in the three characteristic colours of the tabernacle hangings, the cloths of service, and the vestments of the high-priest. Blue, purple, and scarlet frequently occur; and as purple is produced by the mixing of the other two, it has been remarkably suggested by some writers that, as blue is the colour of the sky, and scarlet of human life or blood (note ...the etymological connexion between ādām, "man," and ādâm, "to be red"), so the combination of the two is intended to suggest the Incarnation. ...[I]n the theophanies of Ezk.8.2, Rev.4.3, two different tints are alluded to (a bright white and a glowing red), which have been thought to suggest the two aspects of God's moral nature, light and fire, mercy and justice; or love in its two aspects of pardon and correction. ...[T]he colours of the Bible convey in many cases more than the literal meaning..."