Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

INK

A liquid like water or oil made of the soot of burnt resin, pitch, or wood and mixed with gum for use in writing. Black was the most common color of ink in the biblical world, though other known colors were red (made with red ochre or iron oxide), yellow (most likely from iron or yellow ochre), purple (from murex shells) and even silver and gold. The ingredients were dried into cakes and then mixed with water in ink wells and applied with a reed brush. The “pens” and inkwells are described as part of a combination of writing tools kept in a case of wood, horn, ivory, or metal and worn at the scribes’ girdle (Ezek. 9:2).

Because of its perishable nature, ink is rarely found in archaeological contexts, and so the textual evidence of these early periods is biased toward more permanent remains of inscribed stone or clay. The only specific biblical reference cites ink written on a scroll (Jer. 36:18), but in the few archaeological contexts available, ink is also found on the outer sides of clay vessels and on ostraca, on the walls of tombs and caves, on plaster-covered stone and on papyrus. It is used in projects of both small and monumental scales.

A characteristic of ink is its mutability — it is blotted out (Exod. 32:33; Ps. 69:28[MT 29]) and washed off (Num. 5:23). Paul compares ink-written messages to the permanence of the Holy Spirit’s message on the human heart (2 Cor. 3:3).

Katharine A. Mackay

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

INK

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)