Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

SCARLET, CRIMSON

Dyes obtained from the shield louse (Kermococcus vermilio), which is found on the kermes oak. Harvesters collect the female insect and spray it with an acid solution to kill it. The insects are dried, then dissolved in water to produce a colorfast red dye. Lat. kermes, from which English carmine and crimson are derived, means “worm,” as does Heb. tôlāʿ, “scarlet.”

Scarlet was expensive to produce, since 70 thousand insects were needed to produce one pound of dye. It was less costly than purple, but still marked the wearer as a person of wealth or privilege (2 Sam. 1:24; Jer. 4:30; Rev. 18:16). Scarlet usually refers to the dyed thread or cloth, used to mark Tamar’s firstborn child (Gen. 38:28-30) and Rahab’s house (Josh. 2:18) or used in ritual cleansings (Lev. 14:4, 6; Num. 19:6). Artisans used scarlet threads, along with blue and purple, to make the hangings of the tabernacle (Exod 25:4; 26:1) and Aaron’s vestments (28:5) and in the veil of Solomon’s temple (2 Chr. 3:14).

Isa. 1:18 speaks of sin as being like scarlet and crimson; this metaphor refers to the colorfast nature of dyed fabric, which God alone can transform to white.

Bibliography. A. Brenner, Colour Terms in the Old Testament. JSOTSup 21 (Sheffield, 1982), 143-45; F. Brunello, The Art of Dyeing in the History of Mankind (Vincenza, 1973).

Mary Petrina Boyd

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

SCARLET, CRIMSON

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)