Blue, Purple, & Scarlet

Reading:   Exodus 35

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Symbolism abounds in colors (ie. white = purity, cleanliness, etc., black = death, sin, etc.).  There are many references to colors in The Bible and one would be hard pressed not to question what specific references might mean.  In chapter thirty-five of Exodus, there are several verses that note a specific combination of colors - blue, purple, and scarlet.  The more I came across the combination, the more I found my curiosity peaked as to the symbolism.  Here is one example...

EXODUS 35:6

6 And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, 

There are four other references to the combination of blue, purple and scarlet in chapter thirty-five and twenty-six references to the combination in the Old Testament.  Why is it significant?  Am I projecting an enigma that doesn't exist or is there something to it?  I couldn't find any information on the color combination specifically but I did find a plethora of sites that defined color meaning.  I'm not going to list all the meanings, there are copious amounts, but here are the most prominent in regards to the Bible:

BLUE   =   Heaven, Holy Spirit
PURPLE   =   Royalty, wealth, majesty
SCARLET   =   Atonement, sacrifice

Blue is the color of the sky and therefore it is easy to define blue as a memento of heaven; likewise, scarlet is easily equated with blood so atonement and sacrifice can be drawn as simple comparisons.  Purple, however, isn't so easily defined...the reason purple has acquired its station as a color of wealth comes primarily from shellfish - in biblical times, hundreds, if not thousands, of the mollusks were crushed and pressed in order to make a sufficient quantity of purple dye for one garment.  The cost for purple cloth, as you can very well imagine, would have been quite exorbitant and available only to the most wealthy.

So in the book Exodus, The Lord wants Moses to adorn the Tabernacle and dress the attending priests with these three colors.  The Israelites had to produce the materials to create the Tabernacle and priestly garments (a show of sacrifice) and, once complete, the Tabernacle would be a place of the most high order.  A heavenly place, a place of worship, a place of reverence, and, most important, a place of sacrifice and atonement.  These colors were of the highest regard by all and, though I don't think there was any real meaning in the specific combination of blue, purple, scarlet, I do think the desired sacred ambiance could not be achieved without each.

~Kipling