Purple: The Importance of Colours in the Bible

Purple is a secondary colour made by combining red and blue. The word was first used in English in the year 975 AD, although, it was spelt purpul. Many shades get confused as purple, for example, violet and lilac, however, purple has its place on the traditional colour wheel. The confusion arises from the term Tyrian purple, which ranged from crimson to bluish purple. To make things more confusing, each country tends to have a different definition of purple, resulting in a variety of shades. In France, purple is described as “a dark red, inclined toward violet” and in German Purpurrot, meaning “purple-red”. 
 
Confusion aside, it is generally agreed that the colour purple is the colour of kings, nobles, priests and magistrates. This idea formed as early as 950 BC and it is believed the kings of Ptolemaic Egypt wore purple as did Alexander the Great. The Roman custom of wearing purple togas may have stemmed from this or may have been introduced by the Etruscans. An Etruscan tomb painting from the 4th century BC shows a nobleman wearing deep purple.
 
The Byzantine Empire continued to use purple as the imperial colour. In Western Europe, Charles the Great, also known as Charlemagne, was buried in a purple shroud. After the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire, however, the colour lost its imperial status and was replaced with scarlet.
 
Throughout the medieval and Renaissance eras, purple was phased out of royal clothing and cardinals were no longer allowed to wear the colour on the orders of Pope Paul II. On the other hand, purple robes became the standard among students of divinity. 
 
The colour purple regained its popularity during the 18thand 19thcenturies. Paintings of Catherine the Great show her wearing a light purple dress, although, some may call this mauve. Queen Victoria wore a gown of a similar colour to the Royal Exhibition of 1862, which encouraged factories to start producing purple dyes, making them readily available to everyone and not just royalty. 
 
Purple became a popular choice of colour amongst Pre-Raphaelite artists and it was said to be the favourite colour of the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt. George VI wore purple for his official portrait and his daughter, Elizabeth II, used the colour on the invitations to her coronation.

​At the beginning of the 20thcentury, the Suffragettes adopted the colour purple along with white and green as the colours of women’s liberation. On a less positive note, in Nazi concentration camps, non-conformist religious groups were required to wear a purple triangle.
 
Purple is less naturally occurring than other colours, however, there are a few animals that have been described as purple. These include purple frogs, purple queenfish, purple sea urchins, purple herons, purple finches, purple honeycreepers and one of the colours of the imperial amazon parrot. The latter is the national bird of Dominica and appears on their flag, making it the only flag to contain the colour purple. Purple plants include hydrangeas, pansies, copper beech trees, irises, alfalfa, alpine asters, wisteria and lavender.

There are several “Purple Mountains” around the world, some of which are so named due to the colour of the rock and others because of the shade the clouds form at dawn and dusk. These mountains can be found in Nanjing (China), Ireland, Wyoming, Alaska, Oregon, Washington and Colorado. 
Although the colour purple had been phased out of imperial families, the British Royal Family continues to use the colour on ceremonial and special occasions. In Roman Catholic Liturgy, purple symbolises penitence and priests may wear a purple stole when they hear a confession. They also wear a purple stole or chasuble during the periods of Lent and Advent. 
 
In other traditions, purple is associated with vanity and extravagance. This is because it is a colour that easily attracts attention. It is a colour associated with the artificial and unconventional due to the infrequency of its appearance in nature. It was also the first colour to be synthesised. 
 
In the past, purple was a sign of mourning in Britain. The first year after a death, mourners traditionally wore black and in the second year, they wore purple. This may have stopped being common practice after Queen Victoria decided to wear black for the rest of her widowhood. 
 
In China, the colour purple represents awareness, physical and mental wellbeing, strength, and abundance. In some cases, it also symbolises luck. In Japan, it is the colour of wealth and privilege. On the Thai solar calendar, it is associated with Saturday. Grieving widows in Thailand wear purple as a sign of mourning.
 
The colour purple is also significant in the Bible. Those who have read my article about the colour blue will already know that purple is an important colour. It appears roughly thirty times in the book of Exodus when describing the decoration of the tabernacle. The Israelites were instructed to make several curtains “twenty cubits long, of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen.” (Exodus 27:16) I will not regurgitate everything I have already written but these instructions prove that the colour purple has a principal connection with God.
 
Later, in the book of Numbers, the Kohathite tribe are instructed to “remove the ashes from the bronze altar and spread a purple cloth over it” (Numbers 4:13) every time the tabernacle is moved. 
 
As we have also seen when looking at the colour blue, purple appears in the books of Esther and Jeremiah. The garden of the palace of Susa was decorated with blue linen and cords of white and purple. (Esther 1:6) When King Xerxes awarded Mordecai after the death of Haman, Mordecai was dressed in royal garments of blue and a purple robe of fine linen. (Esther 8:15) In Jeremiah, we are told that people had started to dress in blue and purple, believing themselves to be as important as God, however, God put them back in their place.
 
Let’s have a look at some other examples of the colour purple in the Bible. In the book of Judges, we are told that purple garments are the clothing of kings. In the book of Daniel, King Belshazzar announces that whoever interprets the strange writing on the wall will be awarded with purple clothing. 

• Judges 8:26: “The weight of the gold rings he asked for came to seventeen hundred shekels, not counting the ornaments, the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian or the chains that were on their camels’ necks.” 
• Daniel 5:7: The king summoned the enchanters, astrologers and diviners. Then he said to these wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing and tells me what it means will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around his neck, and he will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.”
• Daniel 5:29: Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom.

 
In the epilogue of Proverbs 31, we are told about the wife of a noble character. The chapter tells us she is worth more than rubies and should be honoured. She provides for her husband and looks after her household. She makes sure there is always something for her family to eat but, most importantly for us, “she is clothed in fine linen and purple,” (Proverbs 31:22) a noble, respected colour. 
 
On the other hand, the poem in Lamentations 4 reveals that wearing purple does not equate to godly status. The colour does not protect people from God’s wrath or entitle them to sin without punishment. “Those brought up in royal purple now lie on ash heaps.” (Lamentations 4:5) These self-important people, clothed in royal colours, have become the victims of God’s anger.
 
The most noteworthy use of purple occurs in two of the Gospels, Mark and John. Although purple is a royal colour, it is used negatively in these books. We all know after Jesus was arrested he was crowned with thorns and mocked for being the “King of the Jews.” What is often missed out of this story, however, is the purple robe they also dress him in.

• Mark 15:17: They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him.
• Mark 15:20: And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
• John 19:2: The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe
• John 19:5: When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

Purple was the colour of kings, the colour of important people, however, the Romans used the colour as a way to mock and torment Jesus.
 
Purple is also mentioned in the Gospel of Luke, however, not in relation to Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion. 

• Luke 16:19: There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.

This is the opening line of one of Jesus’ teachings. A beggar named Lazarus died outside the rich man’s home. Later, the rich man died, however, in the afterlife, or Hades as the NIV states, the rich man notices Lazarus has been honoured with a place next to Abraham. When questioning why he did not also receive this honour, the rich man was told, “Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.” (Luke 16:25) This is an example of the colour purple representing extravagance and vanity.
 
There are four more mentions of the colour purple in the Bible. They each indicate someone’s wealth and status, however only one has positive connotations:

• Acts 16:14: One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.
• Revelations 17:4: The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.
• Revelation 18:12: fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble
• Revelation 18:16: Woe! Woe to you, great city,dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet,and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls!

 
Overall, the colour purple is important and symbolic of God. Although bad things happened to some people who wore purple, it is not the colour that was the cause but rather their actions. Purple is a colour that represents royalty, wealth and nobility, but unless we put God first, it does not matter what we wear.
 
As I did for the colour blue, I am finishing this article with a handful of phrases and idioms involving the colour purple. Feel free to add your own.

• Purple prose – pretentious writing style, for example, excessive use of long or unusual words
• Born to the purple– a person who was born into a life of wealth and privilege
• A purple patch – a period of good luck or success
• Purple haze – a drug-induced state
• Wearing purple– an Army officer who on assignment to another service
• Purple squirrel – a job candidate with precisely the right educations, experience and qualifications 
• Purple Heart - an award for a member of the military who has been wounded or killed in service