ארגמן, Exodus xxv, 4, &c; ϖορφύρα, Mark xv, 17, 20; Luke xvi,
19; John xix, 2, 5; Rev. xvii, 4; xviii, 12, 16. This is supposed to be
the very precious colour extracted from the _purpura_ or _murex_, a
species of shell fish; and the same with the famous Tyrian dye, so
costly, and so much celebrated in antiquity. The purple dye is called in
1 Macc. iv, 23, “purple of the sea,” or sea purple; it being the blood
or juice of a turbinated shell fish, which the Jews call חלזון. (See
_Scarlet_.) Among the blessings pronounced by Moses upon the tribes of
Israel, those of Zebulun and Issachar are, “They shall suck of the
abundance of the seas, and of the treasures hid in the sand,” Deut.
xxxiii, 19. Jonathan Ben Uzziel explains the latter clause thus: “From
the sand are produced looking glasses, and glass in general; the
treasures, the method of finding and working which, was revealed to
these tribes.” Several ancient writers inform us, that there were havens
in the coasts of the Zebulunites, in which the sand proper for making
glass was found. The words of Tacitus are remarkable: “_Et Belus amnis
Judaico mari illabitur, circa ejus os lectæ arenæ admixto nitro in
vitrum excoquuntur_.” “The river Belus falls into the Jewish sea, about
whose mouth those sands mixed with nitre are collected, out of which
glass is formed.” But it seems much more natural to explain “the
treasures hid in the sand,” of those highly valuable _murices_ and
_purpuræ_ which were found on the sea coast, near the country of Zebulun
and Issachar, and of which those tribes partook in common with their
Heathen neighbours of Tyre, who rendered the curious dyes made from
those shell fish so famous among the Romans by the names of _Sarranum
ostrum_, _Tyrii colores_. In reference to the purple vestment, Luke xvi,
19, it may be observed that this was not appropriately a royal robe. In
the earlier times it was the dress of any of high rank. Thus all the
courtiers were styled by the historians _purpurati_. This colour is more
properly crimson than purple; for the LXX., Josephus, and Philo,
constantly use ϖορφύραν to express the Hebrew ארגמן, by which the
Talmudists understood crimson; and that this Hebrew word expressed, not
the Tyrian purple, but that brought to the city from another country,
appears from Ezek. xxvii, 7. The purple robe put on our Saviour, John
xix, 2, 5, is explained by a Roman custom, the dressing of a person in
the robes of state, as the investiture of office. Hence the robe brought
by Herod’s or the Roman soldiers, scoffingly, was as though it had been
the _pictæ vestes_ usually sent by the Roman senate. In Acts xvi, 14,
Lydia is said to be “a seller of purple.” Mr. Harmer styles purple the
most sublime of all earthly colours, having the gaudiness of red, of
which it retains a shade, softened with the gravity of blue.
19; John xix, 2, 5; Rev. xvii, 4; xviii, 12, 16. This is supposed to be
the very precious colour extracted from the _purpura_ or _murex_, a
species of shell fish; and the same with the famous Tyrian dye, so
costly, and so much celebrated in antiquity. The purple dye is called in
1 Macc. iv, 23, “purple of the sea,” or sea purple; it being the blood
or juice of a turbinated shell fish, which the Jews call חלזון. (See
_Scarlet_.) Among the blessings pronounced by Moses upon the tribes of
Israel, those of Zebulun and Issachar are, “They shall suck of the
abundance of the seas, and of the treasures hid in the sand,” Deut.
xxxiii, 19. Jonathan Ben Uzziel explains the latter clause thus: “From
the sand are produced looking glasses, and glass in general; the
treasures, the method of finding and working which, was revealed to
these tribes.” Several ancient writers inform us, that there were havens
in the coasts of the Zebulunites, in which the sand proper for making
glass was found. The words of Tacitus are remarkable: “_Et Belus amnis
Judaico mari illabitur, circa ejus os lectæ arenæ admixto nitro in
vitrum excoquuntur_.” “The river Belus falls into the Jewish sea, about
whose mouth those sands mixed with nitre are collected, out of which
glass is formed.” But it seems much more natural to explain “the
treasures hid in the sand,” of those highly valuable _murices_ and
_purpuræ_ which were found on the sea coast, near the country of Zebulun
and Issachar, and of which those tribes partook in common with their
Heathen neighbours of Tyre, who rendered the curious dyes made from
those shell fish so famous among the Romans by the names of _Sarranum
ostrum_, _Tyrii colores_. In reference to the purple vestment, Luke xvi,
19, it may be observed that this was not appropriately a royal robe. In
the earlier times it was the dress of any of high rank. Thus all the
courtiers were styled by the historians _purpurati_. This colour is more
properly crimson than purple; for the LXX., Josephus, and Philo,
constantly use ϖορφύραν to express the Hebrew ארגמן, by which the
Talmudists understood crimson; and that this Hebrew word expressed, not
the Tyrian purple, but that brought to the city from another country,
appears from Ezek. xxvii, 7. The purple robe put on our Saviour, John
xix, 2, 5, is explained by a Roman custom, the dressing of a person in
the robes of state, as the investiture of office. Hence the robe brought
by Herod’s or the Roman soldiers, scoffingly, was as though it had been
the _pictæ vestes_ usually sent by the Roman senate. In Acts xvi, 14,
Lydia is said to be “a seller of purple.” Mr. Harmer styles purple the
most sublime of all earthly colours, having the gaudiness of red, of
which it retains a shade, softened with the gravity of blue.