By Charles Halton on Wednesday, 3 February 2010 at 5:13 pm
I was reading Desmond Alexander’s biblical theology, From Eden to the New Jerusalem, and I came across a statement that seemed to be more speculation than real knowledge, “As regards the tabernacle [cosmic features were] conveyed through the use of fabrics that are blue, purple, and scarlet in colour, representing the ‘variegated colors of the sky’” (quoting from Beale’s “Eden, the Temple,” 16; Alexander quote is on pages 38-39). It seems to me that blue, purple, and scarlet were used because they were expensive fabrics that were therefore fit for royalty and divinity and it smacks of midrash to say that they represent colors of the sky. Anyone know of any textual link with these color used for the tabernacle because they represent the sky?
Comments (4)
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Comment by Jim Getz
Made Wednesday, 3 of February , 2010 at 6:19 pm
Off hand, I can’t think of any. But, Klawan’s Purity, Sacrifice and Temple has a lot on cosmological interpretations to the Temple/tabernacle.
Comment by Joseph
Made Wednesday, 3 of February , 2010 at 11:34 pm
I think it is an implication drawn from Exodus 26:31, where cherubim are woven into the fabric and the idea that the temple serves as a microcosm of the cosmos.
Comment by Michael
Made Sunday, 21 of February , 2010 at 8:36 am
I read somewhere that the colours represent the elements: blue for water, purple for air, scarlet for fire and the linen for earth
Comment by Andrew B
Made Thursday, 25 of February , 2010 at 4:49 pm
G.K. Beale devotes 52 pages on cosmic symbolism in his book “The Temple and the Church’s Mission: a Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God” in the NSBT series (Apollos/IVP, 2004).
