These are the offerings you are to receive from them: gold, silver and bronze; blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair; ram skins dyed red and another type of durable leather; acacia wood; olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece.

• Exodus 25:3-7

“Make the tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim woven into them by a skilled worker.

• Exodus 26:1

Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness.  There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.  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 17:3-4

Easter has come and gone, but what do you remember about Easter?  Yes, I hope you remember the pastor’s sermon, but lump all Easters together and you might lose the details in a sea of pastel colors: pink, sky blue, pale green, light yellow, pale orange, and lavender.  We are approaching Pentecost Sunday, and the color will be a vibrant red.  That made me think of colors.

I found a few colors mentioned in the Bible.  I did not pick gold and silver, because the references were usually toward the metal.  I did not pick turquoise and sapphire, because the references were for the precious stones.

And while we are on the subject of precious stones, have you noticed that some of the stones in the ephod are changed when you get to the foundation stones of the New Jerusalem, but they are stones of approximately the same color.  Is this a difference in translation?  Regardless, even for these stones, the color must be important.

Note in the Scriptures above that order of the colors of yarn offered to build the tabernacle in Exodus 26 are used and maintained in their same order: blue, purple, and scarlet.  These colors of yarn are mentioned in that order 26 times over 14 chapters of Exodus.  But while scarlet may seem a godly color in Exodus, it takes a more sinister turn in Revelation as the color of the beast and with purple, the color of the woman’s clothing.

The questions in this quiz all relate to color, but the questions may not be about the color itself.  I will divide the quiz into sections to give you a hint as to the primary color that is the theme for each group of questions.

The Questions:

Multiple Colors

1. The Scripture speaks of the making of the tabernacle, but what of Solomon’s temple?  Again three yarns were used. What three colors were used, this time only mentioned three times? Was the order of which they were mentioned the same?
2. Zechariah has a vision, seeing a red horse among some myrtle trees.  With this horse were horse of three other colors.  One of the colors is only mentioned this one time in the NIV.  What are the three colors?
3. There were four horsemen of the Apocalypse.  We are not talking about the backfield of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team.  What were the colors of the horse?  What was the significance of each horse and rider?  And what summoned the horses to come out?  Okay, one of the horses is described with a word that is usually not considered the name of a “color.”
4. Later in Revelation, the Apostle John sees an army form at the Euphrates, mounted troops twice ten thousand times ten thousand strong (200 million troops on horseback).  What three colors were the breastplates?

Red and its Various Shades

1. What shade of red was the cord that Rahab tied in her window to signify that she and her family would be safe when Jericho fell?
2. Isaiah tells of how our sins are washed as white as snow and like wool.  What shade of red is compared to the white snow, and what two “red” words are used in comparison to the white wool?
3. Nahum sees an army that is dressed in a shade of red and they are carrying shields of what color?
4. When Jesus was handed over to be crucified, He was stripped and they placed a robe of Him and the crown of thorns, and then mocked Him.  What color was the robe?

Purple

1. Who heard the Apostle Paul speak in Philippi and believed?  She was a dealer of purple cloth.  And what nearby town did she live in?  She invited Paul and Silas to live with her, leading to Paul and Silas taking the same route every day, meeting the same irritating woman who was demon-possessed, leading to the woman being cured and Paul and Silas going to prison as a result.
2. A human hand wrote something on the wall and King Belshazzar promised the person who could interpret the writing would be given a gold chain and something in purple.  What was it?

Blue

1. Who among the Levites were charged with packing the articles in the tabernacle for movement?  And of the arc of the covenant, the table of the Presence (where the bread was placed), the lampstand, the gold altar, and the bronze altar, which of these was not covered in a blue cloth, and what color was used?
2. In Ezekiel’s lament over Tyre, he talks of a variety of nations that traded with Tyre.  For Sheba, Ashur, and Kilmad, what was blue?  Of course, since the rugs were multicolored, they could have had blue in them also.

Green

1. What is green in Psalm 23?
2. When Isaiah foretells the defeat of the Assyrian army, what green thing are they likened to?
3. While those who trust in riches will fall, the righteous shall thrive like what green thing?

Yellow

1. When the priest examines someone who has a sore on the head or chin, he looks for something yellow.  What is it?  And if the yellow thing is present, what is the determination?

I left out black and white, maybe for a future quiz.  But I exhausted the yellow references.

Oh, I have a bonus question that has nothing to do with the Bible.  The various branches of the US Army have a color associated with them.  That color is on a stripe of their dress blue uniform and the background color on the officer’s rank ‘boards’ that are placed on each shoulder.  I was in the Corps of Engineers.  What is the color for the Corps of Engineers?

The answer is Scarlet.  This is a hint in that scarlet is the answer to at least one question in the quiz… maybe more.

Bible References:

Multiple Colors

1. 2 Chronicles 2:7, 14 and 2 Chronicles 3:14
2. Zechariah 1:8
3. Revelation 6:1-8
4. Revelation 9:16-17, and as a hint, the colors are described as “fiery”, “dark”, and “as sulfur”.

Red and its Various Shades

1. Joshua 2:18
2. Isaiah 1:18
3. Nahum 2:3
4. Matthew 27:28

Purple

1. Acts 16:11-15
2. Daniel 5:7

Blue

1. Numbers 4:1-13
2. Ezekiel 27:23-24

Green

1. Psalm 23:2
2. 2 Kings 19:26
3. Proverbs 11:28

Yellow

1. Leviticus 13:29-37

God created a wide range of colors.

Sometimes you must wonder about why God made things so beautiful.  The Spring pops with all the colors.  The flowering trees bloom; the flowers bloom.  And then the crops begin to grow.  We get to see a variety of color in the Spring.  When there is a predominance of hardwood trees, we have another show of color in the Fall.

Enjoy the beauty of God’s Creation.  Only an omnipotent God could have design such complexity and beauty into the world.

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The Answers:

Multiple Colors

1. Purple, blue, and crimson.  And in the three mentions of the colors, they are in a different order each time.  This is odd that in 26 references of three colors for the tabernacle, they were always in the same order from Exodus 26 through Exodus 39, but not sop in the building of Solomon’s temple.
2. Red, brown, and white.  This is the only mention of “brown” in the NIV.
3. The white horse and its rider focus on conquest.  The red horse and its rider make people kill each other.  The black horse and its rider signify famine.  The pale horse and its rider signify death.  The horses and their riders came out as the first four seals were opened by the Lamb.
4. The breastplates were a fiery red, a dark blue, and yellow as sulfur.

Red and its Various Shades

1. Scarlet
2. Scarlet is compared to the snow.  And the red as crimson will be like wool.
3. The warriors are dressed in scarlet and the shields are red.
4. Scarlet

Purple

1. Lydia from Thyatira
2. Clothing

Blue

1. Kohathites and the odd article our was the bronze altar that was covered in purple fabric
2. Fabric

Green

1. pastures
2. tender shoots – something weak, being the idea
3. a green leaf – something strong and resilient being the idea – compared to a brown leaf maybe

Yellow

1. A yellow hair.  This supposes that the Hebrews were all black haired.  If there is yellow hair in the sore (more than skin deep) and thin, the skin disease is considered defiling and they are considered unclean.  But without the initial yellow hair, they are quarantined for seven days to see if yellow hair will be present and to ensure that the sore is not spreading.

In thinking of the Pale Rider, there was once a spaghetti western by that name, starring Clint Eastwood.  Of these two videos, both should have a warning.  The girl who buries her pet dog is praying for a miracle.  It is not the usual miracle that God provides to offer the town a stone-cold killer.  But the pale rider of the four horsemen carries out God’s judgment.  He is called “Death” and “Hades” travels with him and people die from various causes.  Yet, Eastwood rides into town by himself, administers justice and leaves.  While the first video, the prayer may be heartfelt but suspect.  In the second video, as the song plays, there are scenes of violence.

This last video is a wonderful song by Petra, Coloring Song.

If you like these Saturday morning Bible quizzes, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Saturday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.