Exodus 25:4 - Exposition

And blue, and purple, and scarlet . Cloths of these three colours seem to be meant. The material was probably wool; the blue dye probably indigo, which was the ordinary blue dye of Egypt; the purple was no doubt derived from one or other of the shell-fish so well-known to the Syrians (of which the one most used was the Murex trunculus ), and was of a warm reddish hue, not far from crimson; the scarlet (literally, "scarlet worm " or " worm scarlet,") was the produce of the Corcus ilicis , or cochineal insect of the holm oak, which has now been superseded by the Coccus cacti , or cochineal insect of the prickly pear, introduced into Europe from Mexico. And fine linen . The word used is Egyptian. It seems to have designated properly the fine linen spun from flax in Egypt, which was seldom dyed. and was of a beautiful soft white hue. The fineness of the material is extraordinary, equalling that of the best Indian muslins. It would seem that the Israelite women spun the thread from the flax ( Exodus 35:25 ), and that the skilled workmen employed by Moses wove the thread into linen ( Exodus 35:35 ). And goat's hair . The soft inner wool of the Angora goat was also spun by the women into a fine worsted ( Exodus 35:26 ), which was woven into cloths, used especially as coverings for tents.