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Bible Dictionaries
Dyeing
People's Dictionary of the Bible
or Dyeing. The art of coloring fabrics, and the threads forming them, was known in early times. The ancient Egyptians excelled in the brilliancy of their dyed fabrics; and from them the Hebrews, while dwelling among them, probably learnt the art of dyeing. The Phœnicians, Greeks and Romans had much skill in this art also. We read of the scarlet thread at the birth of Zarah, Genesis 38:28; Genesis 38:30, and of the colored or dyed curtains of the tabernacle and the sacerdotal robes which were manufactured in the desert. Exodus 26:1; Exodus 26:14; Exodus 28:5-8. The chemical skill of the Egyptian linen manufacturers in employing the metallic oxides and acids or mordants, is placed beyond dispute by ocular proof. The various processes of dyeing and printing, or imparting the pattern, by blocks—the origin of calico printing—are exhibited on the monuments in all their minute details. Even the printing blocks, engraved with phonetic letters, and with the dye upon them, may be now seen in the British Museum. The purple dyes were highly valued and in great repute. Lydia was a seller of this famous purple, Acts 16:14, made probably from a dye procured from a shellfish of the sea. It still abounds in the Bed Sea.
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Rice, Edwin Wilbur, DD. Entry for 'Dyeing'. People's Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/rpd/d/dyeing.html. 1893.
