Let’s complete our thinking about why our sins are as scarlet or crimson.
· To complete our initial word studies, let’s look at Isaiah 1:18. “Red” is Adam. “Scarlet” (sani, 42x in OT) and “crimson” (tola, 43x in OT) are both related to a particular insect according to Gesenius. Strong describes it thus: “the insect ‘coccus illicis,' the dried body of the female yielding colouring matter from which is made the dye used for cloth to colour it scarlet or crimson.” Over half of the uses of sani in the OT are in Exodus where scarlet thread and material was part of the Tabernacle. On eight occasions, in the NKJV, tola is actually translated “worm” (including Ps. 22:6 and Jonah 4:7).
Now, why are our sins said to be as scarlet and red like crimson? Let me start with Jamieson, Faucette and Browne commentary: “The rabbins [sic] say that when the lot used to be taken, a scarlet fillet (not a piece of meat but a ribbon or band) was bound on the scapegoat’s head, and after the high priest had confessed his and the people’s sins over it, the fillet became white; the miracle ceased, according to them, forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem, that is, exactly when Jesus Christ was crucified; a remarkable admission of adversaries. Hebrew for “scarlet” radically means double-dyed; so the deep-fixed permanency of sin in the heart, which no mere tears can wash away.” JFB also points out that “scarlet” was the color of Jesus' robe when bearing our sins (Mt. 27:28), as well as the color of Rahab’s thread (Josh. 2:18) that brought salvation to her household.
I did do a little checking on this idea, and sure enough, there is a section in the Torah that talks about this in connection with the cleansing ritual in today’s reading from Leviticus. In that passage we see that the cleansing of a leper required two birds, one being killed and the other left alive. The blood of the one was sprinkled on the one to be cleansed, using the live bird and a scarlet cloth. Interesting. The article is at, https://www.thetoray.com/article/scapegoat-the-origins-of-the-crimson-thread. It did not mention the part about changing from red to white, although many people refer to this without giving specific credit to an original source.
Here is another consideration from Henry Morris (Biblical Basis for Modern Science, Baker Book House, 1985, p73), which speaks of the worm: “When the female of the scarlet worm species was ready to give birth to her young, she would attach her body to the trunk of a tree, fixing herself so firmly and permanently that she would never leave again. The eggs deposited beneath her body were thus protected until the larvae were hatched and able to enter their own life cycle. As the mother died, the crimson fluid stained her body and the surrounding wood. From the dead bodies of such female scarlet worms, the commercial scarlet dyes of antiquity were extracted. What a picture this gives of Christ, dying on the tree, shedding his precious blood that he might ‘bring many sons unto glory’ (Heb. 2:10)! He died for us, that we might live through him! Psa. 22:6 describes such a worm and gives us this picture of Christ (cf. Isa. 1:18).”
By these comments we can then remind ourselves. Sin is like leprosy in that it goes deep into the soul and spreads to every aspect of our lives. The reddishness is a sign of the presence of this disease. Thus, our sins are as scarlet, red like crimson. Further, death has passed upon all men because all have sinned in Adam/the man (Rom. 5:12). We agree with Morris: the red gives us a picture of Christ, solving the issue of sin by taking our reddishness upon Himself, being numbered with the transgressors, and shedding His blood for our cleansing. Hallelujah!
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