Question: What's the significance of the purple robe placed on Jesus at his crucifixion?
- S. Baker,
Prince George, VA
Answer: In Bible times, clothing for common people was usually drab and unbleached. It was hand-woven, usually from sheep or goat's wool. Only the rich could afford expensive, dyed cloth. Roman soldiers could afford beautiful clothing since they were paid well, but also they could take whatever they wanted from captive peoples. We don't know where the robe came from that the soldiers draped over Jesus when they were mocking him. With that robe, they also gave him a crown of thorns and a reed for a scepter. They jeered him as the "king of the Jews" while they slapped him and pulled his beard out.
Everything at Jesus' crucifixion was predicted beforehand: the jeering crowd, his whipping, his piercing, the earthquake. The crown of thorns was implied by Isaac's substitutionary ram in Genesis 22:13 being caught in a thicket of thorns. The reed was a weed like those that grew for Adam after the Fall. Even the color of his robe has meaning. Luke 23:11 simply calls it a "gorgeous robe." Matthew 27:28 says it was a scarlet robe. The Tabernacle described in Numbers is a picture of the ministry of Jesus as our High Priest. It was covered over by scarlet.
However, Mark 15:17 and John 19:2 say it was a purple robe. Is this a conflict? No, because there was no quality control back then. Dyes were not color fast and often changed shades depending upon the dying process. The same Greek word translated purple can also mean any shade from violet to crimson, or any color between blue and red.
I prefer the translations from Mark and John that call it a purple robe. That was fore-shadowed by the gate to the Tabernacle and the Temple Veil. The Tabernacle's only entrance faced east and was a wide curtain colored blue on one end and red on the other end. The colors blended in the middle to make purple. Likewise, the Veil in the Temple that tore at Jesus' crucifixion had the same color scheme: Blue for sky was the color for deity; red for the red Judean hills was the color for mankind. Being blended to purple represented the God-Man who, by his death, became the Door, our only Access to the Father. Jesus said in John 14:6, "No man cometh to the Father but by me."
- Dr. Tom Lovorn is pastor of God's Storehouse Baptist Church in Richmond, VA. He writes a weekly column on religion for The Progress-Index. You may send your Bible questions to him in care of this newspaper or via his website at www.tomlovorn.us
