Jesus robe, was it scarlet or purple?

[Jericho]

I came across something I never realized before. When the Roman soldiers are mocking and beating Jesus they put on him a robe. Matthew describes the robe as scarlet:

And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. Mat 27:28

but Mark describes it as purple:

And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his [head], Mark 15:17

So which is it, scarlet or purple?

On a side note, they both fit symbolically. Scarlet is usually associated with sin (he took on our sins) while purple is the color of royalty (He is the king of kings).

[Resurrection Torchlight]

John also says "purple":

John 19:1-2
1 Pilate then took Jesus and scourged Him.
2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and put a purple robe on Him;

Luke 23:11
11 And Herod with his soldiers, after treating Him with contempt and mocking Him, dressed Him in a gorgeous robe and sent Him back to Pilate.

That word "gorgeous" can mean shining or brilliant perhaps it was iridescent which could explain why it might be described as scarlet and purple. depending on how the light strikes it it could be both.

Not sure if this resolves the seeming contradiction, but it could be possible

RT

[AndCanItBe]

I did a search on biblegateway for the word "scarlet" in the Bible. It backs up what RT is saying, in that the blue, purple and scarlet were woven together for the priestly robes (Exodus 39:1), among other things in the tabernacle. Take a look.

Link

[watching]

Interesting question.

Matthew 27:28 uses the word kokkinos, which basically means red (scarlet/crimson).

http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G2847&t=KJV

Mark 15:17 uses the word porphyra, which is a little more complicated.

http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G4209&t=KJV

And John 19:2-5 uses the word porphyrous, which apparently means purple.

http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G4210&t=KJV

According to Wikipedia, Porphyra is:

Porphyra is a foliose red algal genus of laver, comprising approximately 70 species.

Porphyra is also the Greek name for Tyrian purple.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porphyra


And according to Wikipedia, Tyrian purple is a purple-red natural dye.

Tyrian purple (Greek, πορφύρα, porphyra, Latin: purpura), also known as royal purple, imperial purple or imperial dye, is a purple-red natural dye, which is extracted from sea snails, and which was possibly first produced by the ancient Phoenicians

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrian_purple

Here is what comes up when you google images for porphyra:

http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1484&bih=943&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=g10&oq=&q=porphyra

[watching]

I just want to add that I think this is along the same lines, as one person referring to a certain object as being, blue; and another person referring to the same object as being, aquamarine.

Or as in this case, someone referring to something as being, red (kokkinos), and someone else, referring to it, more specifically as being, wine, for example; or, as in this case, porphyra.

[Keeping Alert]

Personally, I think it was initially a Purple robe.

The context is that he was mocked as a king and they dressed him like a king... with a crown of thorns and a reed and said "Hail, King of the Jews!" The robe therefore, benefiting a king was purple because it is a royal color.

But the moment that the purple robe touched his bloodied body (for it has already been scourged e.g. Matthew 27:26), the blood just soaked through, and the purple robe became scarlet with blood.

The Purple robe turned Scarlet for our sakes!

The apparent discrepency is a matter of timing of the observation... one moment it was purple and the next moment it was scarlet. Both accounts are correct.

One possibility that Matthew records a scarlet robe was because Matthew was writing to the Jews and he wanted them to remember that it was they who cost the savior's blood. Blood was on their hands and head.

[bchandler]

There are also apparently more than one robe used.

One with Pilot, and another with Herod.

[watching]

Hi Keeping Alert,

I do not understand why you have not found my explanation to be satisfactory.

The word kokkinos, in the Greek, is the PRIMARY COLOR OF RED, to this very day.

See Greek-English dictionary.

http://www.kypros.org/cgi-bin/lexicon

And, as I have shown, PORPHYRA is not exactly purple. It's purple-red.

See Wikipedia.

Tyrian purple (Greek, πορφύρα, porphyra, Latin: purpura), also known as royal purple, imperial purple or imperial dye, is a purple-red natural dye, which is extracted from sea snails, and which was possibly first produced by the ancient Phoenicians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrian_purple

So, basically, it's as if you, for example, were describing a car as being red; and another person, describing the same car, decided to be more specific, and described the same car, as burgundy.

Here is what comes up when you do a search to see what color porphyra is:

http://www.colourlovers.com/color/B95D7B/Porphyra

[Keeping Alert]

Hi Keeping Alert,

I do not understand why you have not found my explanation to be satisfactory.

Hi watching,

You could be right... but I just felt that another explanation is also possible. And it does have significance spiritually... Our Royal King took on our Scarlet sins...

Blessings,
KA

[watching]

Hi Keeping Alert,

[Jericho]

Or maybe one of them was color blind? Just kidding... both explanations sound plausible to me, thanks.