The Color of Amber

by James Staddon | Nov 17, 2023 | Perspective, Pic of the Month | 0 comments

The other day, I started reading the book of Ezekiel. Chapter one is quite an interesting read as it describes how the “word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest” to prepare him for his ministry to the rebellious house of Israel.

I noticed something right off in the beginning verses. Among other things, the awesome, physical representation of God’s presence is described like fire, with “the colour of amber.” Three verses later, in verse 7, the description includes the idea of sparkling “like the colour of burnished brass.” And then in verse 16, it says “The appearance of the wheels [revolving parts] and their work was like the colour of beryl.”

Wow, a third mention of a specific color! I wanted to stop and think about this. So I started looking things up. Amber. They say naturally occurring amber falls on the color wheel midway between yellow and orange, and I’ve always associated the beautiful translucent substance with slightly reddish hues. Burnished brass. A rich, golden color. And beryl? I had no idea what that color was. But I soon found out it meant “a yellow jasper, or other yellow colored stone.”

Fall colors! Having just come through the month of October, and now enjoying the more earthy, but equally gorgeous, hues of oak and other late-turning trees, it was really neat to visualize the autumn color scheme being described in these verses. Maybe God’s favorite colors are in the autumn spectrum? 🙂

I soon found out, no. Verse 22 talks about “the colour of the terrible crystal” (ice, frost, hail . . . substances of potential danger . . . are white, transparent, or of a bluish hue). The throne was the “appearance of a sapphire stone” in verse 26, which is usually a deep, saturated blue. And then there’s climactic verse 28: “As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. . . .”