Colors—Blue, Gold, Silver, Scarlet, Crimson, Red, White

Blue: The color blue was prominently featured on the high priest’s vestments (sash, robe’s hem, ephod, breastplate) and elsewhere in the tabernacle, including the courtyard gate’s hanging and the two veils of the tabernacle (see Ex. 26:1, 31, 36; 27:16; 28:33; 36:8, 35, 37; 39:2, 8, 29). Also, the priests covered the table of shewbread with a blue cloth (see Num. 4:7). Blue is also used on interior and exterior features of several temples. For example, Elder James E. Talmage writes that the Holy of Holies of the Salt Lake Temple “is decorated in blue and gold.”56 Blue could be interpreted to symbolize heaven, or the realm where God dwells.

Gold: Several sacred spaces and precincts feature gold, including the tabernacle, the temple of Solomon, and the celestial kingdom. Two chief points regarding gold: (1) Gold belongs to God (“the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts” [Hag. 2:8; see also Joel 3:5]); (2) Gold is precious, beautiful, incorruptible, and lustrously brilliant.

Artist rendition of Solomon’s temple: “The floor of the house he overlaid with gold, within and without” (1 Kgs. 6:30).

The tabernacle featured a number of objects that were fashioned out of gold, including the ark of the covenant (see Ex. 25:11–13), the jar that held manna, the two cherubim (see 2 Chr. 3:10), various vessels (see Ex. 25:26, 29, 38–39; 37:16), the lampstand (see Ex. 25:31–38; 37:17–24), the mercy seat, the golden censer, and the high priest’s head plate that read “Holiness to the Lord.” Additionally, the altar of incense (see Ex. 30:1–3; 1 Kgs. 7:48), the table of shewbread, the tabernacle’s nine pillars (from whence hung the two veils), and the tabernacle walls were overlaid with gold (see Ex. 26:18–25; 36:34, 38),57 making the rooms both precious and beautiful.

King David prepared great quantities of gold and silver for Solomon’s temple: “I have prepared for the house of the Lord an hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver; and of brass and iron without weight; for it is in abundance” (1 Chr. 22:14; see also 1 Chr. 29:3–4). The Bible Dictionary states that a talent weighs about 75.6 pounds.58 “Solomon overlaid the [temple] within with pure gold” (1 Kgs. 6:21); also, “The floor of the house he overlaid with gold, within and without” (1 Kgs. 6:30).

Gold chain of the high priest’s breastplate.

Of the celestial kingdom, John recorded, “The city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. . . . The street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass” (Rev 21:18, 21). Joseph Smith shared this vision: “I beheld the celestial kingdom of God. . . . I saw the beautiful streets of that kingdom, which had the appearance of being paved with gold” (D&C 137:1, 4).

Also, when Jesus Christ appears to certain mortals in a divine theophany, He sometimes stands on a platform of gold or a precious stone: “He stood right here, about three feet above the floor. It looked as though He stood on a plate of solid gold” (Lorenzo Snow).59 And, “We saw the Lord standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit, before us; and under his feet was a paved work of pure gold, in color like amber” (D&C 110:2; see also Ex. 24:9–11).

Green: See “Fig Leaves.”

Silver: The structure of the tabernacle of Moses had a “silver foundation,”60 consisting of one hundred sockets made of the precious metal silver (Ex. 26:19–25; 38:27). Each socket weighed a talent (see Ex. 38:27). The sockets held up the posts that surrounded the holy place and the Holy of Holies. The tabernacle’s silver foundation reminded worshippers that the tabernacle was precious, exceptional, and unique.

Scarlet, Crimson, and Red: Scarlet is a brilliant red color and crimson is a rich, deep red color. Red, crimson, and scarlet are sometimes interpreted to signify Jesus Christ’s blood and His infinite Atonement.

The tabernacle of Moses, the focal point of sacrifice and atonement during its existence, had a number of red (or scarlet or crimson) components. This was not simply by coincidence or chance, but by divine design. Worshippers who entered the tabernacle may have experienced visual magnificence as they viewed the colors of the various appurtenances. The courtyard gate’s hanging, which served as the door of the tent, the curtains of the tabernacle, and the veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the holy place were all made of finely twisted linen and embroidery in colors of blue, purple, and scarlet (see Ex. 26:1, 31, 36; 27:16; see also 36:8, 35, 37). Further, the Lord commanded Moses, “Thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red” (Ex. 26:14).

The ceremonial cleansing of the leper included the use of cedar wood, hyssop, and blood.

The high priest’s ephod, too, was an elaborate and beautiful sacred vestment that featured scarlet and other colors: “He made the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen” (Ex. 39:2). Similarly, the ephod’s girdle, the breastplate, and the hems of the robe each featured gold, blue, purple, and scarlet yarn together with fine linen (Ex. 39:5, 8, 24).

The colors red and scarlet figure prominently in the ceremony of the sacrifice of the red heifer. The law required the heifer to be red, the sacrifice of the heifer produced red blood, and the slaughtered beast was burned, together with hyssop, cedar wood, and scarlet wool (see Num. 19:6, 18).

White: The color white is associated with the clothing of the high priests and the Levites in the ancient temple (see Ex. 28:2–3; 2 Chr. 5:12); and of our modern temples, Elder Quentin L. Cook wrote, “We are all equal before God. Everyone is dressed in white to signify we are a pure and righteous people. All sit side by side with a desire in their hearts to be worthy sons and daughters of a loving Heavenly Father.”61

Further, John the Revelator “beheld . . . a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues . . . arrayed in white robes” standing before God’s throne. These are Saints—both females and males—who “have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:9, 13, 14).

White clothing symbolizes purity. President Russell M. Nelson explains, “Within the temple, all are dressed in spotless white to remind us that God is to have a pure people.”62 Becoming white is possible only through the Atonement of Christ. “For there can no man be saved except his garments are washed white; yea, his garments must be purified until they are cleansed from all stain, through the blood of him of whom it has been spoken by our fathers, who should come to redeem his people from their sins” (Alma 5:21).