“Then they made for the tent a covering of ram skins dyed red.” Exodus 36:19
People who lived in Bible times enjoyed colorful fabric just as we do. Proverbs 7:16 tells us, “I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt.” For them, however, producing that color was a much greater challenge than today.
Dyers in Bible times made products that brought great wealth. Vats of various colors would be seen outside their homes. Each dye came from a different source. Trees, roots, or herbs would be easy to find. The rarer dyes were purchased from the East or from the Phoenician dye works along the Mediterranean coast. The costly purple dye came from the murex shell found along the Mediterranean Sea. Indigo was made from the skin of pomegranates. In Acts 16:14 we read about a faithful Christian woman who sold purple cloth. “One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God.”
The amount of time needed to properly dye the cloth depended on the type of dye used. After dyeing, the fabric was run under cold water to fix the color. Leather was also dyed as we read in Exodus 26:14, “Make for the tent a covering of ram skins dyed red, and over that a covering of the other durable leather.”
God has his own method of dyeing colors. We read in Isaiah 1:18, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” God uses his special dye, the blood of Jesus, to wash us clean of all our sins so we might stand before him in pure white robes.
From Precious Words of the Bible by Reynold R. Kremer