Black

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

 Job 30:30 (a) Job's skin must have been actually and literally black, or at least dark enough to be called black. Judging from the symptoms described in the book, he had an oriental disease which we know as "elephantiasis." Those who suffer from this trouble do have a very dark skin covered with an odious eruption. (See under "ASHES").

 Song of Solomon 1:5 (c) This probably represents the Saviour as He appears to unsaved people. To them He is unattractive, with no beauty and no value.

 Song of Solomon 5:11 (c) This black hair is probably a type of the eternal youth, vigor and strength of our Lord as a young king thirty-three and a half years old. (See also  Song of Solomon 7:5;  Revelation 1:14).

 Lamentations 4:8 (b) Here is described how completely the Nazarites of Jerusalem had turned away from the beautiful life they were supposed to live, and had become sinful and wicked in their manner of living. The black is descriptive of their character.

 Jeremiah 8:21 (a) Here is described Jeremiah's feelings concerning Israel's relationship to him. He thought that Israel despised him, had no use for him, and saw no beauty in him, which probably was true. He reproved them for their sins, and warned them of their punishment. This, of course, made the nation despise him.

 Jeremiah 14:2 (c) If the Word "they" refers to the gates, it would indicate that they were damaged by fire, and were being destroyed. If, however, the word refers to the people then probably the famine and the sufferings had brought about the blackened condition of their skin.

 Zechariah 6:2 (b) These horses probably represent war and famine with the terrible results of both. They are described as being "black" because of the fearful condition of the people under those circumstances. It is said that these also are the four winds, as described in verse  Zechariah 6:5. It may be that the black horses represent the power of GOD in causing wars, tumults and famine to rage upon the earth. It seems as though this power was against the enemies of GOD.

 Revelation 6:5 (b) This black horse probably represents the famine and the sorrow which would prevail on the earth as a punishment for the wickedness and the evil being practiced. You will notice that the balances are for weighing the food because it is so scarce. This seems to be confirmed in verse  Revelation 6:6.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): (n.) The part of a thing which is distinguished from the rest by being black.

(2): (a.) Fig.: Dismal, gloomy, or forbidding, like darkness; destitute of moral light or goodness; atrociously wicked; cruel; mournful; calamitous; horrible.

(3): (n.) A negro; a person whose skin is of a black color, or shaded with black; esp. a member or descendant of certain African races.

(4): (n.) A stain; a spot; a smooch.

(5): (n.) Mourning garments of a black color; funereal drapery.

(6): (a.) Expressing menace, or discontent; threatening; sullen; foreboding; as, to regard one with black looks.

(7): (a.) Destitute of light, or incapable of reflecting it; of the color of soot or coal; of the darkest or a very dark color, the opposite of white; characterized by such a color; as, black cloth; black hair or eyes.

(8): (a.) In a less literal sense: Enveloped or shrouded in darkness; very dark or gloomy; as, a black night; the heavens black with clouds.

(9): (a.) To make black and shining, as boots or a stove, by applying blacking and then polishing with a brush.

(10): (a.) To make black; to blacken; to soil; to sully.

(11): (adv.) Sullenly; threateningly; maliciously; so as to produce blackness.

(12): (n.) That which is destitute of light or whiteness; the darkest color, or rather a destitution of all color; as, a cloth has a good black.

(13): (n.) A black pigment or dye.

(14): (n.) A black garment or dress; as, she wears black

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Leviticus 13:31 13:37 Song of Solomon 5:11 Job 30:30 Song of Solomon 1:5-6 Lamentations 4:8 1 Kings 18:45 Genesis 30:32-43 Zechariah 6:2 6:6 Revelation 6:5 Job 30:28 Jeremiah 4:28 Jeremiah 8:21 Jeremiah 14:2 Micah 3:6 Job 3:5 Jude 1:13 Job 6:16Colors

King James Dictionary

Black a.

1. Of the color of night destitute of light dark. 2. Darkened by clouds as the heavens black with clouds. 3. Sullen having a cloudy look or countenance. 4. Atrociously wicked horrible as a black deed or crime. 5. Dismal mournful calamitous.

Black and blue, the dark color of a bruise in the flesh, which is accompanied with a mixture of blue.

BLACK, n. That which is destitute of light or whiteness the darkest color, or rather a destitution of all color as, a cloth has a good black.

1. A negro a person whose skin is black. 2. A black dress, or mourning as, to be clothed in black.

BLACK, To make black to blacken to soil.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Under the figure of a bride the remnant of Israel says, I am 'black,' describing herself as having become dark or swarthy by the rays of the sun; the scorching effect of affliction,  Song of Solomon 1:5,6 : 'burning instead of beauty.'  Isaiah 3:24 . The kingdom of the Medes and Persians is described as a chariot with 'black' horses,  Zechariah 6:2,6; and in the Revelation, in the third seal a rider on a 'black' horse betokens scarcity.  Revelation 6:5 . It is symbolical of what is dismal and threatening.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Proverbs 7:9  Deuteronomy 32:10 Psalm 17:8 Proverbs 7:2 Leviticus 13:31,37 Song of Solomon 1:5 5:11 Zechariah 6:2,6 Esther 1:6

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

BLACK . See Colours, 2.

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

See Colours.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(usually some form of קָדִר , Kadar', to be Dusky, or שָׁחֹר , Shachor', Swarthy; Μέλας ). Although the Orientals do not wear black in mourning, yet, like the ancient Jews, they regard the color as a symbol of affliction, disaster, and privation. In fact, the custom of wearing black in mourning is a sort of visible expression of what is in the East a figure of speech. In Scripture blackness is used as symbolical of afflictions occasioned by drought and famine ( Job 30:30;  Jeremiah 14:2;  Lamentations 4:8;  Lamentations 5:10). Whether this be founded on any notion that the hue of the complexion was deepened by privation has not been ascertained; but it has been remarked by Chardin and others that in the periodical mourning of the Persians for Hossein many of those who take part in the ceremonies appear with their bodies blackened, in order to express the extremity of thirst and heat which Hossein suffered, and which, as is alleged, was so great that he turned black, and the tongue swelled till it protruded from his mouth. In  Malachi 3:14, we read, "What profit is it that we keep his ordinances, and that we have walked in blackness (Auth. Vers. "mournfully") before the Lord of Hosts;" meaning that they had fasted in sackcloth and ashes. "Black" occurs as a symbol of fear in  Joel 2:6 : "All faces shall gather blackness," or darken with apprehension and distress. This use of the word may be paralleled from Virgil (AEn. 9:719; Georg. 4:468). The same expression which Joel uses is employed by Nahum ( Nahum 2:10) to denote the extremity of pain and sorrow. In  Zechariah 6:2-6, four chariots are represented drawn by horses of different colors, which have usually been supposed to denote the four great empires of the world in succession: the Assyrian or Babylonian, the Persian, Grecian, and Roman, distinguishable both by their order and attributes; the black horses in that case seeming to denote the Persian empire, which, by subduing the Chaldaeans, and being about to inflict a second heavy chastisement on Babylon, quieted the spirit of Jehovah ( Zechariah 6:8) with respect to Chaldlea, a country always spoken of as lying to the north of Judaea. But the color here is probably, as elsewhere, only symbolical in general of the utter devastation of Babylon by the Persians (see Henderson, Comment. in loc.). The figure of a man seated on a black horse, with the balance to weigh corn and the other necessaries of life, is employed in  Revelation 6:5 to signify great want and scarcity, threatening the world with famine, a judgment of God next to the sword. Also, 'The sun became black as sackcloth of hair" ( Revelation 6:12) is a figure employed, as some think, to describe the state of the Church during the last and most severe of the persecutions under the heathen Roman empire. Great public calamities are often thus figuratively described by earthquakes, eclipses, and the like, as if the order of nature were inverted. In connection with this subject it may be remarked that black is studiously avoided in dress by all Orientals, except in certain garments of hair or wool, which are naturally of that color. Black is also sometimes imposed as a mark of humiliating distinction by dominant nations upon subject or tributary tribes, the most familiar instance of which is the obligation laid upon the Jews in Turkey of wearing black turbans. (See Color).

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Although the Orientals do not wear black in mourning, they, as did the ancient Jews, regard the color as a symbol of affliction, disaster, and privation. In fact, the custom of wearing black in mourning is a sort of visible expression of what is in the East a figure of speech. In Scripture blackness is used as symbolical of afflictions occasioned by drought find famine ( Job 30:30;  Jeremiah 14:2;  Lamentations 4:8;  Lamentations 5:10).

In connection with this subject it may be marked that black is studiously avoided in dress by all Orientals, except in certain garments of hair or wool, which are naturally of that color. Black is also sometimes imposed as a mark of humiliating distinction by dominant nations upon subject or tributary tribes, the most familiar instance of which is the obligation laid upon the Jews in Turkey of wearing black turbans.