4771. And they sent the tunic of many colors. That this signifies appearances thus defiled, is evident from the signification of a “tunic of various colors,” as being appearances (see n. 4677, 4741, 4742, 4768). That they were defiled is meant by the tunic being dipped in blood (n. 4770).

4530. Colors also are seen in the other life which in splendor and refulgence surpass the luster of the colors of this world to such a degree that scarcely any comparison is possible. These colors are produced by the variegation of the light and shade there; and as it is the intelligence and wisdom that come from the Lord which there appear as light before the eyes of angels and spirits, and at the same time inwardly illumine their understandings, in their essence these colors are variations or so to speak modifications of intelligence and wisdom. The colors there—not only those with which the flowers are adorned, the atmospheres made brilliant, and the rainbows varied, but also those which are distinctly presented in other forms-have been seen by me an almost countless number of times. They have their brightness from the truth which is of intelligence, and their effulgence from the good which is of wisdom, and the colors themselves are produced from the whiteness and the darkness thereof, thus from light and shade, like the tints of color in this world. It is for this reason that the colors mentioned in the Word, such as those of the precious stones in Aaron’s breast plate and upon his garments of holiness, and those of the curtains of the tent where the ark was, and those of the stones of the foundation of the New Jerusalem, described by John in Revelation, besides others mentioned elsewhere, represented such things as are of intelligence and wisdom. But what each of these colors represents shall of the Lord’s Divine mercy be told in the explications. In general the colors seen in the other life have splendor and whiteness insofar as they come from the truth of intelligence; and they have refulgence and crimson insofar as they come from the good of wisdom. Those colors which derive their origin from these sources also belong to the provinces of the eyes.