| Lamentations 4:7
| Zain. Her Nazarites were whiter than snow, purer than milk, more ruddy than the old ivory, fairer than the sapphire.
| Old ivory. Whiteness shews its age. (Pliny, [Natural History?] 3:8.) --- As it grows old it turns yellow, and loses much of its value. But the ancients had the art of dyeing it scarlet. (Virgil, Aeneid xii.; Homer, Iliad iv.; Ovid ii. Am. v.) (Calmet) --- Hebrew poninim may signify (Haydock) "pearls," the shells of which are stained with a delicate red; though the epithet ruddy may mean "shining," in which sense purpureus is used. (Horace, 4:Od. 1.) --- The complexion of the Nazarites was fair, with a mixture of red, Canticle of Canticles 5:10. They were probably clothed in white, and were highly respected, 1 Machabees 3:49., Amos 2:11., and Numbers 6:18. (Calmet)
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