>>13056743Nice try but no sell. Let's read that along with the verse immediately after to get the proper context;
>Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire.Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.—Lamentations 4:7-8
Unless the real Israelites are zebras you would need to explain how they can be simultaneously whiter than milk yet blacker than coal. The only clear explanation is that the passage was using color to compare and contrast their physical appearance with their spiritual virtue. Nowhere in history has anyone used black to describe a person's character or heart and have it denote anything good about them. They always use whiteness to represent goodness, virtue and purity of heart in the abstract.
Additionally verse eight uses the word visage when describing their blackness. Visage is another word for countenance. The passage is literally saying they were black-faced people.
