Ezekiel struggles for words when he describes what he saw. A whirlwind came out of the north, with a great cloud and fire, and in the middle of the fire was “the colour of amber.” Later he sees a figure with fire from the loins downward and brightness upward, again “as the colour of amber.” Each time amber is a comparison, a way of saying how the glow looked rather than a thing being described for its own sake. These three verses show a prophet reaching for something familiar so readers can picture a vision of the glory of God. The first chapter of Ezekiel is the place to start.
3 verses
And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.
And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.
Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber.
Matthew George Easton, 1897
(Ezek. 1:4, 27; 8:2. Heb., hashmal, rendered by the LXX. elektron, and by the Vulgate electrum), a metal compounded of silver and gold. Some translate the word by “polished brass,” others “fine brass,” as in Rev. 1:15; 2:18. It was probably the mixture now called electrum. The word has no connection, however, with what is now called amber, which is a gummy substance, reckoned as belonging to the mineral kingdom though of vegetable origin, a fossil resin.
William Smith, 1884
(Heb. chasmal) occurs only in (Ezekiel 1:4,27; 8:2) It is usually supposed that the Hebrew word chasmal (denotes a metal) and not the fossil resin called amber .