Reference: Symbol
Hastings
The prevalence of figurative language in the Bible is due partly to the antiquity and Oriental origin of the book and to the fact that its subject, religion, deals with the most difficult problems of life and the deepest emotions of the soul. The English word 'type,' as the equivalent of 'symbol' or 'emblem,' is sometimes confusing, as it has been used both for the fulfilment of the prototype and as that which points forward to the antitype. Like the proverb and parable, the symbol implies a connexion between two things of which one is concrete and physical, the other abstract and referring to intellectual, moral, and spiritual matters. The former, of course, is the symbol.
1. Symbols of similarity.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And they made the coats of fine linen of woven work for Aaron, and for his sons, and the miter of fine linen, and the goodly head-coverings of fine linen, and the linen breeches of fine twined linen, read more. and the sash of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, the work of the embroiderer, as LORD commanded Moses.
Let me sing for my well-beloved a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill. And he dug it, and gathered out the stones of it, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a winepress in it. And he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought fo read more. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, it brought forth wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away the hedge of it, and it shall be eaten up. I will break down the wall of it, and it shall be trodden down. And I will lay it waste. It shall not be pruned nor hoed, but there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant. And he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression, for righteousness, but, behold, a cry.
Thus says LORD to me, Go, and buy thee a linen sash, and put it upon thy loins, and do not put it in water. So I bought a sash according to the word of LORD, and put it upon my loins. read more. And the word of LORD came to me the second time, saying, Take the sash that thou have bought, which is upon thy loins, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock. So I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as LORD commanded me. And it came to pass after many days, that LORD said to me, Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take the sash from there, which I commanded thee to hide there. Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and took the sash from the place where I had hid it. And, behold, the sash was rotten. It was good for nothing. Then the word of LORD came to me, saying, Thus says LORD, After this manner I will mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and have gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this sash, which is good for nothing. For as the sash clings to the loins of a man, so I have caused to cling to me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, says LORD, that they may be to me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory Therefore thou shall speak to them this word. Thus says LORD, the God of Israel: Every bottle shall be filled with wine. And they shall say to thee, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?
And they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow to the goodness of LORD, to the grain, and to the new wine, and to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd. And their soul shall be as a watered gard
The hand of LORD was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones. And he caused me to pass by them round about. And, behold, there were very many in the open valley, and, lo, they were very dry. read more. And he said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O lord LORD, thou know. Again he said to me, Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of LORD. Thus says lord LORD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live. And ye shall know that I am LORD. So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a noise, and, behold, an earthquake, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I beheld, and, lo, there were sinews upon them, and flesh came up, and skin covered them above, but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, Prophesy to the wind. Prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus says lord LORD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceedingly great army. Then he said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost. We are clean cut off.
Put on the full armor of God to enable you to stand against the wiles of the devil. Because our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principal offices, against the positions of authority, against the world-rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual things of wickedness in the he read more. Because of this take ye up the full armor of God, so that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand ye therefore having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet in preparation of the good-news of peace. Above all having taken up the shield of faith, by which ye will be able to quench all the fiery darts of evil. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
Therefore we also, having so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, having put off every weight and cleverly entangling sin, let us run by perseverance the contest being set before us.
And it was given her that she clothe herself in fine linen, bright and pure. For the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the sanctified.