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 tunics of fine linen the work of a weaver, for Aaron and for his sons: and the turban of fine linen, and the ornamental caps of fine linen, - and the linen drawers, of fine twined linen: read more. and the girdle of fine twined liner, and blue and purple and crimson the work of an embroiderer, - As Yahweh commanded Moses.
Let me sing, I pray you, for a well-beloved of mine, The song of my beloved concerning his vineyard: - A vineyard, had my well-beloved on a very fruitful hill; And he thoroughly digged it, And gathered out the stones thereof, And planted it with a precious vine, And built a tower in the midst thereof, Moreover also a wine-press, hewed he therein, - Then waited he that it should bring forth grapes. And it brought forth wild grapes: read more. Now, therefore, O inhabitant of Jerusalem, And men of Judah, - Judge, I pray you, betwixt me, and my vineyard: - What could have been done further to my vineyard, That I had not done in it? Why then - When I had waited that it should bring forth grapes, Brought it forth, wild grapes? Now, therefore, I pray you, let me tell, you, what I am about to do to my vineyard, - To take away the fence thereof And it shall be eaten up, To destroy the wall thereof And it shall be trodden down; And I will make it a waste; - It shall be neither pruned nor hoed, But there shall come up briars and thorns, - And upon the clouds, will I lay a charge, That they rain thereon no rain. Surely the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts, is the house of Israel, And, the men of Judah, are the plantation in which he dearly delighted, - And he waited, For equity but lo! murderous iniquity, For the rule of right but lo the cry of the wronged.
Thus, said Yahweh unto me, - Go and buy for thyself a linen girdle, and put upon thy loins, - but in water, shalt thou not place it. So I bought a girdle according to the word of Yahweh, - and put upon my loins. read more. Then came the word of Yahweh unto me second time saying: Take the girdle which thou hast bought which is upon thy loins, - and arise go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the cliff. So I went, and hid it, by the Euphrates, as Yahweh had commanded me. And it came to pass, at the end of many days, - that Yahweh said unto me, - Arise go to the Euphrates, and take from thence the girdle, which I commanded thee to hide there. So I went to the Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle out of the place where I had hidden it, - and lo! the girdle was spoiled, it was good for nothing, s Then came the word of Yahweh unto me saying: Thus, saith Yahweh, - After this manner, will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. This wicked people who are refusing to hear my words, who are walking in the stubbornness of their heart, and have gone after other gods, to serve them and to bow down to them, yea let them be like this girdle, which is good for nothing. For as a girdle cleaveth unto the loins of a man, so caused I to cleave unto me - the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah Declareth Yahweh, to become mine - For a people, and For a name, and For a praise and For an adorning, - but they hearkened not. Therefore shalt thou say unto them this word - Thus, saith Yahweh God of Israel, Every jar, is to be filled with wine; and they will say unto thee, Do we not, know well, that every jar, is to be filled with wine?
Then shall they come in and shall shout in triumph on the height of Zion, And shall stream unto the goodness of Yahweh To the wheat, and to the new wine, and to the oil, and to the young of the flocks and of the herds, - So shall their soul become like a garden well watered, And they shall not again languish any more.
The hand of Yahweh I being upon me, he carried me forth in the spirit of Yahweh, and set me down in the midst of a plain, - and the same was full of bones; and he caused me to pass near them. round about on every side, - and lo! they were very many on the face of the plain, and lo! they were very dry. read more. Then said he unto me, Son of man. Can these bones I live. And I said, My Lord, Yahweh, thou knowest! Then said he unto me, Prophesy, over these bones, - and thou shalt say unto them, Ye bones so dry! hear ye the word of Yahweh! Thus saith My Lord Yahweh, Unto these bones, - Lo! I am about to bring into you - spirit, and ye shall live; Yea I will lay upon you - sinews, And bring up over you flesh. And cover over you - skin, And put in you - spirit And ye stall live, Then shall ye know that I, am Yahweh. And when I prophesied as I was commanded, then was there a noise, as I prophesied and lo! a rattling, and the bones came near, each bone unto its own bone. And when I looked, then lo! upon them were sinews, and flesh had come up, and there had spread over them skin above, but spirit, was there none within them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the spirit, Prophesy, Son of man. and thou shalt say unto the spirit. Thus saith My Lord Yahweh- From the four winds, come thou, O spirit, And breathe into these slain That they may live. And when I prophesied as he commanded me, then came into them the spirit, and they lived and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Then said he unto me, Son of man. These bones, are all the house of Israel, - Lo! they are saying. Dried are our bones, and lost is our hope We are quite cut off!
Put on the complete armour of God, with a view to your having power to stand against the strategies of the adversary; Because our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but, against the principalities, against the authorities, against the world-holders, of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies. read more. For this cause, take up the complete armour of God, in order that ye may receive power to withstand in the evil day, and, all things, having accomplished, to stand! Stand therefore, - having girded your loins with truth, and put on the breastplate of righteousness, And shod your feet with the readiness of the glad-message of peace; With all, having taken up the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall have power, all the ignited darts of the wicked one, to quench; And, the helmet of salvation, welcome ye, and the sword of the spirit, which is what God hath spoken,
Therefore, indeed, seeing that, we also, have encircling us, so great a cloud of witnesses, stripping off every incumbrance and the easily entangling sin, with endurance, let us be running, the race that is lying before us,
and it hath been given unto her, that she should be arrayed in fine linen, bright, pure, for, the fine linen, is, the righteous acts of the saints.