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, a weaver's work, for Aaron and for his sons, and the turban of fine linen and the headdresses of the headbands of fine linen and undergarments of the linen cloth, finely twisted, read more. and the sash of finely twisted linen and blue and purple and crimson [yarns], the work of an embroiderer, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
Let me sing for my beloved a song of my love concerning his vineyard: {My beloved had a vineyard} on {a fertile hill}. And he dug it and cleared it of stones, and he planted it [with] choice vines, and he built a watchtower in the middle of it, and he even hewed out a wine vat in it, and he waited for [it] to yield grapes-- but it yielded wild grapes. read more. And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more [was there] to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? Why did I hope for [it] to yield grapes, and it yielded wild grapes? And now let me tell you what I myself am about to do to my vineyard. [I will] remove its hedge, and it shall become a devastation. [I will] break down its wall, and it shall become a trampling. And I will make it a wasteland; it shall not be pruned and hoed, and it shall be overgrown [with] briers and thornbushes. And concerning the clouds, I will command {them not to send} rain down upon it. For the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts [is] the house of Israel, and the man of Judah [is] the plantation of his delight. [And] he waited for justice, but look! Bloodshed! For righteousness, but look! A cry of distress!
Thus Yahweh said to me: "Go and buy for yourself a loincloth of linen and put it on your loins, but you must not {place} it in water." So I bought the loincloth according to the word of Yahweh and I put [it] on my loins. read more. Now the word of Yahweh came to me a second [time], {saying}, "Take the loincloth that you bought, that [is] on your loins, and stand up, go [to the] Euphrates and hide it there in the cleft of the rock." So I went and hid it by [the] Euphrates just as Yahweh had commanded me. {And then}, {after a long time}, then Yahweh said to me, "Stand up, go [to the] Euphrates and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there." Then I went [to the] Euphrates and I dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it, and look, the loincloth was ruined; it was not good for anything. {And then} the word of Yahweh came to me, {saying}, "Thus says Yahweh: 'So I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people, who refuse to listen to my words, who go in the stubbornness of their hearts, and have gone after other gods, to serve them, and to bow in worship to them, let them be like this loincloth which is not good for anything. For as the loincloth clings to [the] loins of a person, so I caused to cling to me all the house of Israel and all the house of Judah,' {declares} Yahweh, 'to be for me a people, and a name, and a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.' "Therefore, you shall say to them this word, 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: "Every jar must be filled with wine." ' And they will say to you, 'Do we not certainly know that every jar should be filled with wine?'
And they will come, and they will sing for joy on the height of Zion, and they will be radiant over the goodness of Yahweh, over [the] grain, and over [the] wine, and over [the] olive oil, and over [the] young ones of [the] flock, and over [the] cattle. And their life will become like a well-watered garden, and they will never languish again."
The hand of Yahweh was upon me, and he brought me by the Spirit of Yahweh, and he {let me rest} in the midst of the valley, and it [was] full of bones. And he led me {all around} over them, and look, very many on the surface of the valley, and look, very dry. read more. And he said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And I said, "Lord Yahweh, you know." And he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and you must say to them, [to] the dry bones, 'Hear the word of Yahweh! Thus says the Lord Yahweh to these bones: "Look! I [am] bringing into you breath, and you will live! And I will lay on you sinews, and I will let flesh come upon you, and I will cover you over [with] skin, and I will put breath into you, and you will live, and you will know that I [am] Yahweh." '" And I prophesied {just as} I had been commanded, and [there] was a sound at my prophesying, and look! A rattling, and they came together--[the] bones! Bone to its bone! And I looked, and indeed, sinews [were] on them, and flesh went up, and skin covered over them {upward}, but breath [was] not in them. And he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and you must say to the breath, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh {from the four winds}, "Come, O spirit and breath, on these dead ones, so that they may live!" '" And I prophesied {as} he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they became alive, and they stood on their feet, a very, very large group. And he said to me, "Son of man, these bones [are] all of the house of Israel; look! [they are] saying, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is destroyed; {we are cut off as far as we are concerned}.'
Put on the full armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil, because our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual [forces] of wickedness in the heavenly [places]. read more. Because of this, take up the full armor of God, in order that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand. Stand therefore, girding your waist with truth, and putting on the breastplate of righteousness, and binding [shoes] under your feet with the preparation of the good news of peace, in everything taking up the shield of faith, with which you are able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one, and receive the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
Therefore, [since] we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, putting aside every weight and {the sin that so easily ensnares us}, let us run with patient endurance the race that has been set before us,
And it has been granted to her that she be dressed in bright, clean fine linen (for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints).