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 bleached linen of woven work for Aaron and for his sons. And they made a miter of bleached linen, and the turban of the caps of bleached linen, and linen breeches of fine twined bleached linen, read more. and a girdle of fine twined bleached linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, of needlework, even as Jehovah commanded Moses.
Now I will sing to my Beloved a song of my Beloved concerning His vineyard. My Beloved has a vineyard in a very fruitful hill. And He fenced it, and gathered out the stones of it, and planted it with choice vines, and built a tower in its midst, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and He looked for it to produce grapes. And it produced wild grapes. read more. And now, O people of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, please judge between Me and My vineyard. What more could have been done to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Who knows? I looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded rotten grapes. And now I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard; I will take away its hedge, and it shall be eaten up; and break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down; and I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned nor dug; but briers and thorns shall come up. And I will command the clouds that they rain no rain on it. For the vineyard of Jehovah of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His pleasant plant; and He looked for justice, but behold bloody iniquity; for righteousness, but behold a cry!
So says Jehovah to me, Go and buy for yourself a linen girdle, and put it on your loins, and do not put it in water. So I bought a girdle according to the Word of Jehovah, and put it on my loins. read more. And the Word of Jehovah came to me a second time, saying, Take the girdle that you bought, which is on your loins, and arise. Go to Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock. So I went and hid it by Euphrates, as Jehovah commanded me. And it happened at the end of many days Jehovah said to me, Arise, go to Euphrates and take the girdle from there, which I commanded you to hide there. Then I went to Euphrates and dug, and took the girdle from the place where I had hidden it. And, behold, the girdle was rotted; it was not good for anything. Then the Word of Jehovah came to me, saying, So says Jehovah, In this way I will spoil 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 walk after other gods to serve them and to worship them, shall even be like this girdle, which is good for nothing. For as the girdle holds fast to the loins of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me, says Jehovah; so that they might be to Me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory; but they would not hear. So you will speak to them this Word: So says Jehovah, the God of Israel, Every skin shall be filled with wine. And they shall say to you, Do we not surely know that every skin shall be filled with wine?
Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of Jehovah, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the sons of the flock and the herd. And their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not pine away any more at all.
The hand of Jehovah was on me, and brought me by the Spirit of Jehovah, and made me rest in the midst of a valley, and it was full of bones. And He made me pass among them all around. And behold, very many were on the face of the 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 Jehovah, You know. Again He said to me, Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the Word of Jehovah. So says the Lord Jehovah to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews on you, and will bring up flesh on you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live. And you shall know that I am Jehovah. So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a noise. And behold, a shaking! And the bones came near, a bone to its bone. And I watched. And behold! The sinews and the flesh came up on them, and the skin covered them above. But there was no breath in them. And He said to me, Prophesy to the Spirit, prophesy, son of man, and say to the Spirit, So says the Lord Jehovah: Come from the four winds, O Spirit, and breathe on these dead ones so that they may live. So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the Spirit came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. And He said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, Our bones are dried and our hope is lost; we are cut off by ourselves.
Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the world's rulers, of the darkness of this age, against spiritual wickedness in high places. read more. Therefore take to yourselves the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Therefore stand, having your loins girded about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, take the shield of faith, with which you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God,
Therefore since we also are surrounded with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. For the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.