12. Joseph is a type of Christ.
13. Moses praying with his arms held up is a type of Christ being crucified on the cross.
14. Abraham is a type of all who believe.
15. The priest trimming the wicks on the lampstand is a type of Christ dealing with our sins.
16. Melchizedek is a type of Christ’s unending and superior priesthood.
17. The clothes of Esau which Jacob wore when he deceived his father Isaac are a type of the church dressed in the righteousness of Christ.
18. The fine flour in the meal offering is a type of the evenness and balance of Christ’s character.
19. The cookine of the fine flour in the erain offering; is a type of Christ being te;ed by suffering. ” ”
20. Samson meeting the lion is a type of Christ meeting Paul on the Damascus Road.
21. The acacia wood in the tabernacle is a type of the hu- manity of Christ.
22. The altar of incense in the tabernacle is a type of Christ’s intercessory work.
23. The rams’ skins dyed red (and placed over the tabema- cle) were a type of Peter and Paul after they were saved.
24. The Passover feast was a type of Christ as our sacrifice.
25. Isaac being sacrificed by Abraham is a type of Christ being sacrificed for us.
26. The bells and pomegranates on the hem of Aaron’s robe are a type of the proclamation of the Gospel.
27. The divided hoof in some animals (Lev. 11:3) is a type of the Christian whose spiritual walk is divided.
28. The manna in the wilderness is a type of Christ sustain- ing the believer spiritually.
29. Cain is a type of the natural man.
30. Enoch is a type of the church saints who will be rap- tured before the Tribulation.
31. The Feast of Pentecost is a type of the church being formed on the Day of Pentecost.
32. The hinges in the doors to the holy place and the most holy place in Solomon’s temple are a type of the motives in the life of the Christian.
33. Abel is a type of the spiritual man whose sacrifice of blood evidenced his acceptance of a substitute for his sin.
34. Eve is a type of the church as the bride of Christ.
35. The two loaves in the Feast of Pentecost are a type of Jews and Gentiles.
36. The rest on the Sabbath is a type of the Christian’s spiritual rest and peace in Christ.
37. The goats’ hair covering over the tabernacle is a type of serviceableness.
Sensing the Symbols What Constitutes a Symbol?
The English word symbol comes from the Greek word symballe;
which means “a throwing together.” A symbol is some object (real or imagined) or action which is assigned a meaning for the purpose
of depicting rather than stating the qualities of something else.
Symbols and types are both representative of something else.
However, a type represents something to come, but a symbol has no time reference. A type is fulfilled at a specific time by its antitype.
The tabernacle in the wilderness was a type of Christ; as a type, no other tabernacle resembled and pointed forward to Christ. On the other hand in speaking of Christ as a lion, any lion can be thought of as depicting a certain characteristic of Christ.
A symbol “does not have its symbolic meaning because of what it is in itself. This meaning is assigned to it, and belongs to it only in its use as a symbol.“* Melchizedek was a type of Christ because both he and Christ are priests. This is a normal association, in which the type has its typical meaning because of what it is in and of itself. In a symbol, however, the meaning is assigned. A person would not normally associate a symbol with that which it symbol- izes. For example nothing inherent in the nature of good figs would normally suggest Jewish captives in Babylon, and yet that is what they symbolized in Jeremiah 24:3-5.
What Are Some Ptinciph fir Intevpeting Symbols?
1. Note the three elements in symbolic interpretation: the object (which is the symbol), the referent (what the symbol refers to), and the meaning (the resemblance between the symbol and the rgerent). In John 1~29 a lamb (object) pictures Christ (referent), and the meaning or resemblance is that Christ is a sacrifice just as many lambs were sacrifices. Or as in Isaiah 53:6, sheep (object) picture human beings (referent), and the meaning or resemblance is that humans spiritually go astray from God just as sheep physically stray from their flock.
2. Remember that symbols have their base in real@. Symbols are based on literal objects or actions, such as a lion, a bear, a boiling pot, shaking dust off one’s feet, etc. When Christ is said to be a lamb or a lion, He is not Himself literally a lamb or a lion, but those animals do exist in reality so that a meaningful resemblance can be drawn between the object and the referent. In prophetic passages symbols are sometimes based on imagination rather than actuality.
No beast known today has seven heads and ten horns (Rev. 17: 3), nor has any leopard ever had four heads and four wings (Dan. 7:6), nor is a woman normally transported in a basket (Zech. 5:5-11). Yet those symbols contain elements of reality, such as heads, horns, a leopard, wings, a woman, a basket.
3. Determine what meaning or resemblance, if any, is explicitly
assigned by the text to the referent. In prophecy if an object or action is intended as a symbol, the text usually designates it as such. For example in Revelation 9:l the star that fell from heaven is referred to in verse 2 as “he” to whom was given a key. This indicates the star symbolizes a person. Comparing this passage with 20:1, it seems clear that the one referred to is an angel. The dragon in verse 2 is identified in the same verse as Satan. Sodom and Egypt in 11:8 are symbols that are said to refer to Jerusalem. The ten horns on the fourth beast in Daniel 7 are said to be, that is, to symbolize or resemble, “ten kings who will come” (v. 24).
4. If the verse does not dive the meaning w resemblance of the symbol, then check other passags, check the nature of the symbol, and check which major characteristic the re&rent and the object have in com- mon. When John referred to Christ as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), he was using a lamb as a symbol of Christ, but without explicitly stating the resemblance.
5. Be care&l not to ass@ the won& charactevistic of the symbol to the referent. A lion is both ferocious and strong, but only its furious nature points to Satan (1 Peter 5:8) and only its strong nature refers to Christ (Rev. 5 : 5). Doves are docile and flighty, but in Matthew 10: 16 only their docile nature is indicated as the point of reference to believers, whereas in Hosea 7:ll only their flighty na- ture is indicated as the point of reference to Israel.
6. Laok
fir
the one major point of resemblance. Resist the temp- tation to draw many parallels between the symbol and that which it symbolizes.When. . . water represents the Word of God, it is because both things cleanse; not because they are clear, refreshing, inexpen- sive, or healthful. When oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit, it is because the individual is anointed with both. Oil is not symbol- ic of the Spirit because it gives light when it burns, nor because it is used to soften the scab on the wound, nor because it is extracted from the fruit only when it is pressed. Searching for several points of similarity is faulty handling of the symbol9
7. Realize that one referent may be depicted by several objects.
Christ, for example, is said to resemble a lamb, a lion, a branch, a root, and others. The Holy Spirit is symbolized by water, oil, wind, and a dove.
8. In prophetic literature do not assume that because a prophecy
contains some symbols evevytbing else in that prophecy is symbolic. In Revelation 19:19 the “beast)’ is a symbol, but that does not mean that ‘(the kings of the earth and their armies” in the same verse are to be taken as symbols. In verse 15 the sword from Christ’s mouth is a symbol (of His judging by His words), but that does not mean that the nations referred to in the same verse are a symbol of something else.
9. In prophetic literature do not symbolize (make into a symbol) descriptions of the fitwe that are possible m plausible. Revelation 8: 12 states that a third of the sun, moon, and stars will be struck and will not give light. It is plausible that this will actually take place, there- fore the sun, moon, and stars in this verse need not be thought of as symbolizing something else. In Revelation 9 the locusts from the Abyss are a reasonable possibility as either literal locusts or locust- like creatures and therefore are not to be taken as symbols of the Turks, as some have done in the past. The prophecy of the 144,000 in 7:4-8 need not be considered a symbolic number. The number is to be taken in its normal, literal sense because 12,000 people are said to be sealed from each of the 12 tribes of Israel. Since the tribal names are literal and not symbolic, there is no reason to take the numbers symbolically.
What Are Some of the Symbols in the Bible?
The following are some though not all of the symbols in the Bible, given in six categories.
Object or Action (Symbol) Divine Symbols
Sword at the east of Eden (Gen. 3:24)
Burning bush (Ex. 3:2) Pillar of cloud (Ex. 13:21-22) Symbols Seen in Visions
Boiling pot (Jer. 1:13) Good figs (Jer. 24:3-5) Bad figs (Jer. 24:3, 8) Dry bones given new flesh
(Ezek. 37)
Four beasts (Dan. 7)
Meaning
Breach of fellowship between man and God God’s holiness
God’s presence and guidance Judgment from the North Jewish captives in Babylon Remnant of Jews who stayed
in Judah Israel restored
Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome
Object or Action (Symbol) Ram and goat (Dan. 8) Basket of summer fruit (Amos 8: 1-12)
Gold lampstand (Zech. 4:2) Two olive trees (Zech. 4:3,
11-14)
Oil (Zech. 4: l-6)
Woman in a basket (Zech.
55-11)
Seven golden lampstands (Rev. 1:12-20)
Seven stars (Rev. 1:12-20) Material symbols
Blood (Deut. 12:23-25;
Lev. 17:ll; Heb. 1:3; 7:16;
9: 14; 13:20)
Bread and wine (Luke 22: 19-20)
Carved cherub (Ex. 25:18-22) Dove (Matt. 10:16)
Dove (Hosea 7:ll)
Dragon (Rev. 12:3-17; 13:2, 4, 11; 20:2)
Horn (1 Sam. 2:l; Ps. 112:9;
Lam. 2:3)
Incense (Rev. 8:3-4) Keys (Matt. 16:19) Lamb (Isa. 53:6) Lamb (John 1:29) Lion (1 Peter 5:8) Lion (Rev. 5:5)
Rainbow (Gen. 9: 13-16;
Ezek. 1:28; Rev. 4:3) Serpent (Gen. 3:l; 2 Cor.
11:3; Rev. 12:9, 14-15;
20:2)
Meaning
Persia and Greece
Judgment is coming (just as fruit indicates the end of summer)
Israel as God’s witness to the world
Zerubbabel and Joshua The Holy Spirit
Sinful Israel Seven churches Angels (or ministers)
seven churches Life
of the
Christ’s body and blood God’s holiness
Docile believers Flighty Israel Satan
Strength and defense Prayer
Authority
Human waywardness Christ as a substitutionary
sacrifice
Satan as a ferocious being Christ as King
God’s faithfulness Satan
Object m Action (Symbol) Stone (Dan. 244-45; Isa.
28~16)
Water (John 7:38-39) Water (Eph. 5:26) Water (Titus 3:5) Symbolic Jesttires
Placing one’s hands on another person (Gen.
48: 13-14, 17;
Matt. 19: 15)
Beating one’s breast (Luke 18: 13)
Sitting in dust and ashes (Job 42:6) or in sackcloth and ashes (Luke 10:13) Tearing one’s clothes
(Job 1:20)
Tearing one’s clothes (Mark 14:63)
Shaking dust off one’s feet when leaving a city that rejected Christ (Matt.
10:14; Acts 13:51) Washing one’s hands (Matt.
27:24) Symbolic actions
A seraph (angel) placed a live coal on Isaiah’s lips
(Isa. 6:5-6)
Jeremiah buried a linen belt in a rock crevice and later, when it had rotted, dug it up (Jer. 13: l-8)
Jeremiah watched a potter making a clay pot&( Jer.
18: l-4)
Jeremiah/broke a clay jar (Jer. 19: 10)
Jeremiah wore a yoke (Jer.
27: l-2)
Meaning Christ Holy Spirit
The Word of God Regeneration
Imparting a blessing
Expressing remorse Expressing repentance
Symbolizing grief Expressing anger
Symboliziig that the city was so despised by the disciples that it was as if its very dust was unwanted Expressing innocence and removal of responsibility Isaiah was cleansed inwardly
(Isa. 6:7)
False gods worshiped by Judah were useless like the rotten belt (Jer. 13: 10) God is sovereign over His
people (Jer. 18:5-6)
Judah would be ruined like a broken jar (Jer. 19: 11)
Zedekiah was to surrender to the authority of Babylon (Jeer. 27: 12)
Object OY Action (Symbol)
Jeremiah buried stones in clay in the brick pavement at the palace in Egypt
(Jer. 43:8-9)
Ezekiel ate a scroll with words of lament and mourning and woe (Ezek. 2:8-3:3) Ezekiel drew an outline of Jerusalem on a clay tablet, and built siege works and a ramp against it (Ezek. 4: l-3)
Ezekiel lay 390 days on his left side and 40 days on his right side, weighed out his food, and cooked it, using cow manure for fuel (Ezek. 4:4-6, 9-15) Ezekiel shaved his head and
beard, and burned one third of the hair, cut one third of it and threw it to the wind and tucked some in his garment (Ezek. 5:1-4) Hosea married an adulterous
woman, who left him, and then he bought her back and loved her again (Hosea 1:2-3; 3:2) John ate a scroll (Rev.
10:9-10)
Mean&J
Babylon would conquer Egypt (Jer. 43:10-13)
Ezekiel was to give a message of lament and woe to Israel
(Ezek. 2: 10)
Jerusalem would be attacked by Babylon (Ezek. 4:3)
The people of Jerusalem would eat ceremonially defiled food in nations that would capture them (Ezek. 4:13)
One third of the people of Jerusalem would die by plague or famine, one third by the sword, and one third be scattered (Ezek.
512)
God will restore Israel even though she has sinned against God (Hosea 3:5)
John was to appropriate the message God would give him (Rev. 1O:ll)
Even the ordinances of the church-baptism and the Lord’s Supper- are symbolic actions. Water baptism symbolizes the believ- er’s identification with Christ in His burial, death, and resurrection.
In taking the elements in the Lord’s Supper, believers symbolically proclaim the Lord’s death, with the bread picturing Jesus’ body which was broken in His crucifixion, and the cup picturing His blood which was shed on the cross for the remission of sins.
Symbolic Numbers
Some numbers seem to suggest certain concepts because they are frequently used in association with those ideas. Seven is often associ- ated with perfection (Gen. 2:2-3; Rev. 1:12; 4:5; 5:l; 8:l; 15:l;
16: 1). Forty is often associated with testing, as in Moses’ 40 years in Midian (Acts 7:29-30), Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness (Num.
32:13), Jesus’ 40 days of temptation (Luke 4:2).
However, though some numbers have symbolic connotations because of their associations, this is no basis for making the numbers mean something other than their normal, literal meaning. Though the length of Jesus’ temptation is associated with the concept of testing, He was in fact tempted for 40 literal days. While the seven golden lampstands symbolized seven churches (Rev. 1: 12’20)’ with the number seven symbolizing completeness, this does not give us liberty to disregard the literal nature of seven and to imagine fewer or more than seven lampstands.
Symbolic Names
Names of some people and places in the Bible take on significance symbolically. No attempt, however, should be made by Bible stu- dents to see symbolism in names, unless they are so designated in the Scriptures. The name Eve was given to Adam’s wife “because she would become the mother of all the living” (Gen. 3:20). The word Epe in Hebrew means “living.” Apparently this was an expression of Adam’s faith as he looked to the future, even though God had just pronounced that they would be subject to death (v. 19). God changed Abram’s name to Abraham to signify that he would be the ancestor of many people. Abram means “exalted father,” and Abra- ham means “father of many” (17: 5). God also changed the name of his wife Sarai to Sarah, which means “princess” (v. 15).
Sometimes mothers gave their children names that related to the circumstances of their births or to characteristics they anticipated their children would acquire. Jacob’s wife Leah was not loved by Jacob, and yet when the Lord gave her a child she named him Reuben, saying that the Lord had seen her misery. The word Reuben sounds like the Hebrew “He has seen my misery.” The name of her second son Simeon probably means “one who hears.” Levi sounds like the Hebrew word for “attached,” and so Leah named her third son Levi for she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” When her fourth son Judah was born she praised the Lord, for the wordjudah sounds like
the Hebrew word for praise (29:31-35). The children of Jacob’s other wife Rachel also were given names relating to the circum- stances of their births (see 30: l-24, and the NIV footnotes).
Pharaoh’s daughter named the baby boy found in the Nile River Moses “saying, ‘I drew him out of the water”’ (Ex. 2:lO). The word Moses sounds like the Hebrew for ccdraw out.” In Hebrew, Moses is moS’eh and the Hebrew verb m&i% means “to draw out.”
Hannah named her son Samuel for she said, “Because I asked the Lord for him” (1 Sam. 1:20). However, the name Samuel is not related to the Hebrew word for “asked” (SiF’al), but to the word
“heard” (i@ma3. By her statement Hannah was suggesting that God had heard what she asked. “Samuel” is from the Hebrew words that mean ‘cheard of God.”
Daniel’s name means “God has judged” or “God is my Judge.” Nebuchadnezzar changed Daniel’s name to Belteshazzar, which means &Lady, protect the king.” Nebuchadnezzar wanted Daniel to forget the name of God, included in the name given to Daniel by his parents. Similar changes were made in the names of Daniel’s three friends (Dan. 16-7).
The three children of Gomer, Hosea’s wife, take on signifi- cance as messages for the nation Israel. Jezreel, the name of the first son, suggests that God will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel (Hosea 15); the daughter’s name Lo-Ruhamah means “she is not loved” and indicates that God’s love for Israel would be cut off for a time (v. 6); and the second son Lo-Ammi, which means “not my people,” conveyed the message to Israel that God was not consider- ing sinful Israel as His people.
Jesus changed Simon’s name to Cephas (Aramaic) and Peter (Greek), which mean rock (John 1:42; cf. Matt. 16:lS). His new name pointed ahead to his new role in the founding of the church (Acts 2).
The names of places sometimes took on significance in rela- tion to events that occurred at those spots or in relation to the characteristics of people at those places. When the Angel of the Lord appeared to Hagar, she named the well Beer Lahai Roi because, as she explained, “I have now seen the One who sees me” (Gen. 16: 13- 14). The Hebrew words mean “well of the living One who sees me.”
Jacob changed the name of the town Luz to Bethel, which means
“house of God” because he had said, “This is none other than the house of God” (28:17, 19).
Occasionally a city or nation is given another name. For instance God referred to Jerusalem’s leaders as the “rulers of Sodom”
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem as the “people of Gomorrah” (Isa.
1:lO) because they had become as sinful as those ancient cities.
Ezekiel gave the name Sodom to the nation Judah (Ezek. 16:46), and Jerusalem is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt in Revelation 118. Scholars differ on whether Peter’s reference to Babylon in 1 Peter 5:13 should be understood as referring to the literal city of Babylon on the Euphrates River or symbolically to Rome. Those holding the latter view suggest that Babylon may have been dis- guised as a reference to Rome to protect the believers there from persecution under Nero. According to historical evidence, Peter was in Rome during the final years of his life and his “son” Mark, who is referred to in the same verse, may be John Mark, whom Paul said was in Rome (CU. 4: 10).
Symboh Colors
Sometimes colors take on emblematic significance, but again caution should be used here to avoid going beyond the clear designations of Scripture. Purple seemed to be a color used in fabrics to depict royalty (Jud. 8:26; Es. 1:6; 8:15; Song 3:lO; Dan. 5:7, 16, 29;
Mark 15:17, 20) or wealth (Prov. 31:22; Luke 16:19; Rev. 17:4;
1816).
White is often associated with purity (Isa. 1: 18; Dan. 7:9;
Matt. 17:2; 28~3; Acts 1:lO; Rev. 1: 14; 3:4-5; 4:4; 6:ll; 7~9, 13- 14; 19:11, 14; 2O:ll).
We should avoid drawing meanings for other colors, such as blue, red, scarlet, black, or yellow, since the Scriptures do not seem to point clearly to their meanings by associations. Again, students of the Bible should avoid reading into the Scriptures something that is not there.