4. Symbolic Language
The language of many biblical books is rich with symbolism, and while some of the symbols used in the Bible are found in other cultures – like some of the figures of speech considered in the last chapter – many are specific to the Bible itself.
Symbols were used by biblical writers for various purposes. They are most common in the poetic and prophetic portions of the Bible, but they can appear in any of its books.
They were sometimes used to hide knowledge from some and to make it clear to others (Matthew 13:10-13). In other cases, symbols were used to conceal a meaning until it was time to reveal it (as was true with many of the messianic prophecies found in the Old Testament).
Biblical symbolism may also take different forms – it may be expressed in individual words or short phrases or may take the form of longer, more detailed stories, allegories, or parables. In this chapter we will look at all of these types of symbolism. Words as Symbols Whenever words are used in a non-literal sense in the Bible, they may have a symbolic meaning. In these cases we must read carefully in order to distinguish between normal figures of speech and symbolic language with a deeper meaning. Differentiating these meanings is seldom difficult, however; it is often just a matter of learning the various words of the Bible's "symbolic vocabulary." For example, "mountain" can often be symbolic of a nation (Isaiah 2:2; Ezekiel 36:1-15; etc.), just as "wind" may be a symbol of the Spirit of God (John 3:8; Acts 2:2; etc.).
We must be careful not to limit our understanding through associations that are too narrow, however. It is often said that the word "woman" is a symbol of the Church in scripture. While that is certainly true sometimes (2 Corinthians 11:2; Revelation 19:7; etc.), a woman can also be used as a symbol of any large group of people such as a city or a nation (Lamentations 1:1-7; Jeremiah 6:2). It may be clear in a given scripture that the word "woman" is being used symbolically, but we still need to be careful to consider the range of possible meanings in its specific context. Symbolic Phrases Sometimes a biblical symbol is conveyed by a short phrase. On occasion such phrases can be difficult to understand, as they may have little context to help interpret them. For example, in his first epistle the apostle John writes "This is the one who came by water and blood – Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood" (1 John 5:6).
Some have interpreted the phrase "by water and blood" to symbolically refer to the Holy Spirit (symbolized by water) and humanity (symbolized by blood) to signify Jesus' dual divine and human nature. This is an unlikely meaning because the passage continues to speak about the Holy Spirit as separate from the water and blood (vs. 8). It is more likely that the "water and blood" actually refer to Jesus' baptism and crucifixion (see point 7 on substitution in the last chapter) – the beginning and end of his ministry – but the meaning of phrases such as these that are unique to biblical symbolism is not always easy to confirm.
Sometimes, in fact, we must simply look at the apparent possibilities regarding a symbolic phrase and accept that we are not sure which might be the correct meaning. One such example is when the apostle Paul wrote that in his day "the secret power of lawlessness" was already at work; but the "one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way" (2 Thessalonians 2:7). Despite a great many theories, we can only trust that if it were necessary to know more on this or similar subjects, more information would have been given. Fortunately, most symbolic phrases are not so difficult to interpret.
Stories, Allegories and Parables The Bible contains many stories that are told in a symbolic manner. In Judges 9:8-15, the man Jotham tells how all the trees of the forest try to choose an unfit king to rule over them. The story is not explained directly, but its context makes it clear that it is symbolic of the people of Israel crowning the evil Abimelech.
In the New Testament, of course, the teaching of Jesus was full of symbolism, and many of the parables he told are simply symbolic stories. In fact, the Greek word parabolē from which we get the English word parable is sometimes translated "symbol." It was through symbolism that Jesus was able to present himself to the people of his time not only as a Shepherd, a Farmer, a Bridegroom, and a King, but also, in true symbolic form, as a Cornerstone, a Door, a Vine, Bread, Light, and Water. He was also able to symbolically compare the kingdom of God to things ranging from a seed, a tree, a field, a net, a pearl, to a great wedding feast. Most of the parables of Jesus, like the various other symbolic stories found throughout the Bible, are explained in context and are relatively simple to understand – we just have to think about them. Visions and Symbols While many of the visions given by God and recorded in the Bible are understandable, some are more complex to interpret. For example, although the details of the apostle John's vision of the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:9-27) are given in symbolic language, they are comprehensible and, as we will see, can even be compared with similar scriptures in Isaiah 60 that enhance or confirm our understanding of them.
On the other hand, in the vision recorded in Daniel 5, we find that after telling of the rise of "a goat with a prominent horn between his eyes" who "came from the west" (Daniel 8:5), which clearly equates with Macedonian Greece (vs. 21) and its king, Alexander the Great, the vision speaks of an individual of great evil who would arise at a later time (vs. 23). The details of this part of the vision indicate this individual may have been Alexander's eventual successor Antiochus Epiphanes who outlawed Judaism and slaughtered thousands in Jerusalem in 167 BC. But Daniel also records that he was told to "seal up the vision, for it concerns the distant future" (vs. 26), so many students of the Bible see the possibility of a later individual of whom Antiochus was an earlier type (see Matthew 24:15-16; etc.). Daniel concluded that parts of his vision were "beyond understanding" (vs. 27) in his time, and we do well to treat the symbolic aspects of such biblical visions with care, seeing possible fulfillments, but keeping an open mind to other possibilities.
Although such mysterious symbolic visions may get our attention, overall it is thinking about the Bible's use of simple symbolic words that can often be most profitable, as we see in the following example.
Case Study: A Sun and a Shield King David certainly had a way with words - not just in the eloquence and poetry of many of the psalms he composed, but also in the symbols he uses to talk about God. "The Lord God is a sun and shield" (Psalm 84:11) is a great example of this.
Today, it is easy to read over those two words "sun" and "shield" and to see them only as a reference to the sun as a great light and a shield as an antiquated symbol of protection. But in the society in which David wrote, those two words were packed with an amazing amount of meaning.
In ancient Israel, as in much of the ancient Near East, the sun was not only a symbol of light, but of sustenance and life itself. The ancients understood that without the sun there would be no crops and therefore no life. The sun also symbolized many aspects related to light, such as righteousness, just as we see in the biblical statement: "But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise" (Malachi 4:2). In the same way, just as today a pair of scales symbolizes fairness and thus justice, in the biblical world, because of its association with light and righteousness, the sun symbolized justice. As a result, for several of the polytheistic cultures around Israel the sun god was the god of justice. We see this association of sun and justice in biblical verses such as "He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday sun" (Psalm 37:6 ESV) and in the ironic statement in Ecclesiastes: "And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgment – wickedness was there" (Ecclesiastes 3:16). In David's time, there were many other associations that would have been recognized between the sun and characteristics such as majesty and strength. When David wrote that the sun was like: "…a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy" (Psalm 19:4-5 ESV), he was referring to the majesty of a bridegroom in his splendid wedding garments and the strength of a champion runner. These were concepts that his hearers would have easily understood by means of the symbolism of the sun.
The shield, in a similar way, primarily connoted protection and refuge and is often used alongside the image of God as a "rock," as in verses such as: "my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation" (2 Samuel 22: 3), and "you are a shield around me, O LORD" (Psalm 3:3). In this sense, the shield was used as a symbol of help in any difficulty: "The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me" (Psalm 28:7 and see Psalm 115:9-11). But the shield not only signified protection, rescue, and help, it also connoted many other things. It could symbolize kingship (Psalm 84:9) as well as monarchial power and kingly treasures, and even the words of God (Proverbs 30:5).
So, light, life, sustenance, righteousness, justice, strength, majesty, power, protection, refuge, rescue, help, kingship, monarchy, the treasures of kings, the words of God, and many other things may all be symbolized in the two words "sun" and "shield" that David used in Psalm 84:11. Most of these symbolicallyassociated meanings would have been clear to the psalmist's original readers with only a little thought. The more we think about the symbols used in biblical verses about God, the more we can often understand about his nature. Not all the Bible's descriptions of God are phrased in symbolic language, of course, but it can often richly repay us to think about those descriptive symbols. Even if they are only one or two words, they may be packed with meaning – and better understanding of such "small-scale" symbols is often just as valuable as coming to understand larger symbolic issues.