BIBLE IMAGERY -- The Creator's Creative

Writing
These are extracts from the much fuller introduction in the Bible commentary available for
free at
http://sites.google.com/site/freecommentary

Here's a taste of Biblical imagery...

##Some verses are plain puzzling, when you don't understand imagery:

1Co 10:4 and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of a spiritual rock
that followed them: and the rock was Christ.

Waters from stones is an established image for the Spirit. But you'll just have to see the
commentary on 'Sex' for an exposition.

##Some verses are simply puzzling if they don't clearly mention the image being used:

Mic 1:3 For, behold, Jehovah cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and
tread upon the high places of the earth.

~ Idolatry is the unstated image, and 'High places' = idolatrous shrines,

~ 'his place' is the heavenly mount Zion, in contrast to mountain places of false worship
~ 'Go forth' is a war image, otherwise left unstated.
~ 'Treading underfoot' is a vengeance image, also not explicit.
~ in the land of Israel, not the 'earth', is the better translation.

##Some make better sense when you see the imagery:

Joh 5:36 But the witness which I have is greater than that of John; for the works which
the Father hath given me to accomplish, the very works that I do, bear witness of me,
that the Father hath sent me.

..The verse before clues you to the 'greater and lesser luminaries' Joh_5:35, which are the
Sun and the Moon in Genesis 1.

Joh 5:35 He was the lamp that burneth and shineth; and ye were willing to rejoice for a
season in his light.

Gen 1:16 And God made the two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the
lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

##Rom 8:19-22 For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the
sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason
of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the
bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know
that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

..The clue is 'travail' as in a woman in labour. Reread it. It explains the the desires, the
subjection, the expecting, the waiting, the corruption, the groaning, the pains, the delivery,
the revealing into glory, and the children.

##Notice the Shepherd imagery explaining the protective night vigil and the goings back
and forth...

Psa 121:3-8 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. 4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel [Jacob the shepherd] Will neither slumber
nor sleep. 5 Jehovah is thy keeper: Jehovah is thy shade upon thy right hand. 6 The
sun shall not smite thee by day, Nor the moon by night. 7 Jehovah will keep thee from
all evil; He will keep thy soul. 8 Jehovah will keep thy going out and thy coming in
From this time forth and for evermore.

You may know that 'waters of life' is an idiom for 'fresh water', but if you think that Heaven
promises only free drinking water, you are not looking past the image of a well-looked-
after flock...

Rev 21:6 And he said unto me, They are come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the
water of life freely.

##Wisdom and folly are images of True and False prophecy, so 'fools and drunkards' is
meaning something different to normal...

Isa 19:11-15 The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish; the counsel of the wisest
counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the
wise, the son of ancient kings? 12 Where then are thy wise men? and let them tell thee
now; and let them know what Jehovah of hosts hath purposed concerning Egypt. 13
The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Memphis are deceived [astray and
erring]; they have caused Egypt to go astray, that are the corner-stone of her tribes. 14
Jehovah hath mingled a spirit of perverseness in the midst of her; and they have caused
Egypt to go astray in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit
[false prophecy out of their mouths]. 15 Neither shall there be for Egypt any work,
which head or tail, palm-branch or rush, may do. [False prophets and false shepherds
of the people both 'lead Israel astray'.]

That's just a taste to show how useful it is to understand Bible images.

...

The Bible is the most masterful and imaginative creative literary work on the face of the
planet — And this should be no surprise either — Just as He has shown Himself to be a
masterful Creator of the universe and the physical world we see around us, so we should
expect the Creator's words to be highly creative.

We might wrongly picture in our minds...

..a simple-minded patronising grandfather God (like Father Christmas)

..or a child-like god-man, like little-lamb-Jesus, simple-hearted, as if God never tells a
lie, always talks straightforwardly, and always naively reveals the whole of a matter.
..or we even hold God as a remote Idea who doesn't actually talk to us but leaves it up to
human teachers, poets and visionaries.
And so we don't expect highly creative literature, or high quality conversation, from Him to
me, worthy of Creator God.
However we actually do have a God of poetic heart communication.

The Bible is often misunderstood and dismissed for many bad reasons, but nonetheless it
is a creative masterpiece worthy of our Creator.

An excerpt from the imagery of 'Light'...

The importance of understanding imagery, and distinguishing between the visible image
and the often invisible object lesson, is most clearly seen when the image is of visible light.
We all look forward to the resplendently glowing New Jerusalem, the glory of seeing God
dwelling in glory, and of being like Jesus in his glory, with shining white linen, shining
forever like stars in the cosmos, and so on. But that is to focus on the light and colour
display, the great impressiveness of sound and power, and to miss the very much more
important lessons. What God is primarily telling us about when he refers to light and
bright glory is: 'Righteousness; Wisdom; True Judgment, Justice, Salvation, Honour,
Faithfulness to Covenant'.
Eph_5:9 (for the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth),
If these were to disappear, the glory would be empty, even if the power and fury continued
to rule, but if the glory were to prove figurative, the truth would remain as an everlasting
glory to God, His Christ and His Bride. Both will likely prove dependable outcomes, but in
our minds we imagine the picture primarily and have difficulty imagining the intangible
but far more important dimensions to the future 'glories'.

...

More than Metaphor

One difference from ordinary poetic metaphor, is that God's comparisons are necessarily
different. We say 'love is like a rose', and we understand love, and know roses; but God
says 'My love is like a shepherd' ?! and we have to learn new ideas from His extraordinary
explanations. We think we know 'shepherds', but until we understand His love, we really
don't know how a high priest should care for God's flock.

You could almost say that the only way in which God can and does communicate with us is
through analogy -- physical analogy for spiritual reality. However, do bear in mind that
the Bible's images refer to divine and ideal versions of what is familiar to us; in many ways
these are counter-intuitive, like a servant-lord, or a bridegroom-thief. We need to re-learn
how things should be and will be.

Worldly poetic imagery is picturesque, but can be disappointing, in that the name of the
game is to restate the obvious, in creative ways. It's entertaining, but you don't learn much.
Prophetic imagery is more of an exercise in explaining the unobvious using pre-planned
analogy...

This second difference is much more astounding...

Imagery is not simply making a comparison, as if exploiting an accidental similarity.

Yahweh has told us on page one of creation, that He has deliberately placed physical
images of invisible spiritual realities right into our everyday world.
 Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:...
Gen 1:27 And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him;

Life itself, you might say, is a reflection of God, the Living One, and He has made it so that
we can appreciate it as such.

Light was separated from darkness before the Sun and earth were made, yet next came a
physical object lesson for us to look at...

Gen 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day
from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years:

In fact, many of the pervasive images of prophecy began at the beginning -- as an integral
part of creation, and as an integral part of the creation account.

Of the later images, you couldn't ask for more God-given icons than the God-written stone
tablets and the God-ordered tabernacle and the God-revealed mercy seat of God's
presence, yet they are described respectively as

'a shadow of the things to come' Col_2:14-17

and

'a copy of the heavenly things' Heb_8:4-5

There is a back-up verse for what I have just said ('God has deliberately put into creation,
physical images of spiritual realities'):

Rom 1:19-20 because that which is known of God is manifest in them; for God
manifested it unto them. 20 For the invisible things of him since the creation of the
world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his
everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse:

Therefore the whole impressive scope of Old Testament Christology shows to us that even
ritual Law and history are also deliberately made one-piece with prophecy of Christ vs
Anti-Christ.

E.g. Joseph imprisoned between two criminals Gen_40:20-21, Mar_15:27

E.g. Christ as 'a glutton and drunkard' 'on a mast' Pro_23:21, Pro_23:34, Mat_11:19

This leads us to recognise how deliberately all these themes are continually worked into
prophecy, wisdom writings, law, ritual, feasts, history, and even creation.

An example of extensive imagery being one-piece with history and prophecy, is the
covenant and Promised Land, then exile, captivity, slavery and redemption of Israel from
foreign nations. The feasts commemorate it, and are intertwined with the prophecies of
more. The Law and the second-temple service result from it. The associated prophecies
predict a de-construction of creation, and a re-creation, of a Zion-centred, Christ-ruled
resurrection realm. It is not sensible to say that Biblical imagery is 'simply poetry'.

There are an impressive variety of other figures of speech and allegories, parables and
examples used in scripture. Seeing how deliberate are the other examples of scriptural-
analogies-for-spiritual-realities, we need to accept that less obvious anlogies might be just
as deliberate.

The implication of saying that God Himself asks that you appreciate His deliberate
images, is that our commentaries are inadequate. For centuries theologians have
despised 'symbolic interpretations' of scripture, preferring grammatical, cultural, literal,
linguistic evidence only.

The overliteral dogmatic church teaching of yesteryear, attacked by higher literary

criticism growing out of the Reformation, has set up a 'them vs us' war, and left the
impression that the Bible is either literally true by virtue of word-perfect revelation or else
completely mythological, symbolic and figurative, without divine authority. The truth is
simply that God is a creative writer like any master of the art, and His truths are also about
accurate and historical events. What has therefore been killed off in the cross-fire is the
middle-ground appreciation of His way of using creative language to communicate with us.

You'll find no better place to study up on this missing-piece material than in our
commentary, of course.

An example extracted from 'Clean' imagery...

The primary distinction between Clean and Unclean is between the nation of Israel and the
Gentiles. The Law made a deliberate distinction between Israel and everyone else. Israel
was forbidden to inter-marry with the 'unclean' Gentiles. The Gentiles were uncircumcised,
worshiped unclean idols and unclean spirits, and sacrificed and ate unclean foods from
unclean animals. Unclean spirits, demons, causing sickness lived amongst them. The
Gentiles also murdered children in their sacrifices to unclean demons. The lands they
inhabited were thus considered 'unclean'.
With 'uncleanness' being the defining attribute of the Gentiles, to then mention that
demons possess the Israelites, or that there are sick people in synagogues, or that the land
has become 'defiled' by murder and idolatry, is to indicate a distinctly fallen state.
To discern the clean from the unclean was the function of the Law and the Lawyers.
Jesus came along and said in effect: 'Stop judging by the flesh, and by appearances, but
judge by the spirit and in righteousness' -- as if to replace the Old Covenant with the
Kingdom of the New. He said in effect 'I AM your Judge, and I pronounce your hearts
'unclean'.'

Images, once they are explained, get through to everyone. They are self-
explanatory. In the Bible they are welcomed by those with faith, and obnoxious to those
without belief, because they understood them. They explain mysteries to all cultures. They
are cross-cultural; pan-cultural. Like the gospel, they are universal and non-exclusive —
everybody is welcome. They are kind. Images resonate with us all; they have a fundamental
appeal. Such images are unaffected by time, and are like the parables which everyone
understands out of their basic human experience. Difficult issues such as justice,
accounting, or redemption are presented in terms of slavery, crops or friendships. Images
get down to ground level.
You can fall in love with images, just as you do with the much-loved parables of Jesus.
Many of Jesus' parables come from the Prophets.
An example from the Building imagery...

The Builder's role in rebuilding the destroyed city is much like that of the Potter who re-
treads the clay, or the Harvester who does not plough forever Isa_28:24, nor thresh
forever Isa_28:28. There is mercy and redemption within the image.
We can easily visualise building in concrete terms (pardon the pun, but that is the very
point). What is harder to see is that the Builder and his work is an image, and not literal.
This can be seen from the way the idea of rebuilding is so frequently coupled with the idea
of re-planting.
Jer 1:10 see, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck
up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.
Jer 45:4 Thus shalt thou say unto him, Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, that which I have
built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up; and this in the
whole land.
We certainly do not expect to see Zion literally re-planted, nor do we think it is literally
clay, to be remoulded, so we must bear in mind that the meaning of foundations, temple,
etc, is ultimately of a spiritual re-building. Do not expect a new temple building simply
because 'the Bible says so'. If God adds a physical temple to the fulfilment of His words,
that is His choice, but not necessarily what He was trying to tell us about the eternal future.

...

Prophecy therefore becomes clear by a creeping clarity of image rather than by

logical interpretive exposition. I'll say that again: Relax and Read; Let it in like a movie;
Enjoy the journey; It doesn't switch on and off, it grows within, washes through, changes
your mind's eye by gradual evolution; Look for the poetic word pictures, not for 'the
answer to everything'. This requires a fundamentally different mind-set when approaching
the Bible — not to analyse it, not even to study it, but to listen to it, to appreciate it. Let
God tell His story His way. Familiarity becomes your best friend — familiarity gained from
absorbing all that has been said. The Bible begins to interpret the Bible, as you read,
because previous imagery lives in your heart's eye.

An example, extracted from 'Image' imagery...

The confusion between the visible image and the often invisible object lesson, is most
apparent when the image is of an image. We imagine the physical appearance primarily
and have difficulty imagining the intangible but far more important dimensions to realities
behind the image.
So when 'Christ Jesus is the exact image of God' we are liable to think 'Human? Male?!
Flesh!' rather than 'Humble; Selfless; Holy Spirit'.
'Son' is an image. But the likeness is spiritual.
'Shadow' of things to come, is an image, but not of physical things.
'Law' is a shadow, but not of a slightly different law.
'Temple' is a copy, but not of bricks and mortar.

An example extracted from 'Children' imagery...

The 'children' are not literally children at all. They are figurative for fully responsible and
often deliberately perverse adults. When we hear 'babes in Christ' we should think 'stunted
in growth; in danger of Hell'! When we hear 'children of disobedience' we should think
'sons of the Devil' and picture rebel-army commanders, aged high priests and such like.
...

An unexpected key to meaning lies in the vocabulary.

Once you cotton on to an image, the vocabulary itself becomes alive. The vocabulary of the
image can occur without stating its key idea.
E.g. Without hearing the words 'sheep' and 'shepherd', you can find 'doesn't sleep',
'lead', 'lie down', 'lead astray'... and still know He's talking of sheep being shepherded.
E.g. When you read 'Run' or 'Cry out!' or 'Declare!' you can know that He's talking
about a Messenger coming with the Gospel.
E.g. When you hear 'Work of My hands' you suspect that we're hearing of Israel made
as a pot.
E.g. When you hear 'Awake!' or 'Sleeping' it is death that is the topic, with resurrection
as the real topic.
E.g. 'Roar' and 'trample' are Beast talk... Kings are going to war.
E.g. 'Who will set me free from the body of this death', Rom_7:24, uses words which
have been repeatedly put into contrast with
Bondage to the flesh,
the spirit of Freedom from law and
the ministry of life from the New Covenant.
Likewise with 'all creation (=Jews and Gentiles)
in Slavery (cf liberty in spirit)
to corruption (=like idolatry)', Rom_8:21.

Physical-only interpretations have missed the point, but an alertness to the vocabulary
will avoid missing the relevant religious interpretation.

Extracted from 'Eat and Drink' imagery...

Bread and water, food and drink, are so normal-sounding to us, that we underestimate
how much spiritual teaching is directed our way by God using them as an illustration and
object lesson. Familiar concepts are exactly the ones deliberately loaded with imagery --
common words should not be overlooked. They tie into the important concepts of creation,
manna, spirit, covenants, sacrifices, eternal life, and much more.
..Hungry for righteousness, eating the words of prophecy, swallowed into exile, consumed
by death...

Images are a Hebrew way of thinking — a pictorial way of thinking, different from our
Greek mindset — images draw similarities from many different pictures; Pictorial language
thinks in terms of similarity rather than dissimilarity; It synthesises a whole composition,
rather than analysing the component parts.

Some images are surprising to our ears...

E.g. A shepherd is like a warrior — Did you know that?

The Mighty God of the whole universe is not ashamed to compare Himself to a broody
chook!
A virgin defiled is like an invaded and conquered city — that's a new way for us to think.
The bridegroom rides a chariot in the sky — it seems almost mythological, until you
become fluent in the language of imagery.
Sleeping is followed by Waking up and getting dressed... that's not news, but that it is a
 parable telling us of the resurrection is news.
Yahweh God divorces and then re-marries Israel. That goes against our 'Biblical'
morality.

Therefore understanding imagery is simply a practical point of having to come to grips

with a different way of thinking — of visualising, in a foreign language, across a culture and
time gap.

There is also within prophecy, a context blackout to get in our way — We don't know which
king he is talking about and why and what happened at the time. The sheer bulk of such
confusing prophecy is yet another hurdle. Therefore any help from the direction of
interpreting images is a practical boon for the cause of interpreting prophecy.

An example extracted from the 'Deliverance' image...

Deliverance is normally not an image, only a straightforward usage of words. But in the
Bible Redemption from sin is an image which builds upon the image of slavery to sin, and
Deliverance from death is an image, and the Israelites in exile were not normal slaves
(some were prime ministers, one was a Queen!). It is therefore to be treated as imagery.

...

God's imagery is different from ours. Poets talk of earthly things, comparing the earthly
to the earthly; but God talks of spiritual realities comparing them with the transient
earthly things. A poet is likely to say, e.g. my love for you is like something beautiful; but
God is more likely to put it the other way round... by saying: love for beautiful things and
human love are to teach you of My love for you. We therefore have to keep our eyes on the
'something bigger'. God talks of things we don't know of, in terms of things we do know.
But so often we are likely muck it up and think he's talking of what we do know.

E.g. In the Bible, the Lamb leads the flock!

E.g. 'Don't build on sand' is Biblical wisdom, isn't it? No, Biblical wisdom is... ..to not build
a spiritual temple on false prophets.

Interpreting an image, like any figure of speech, requires a simple discipline: Don't
look at the paint flecks of the picture; nor even at the picture; but remember the invisible
lesson the picture is painting for us.

E.g. We see the housewife silly enough to spend a day working for a lost silver penny, and
then spend the silver on a party. He is telling us of God's heart for the lost. We may think
he is explaining incoherent human nature, as a wonderful teacher and wise man should,
but that is to admire the painting only.
He's actually explaining God's heart to us -- He would do that for each of us.
That is an important illustration of why we need to appreciate how God uses imagery to
help us imagine the invisible — because it lets us see Jesus as a divine teacher, rather than
as a human teacher — He is talking of God-things, rather than things on this earth.

We can see these 'object' lessons, but He wants to lead us to the spiritual lessons.

Have you ever wondered why God commends the unrighteous accountant? It's because
there is a theme in the Bible that God's ways are higher than man's ways, and the context is
always about His great capacity to show mercy.

Images are like parables and like analogies.

The Paint-flecks fallacy of interpreting analogies is to dissect the components of the
painting, in an over-logical attempt to appreciate the picture.
The Beautiful-Picture fallacy is to be over-appreciative — of the wrong thing! — to
miss the object-lesson's lesson. Once you've sorted out the imagery which is a task in itself,
you still are faced with the interpretation.
The miss-the-point fallacy e.g. 'Don't dress up' leads us to teach: 'Don't dress up; Don't
get drunk; Don't build on sand'... instead of 'Instead, have a quiet inner spirit. Receive
God's Spirit'.

E.g. 'Laying down your life for your sheep' is not normal, even for a shepherd. If we think
he's talking about sheep, the story doesn't make sense, and we lose the point. But when we
understand...

1. ..that Shepherd and Sheep imagery represent death and rescue

2. and that the 'Good Shepherd' is God
3. and that He is talking about His creatures — people, not animals
4. and that Jesus is talking as God, by saying 'I AM the Good Shepherd'

..well, then we understand His point — God will sacrifice Himself for us — and it moves us,
and reassures us. This is an excellent example of why we need to come to grips with
imagery. Images are telling us of deep things. It is always the meaning beyond the image
that matters.

One last example from the commenatry...

Many Christians believe that the wine the Bible talks of, is non-alcoholic. But it is quite
obvious from the 'drunk-on-wine' image that the wine spoken of, is intoxicating. The
imagery is certainly alcoholic -- 'blind drunk' 'stupefied' 'can't talk straight; can't see
straight; can't walk straight' 'covered in their own vomit and filth'.
Drunk with spirits is the idea behind this image, both alcoholic and evil spirits. The false
prophets are described as 'reeling' and 'staggering' -- not something readily associated with
non-alcoholic grape-juice -- as they 'see' things that are not real. True prophets of Yahweh,
who are filled with the Holy Spirit, are also described as 'drunk'.
Jer 23:9 Concerning the prophets. My heart within me is broken, all my bones shake; I
am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of Jehovah,
and because of his holy words.
The real basis for the image is the staggering power of the spirit of God and the stupefying
strength of the works of God.

This is not an image that you can approach moralistically. See it for what it is saying, not
for what you think it ought to say.
If you think the Bible preaches against the evils of getting drunk, and teaches that one
should never drink alcohol -- as many Christian books have written, and as many pastors
preach -- you will find this a very surprising image. For Christ himself is the 'glutton and
the drunk' (Deuteronomy 21:20-23, Proverbs 23:20-21, 32-34, Matthew 11:18-19), who
delights in getting merry at the wonderful Wedding Feast in the end-times.

...
Once you've worked out the image and the meaning, what you get left with is... something
wonderful!

Enjoy the banquet of explanations, delight in the delicacies served up, puzzle out the
puzzles, but don't get worried about not yet fully understanding something you have
already welcomed.