Posted on by Abe Austin

The Richness of Scriptural Symbolism- Barabbas

Earlier in this study I noted that every good symbol has constant reenactments following it. Every symbol that connects with the human core is seen again and again and again.

Today I want to illustrate that symbols are not only deep, though, they can also be broad. Some of them not only have multiple meanings over time, but also multiple meanings in the very first moment. I will illustrate that today with the example of Barabbas.

The Story of Barabbas)

Barabbas was a prisoner in Israel at the time of Jesus. He had quite the list of offenses. From John 18:40 we hear that he was a robber, and from Mark 15:7 we learn that he was also a seditionist and a murderer. It is most likely that he was condemned to death, waiting for his execution to be carried out when fate intervened to set him free.

His turn of fortune came as a result of Pilate seeking to spare Jesus, who he could sense was innocent any crime. It was the Passover, when it was customary for one prisoner to be released, so Pilate tried to save Jesus by stacking his freedom against that of deplorable Barabbas. If the Israelites really wanted to condemn Jesus, they would have to instead free a person who might literally kill them! Shockingly, that is exactly the choice that they made, and Pilate had to release the murderer. Jesus, of course, did go on to be killed that very same day.

Two Symbols of Barabbas)

The freeing of Barabbas is a powerful symbol, one with two immediate meanings. First of all, the release of Barabbas is symbolic of the mission of Jesus Christ and its effect upon all mankind. We are each of us Barabbas, sinners worthy of death, set free because Jesus was condemned instead. As the prophet Isaiah foretold, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

Here we have a bright and hopeful symbol in the release of Barabbas, but there is also a dark foreshadowing in it as well. For just as much as it stands for the liberation of all us sinners, it also stood for the impending decimation of the Israelite people.

Within just forty years of Israel choosing Barabbas over Jesus, the entire nation would be devastated, with an estimated hundreds of thousands of Jews being slaughtered, maybe more, and the survivors scattered to the winds. But wasn’t this what they had chosen? They had had the choice between the literal Prince of Peace and a man of violence, and they had selected the latter! Hear their words as recorded in Luke 23:18, “And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas.” Release unto us the killer…and that was just what they received.

Split Symbolism)

Barabbas’s release isn’t just a symbol with two different interpretations, it is a symbol with polar opposite interpretations! One of restored life, and one of consignment to death. It may seem remarkable that it can have both of these connotations, but it turns out that this is actually fairly regular in the scriptures. The cross is simultaneously a symbol of man’s greatest cruelty and God’s greatest love. Also, the serpent is used as a symbol of the Devil in the Garden of Eden, and of Christ when Moses raised the healing bronze serpent on the stick. The rainbow both stands as a reminder of God’s flooding the world, and His promise that He won’t do so again.

I believe that part of the reason for polar opposite symbols is because many of the deepest spiritual notions are also two-sided in profound ways. Is justice a principle of punishment for the wicked, or of exoneration for the innocent? Does God’s glory purify us or condemn us? Is the work of man creation or destruction? The answer to all of these is both. Good symbols recognize that there is a good side and a bad side to our reality, and they manage to represent both at the same time.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Richness of Scriptural Symbolism- The Natural Order

I have shared about the symbol at the core of Jacob receiving Esau’s blessing and I have shared about another symbol at the core of the Good Samaritan. Both of these examples show how good symbols reflect real life and today’s story is yet another example of that, but also of another principle that I wish to illustrate.

David’s Sin)

The story of David in the Old Testament is at times triumphant and at times tragic. Everything turns upon one pivotal moment, where he betrays his own conscience and destroys an innocent man. The story begins, of course, with him seeing Bathsheba bathing from the roof of his palace, then bringing her to him and committing adultery. When she became pregnant from the encounter he tried to obfuscate the parentage of the child, and when that failed, he ordered her husband to be placed at the forefront of a battle where he would likely be killed, which was exactly what happened.

But what David did in secret was fully known to God, and the Lord sent His prophet, Nathan, to tell him a symbolic story. In 2 Samuel 12:1-4 we read that story:

There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.

And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.

The story is, of course, a symbol for David. He is the rich man that had everything yet took from the poor man who had so very little. Not only this, but it is a symbol for all injustices in which the rich have further extended themselves by crushing those beneath them. This type of injustice is, unfortunately, fundamental to the human condition, and Nathan condenses it expertly into this one, short story.

The End of the Symbol)

Because Nathan’s story is so direct and so fundamental, it is only natural to feel a powerful emotional reaction to it. David certainly did, and the account in 2 Samuel records that response:

And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die!

Obviously, David had not realized that he, himself, was the subject of the story. His was the own head that he was proclaiming death upon!

This dramatic example illustrates one of the other hallmarks of good symbols: they make plain to us the natural order and summon from us the correct resolution to any unnatural situation.

The fact is, each one of us is imbued at birth with basic morals and truths. Deep at our core, we understand justice even before we can put words to the notion. It is ingrained in us, and a good symbol can help us cut through all of the bias and distraction, seeing plainly what the natural order is, how it has been twisted, and what must be done to set it right.

If David had known that he was the real subject of the story, he may well have squirmed and tried to justify his actions. But since he was absorbed in the fundamental violation of the natural order described in the story, he could not help but exclaim the harsh penalty that was necessary to set things right. By recognizing the answer to the fundamental, he had also found the answer to the specific. Such is the power of a truly good symbol.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Richness of Scriptural Symbolism- A Modern Reenactment

My last post was about Jacob and Esau, and how they unwittingly reenacted something deep and eternal and fundamental to the destiny of us all. The hope of us all on judgment day was manifested in their little family drama. They were expressing a symbol of something that didn’t even know lived within them. In my last post I also promised that I had another example of this, a personal one, and today I will share that with you.

Passing on the Way)

This story takes place when I was twenty, serving as a missionary in the country of Guyana. My companion and I spent each day under the blistering Caribbean sun, meeting people on the street, sharing messages in homes, and helping run the affairs of the local branch. Our days were always very full, and one morning we were zipping along the streets on our bicycles, hurrying to our next appointment.

“Hello, Brother Ravi!” we waved as we zoomed past a member of the local congregation. He smiled and called out “good morning,” to us, then went back to slowly pulling himself along the road by his toes. Brother Ravi, you see, was in a wheelchair, too weak in the legs to stand, and too weak in the arms to push the wheels, so he was left to dangle his feet onto the dirt and gravel road, grip with his toes, and inch his way forward at a snail’s pace.

My companion and I turned down two more streets before suddenly we stopped and looked at one another.

“What are we doing?!” I said.

“Why didn’t we help him?!” he responded.

We immediately turned around and raced back to help Brother Ravi get home. As we approached, however, we found that someone else had already stepped in to do it. It was a man who looked extremely ragged. His hair was unkempt, his clothes were full of holes, and his legs wouldn’t bend at the knees. By putting his weight on the handles of the wheelchair, he barely managed to keep his balance, awkwardly shuffling down the street with Brother Ravi. Both the stranger and Brother Ravi were in good spirits, though, happily chatting to one another, with Brother Ravi giving directions to his home. It was clear from their conversation that this was their first meeting, the man was a stranger who stepped in simply because he saw a need.

Even though we were younger and more fit, it didn’t seem right for us to take over this stranger’s kind act of service. With a sense of guilt, my companion and I turned our bikes and continued on our way.

A Story from Long Ago)

It was only when reflecting on this experience that I realized we had reenacted a story that I’d already heard many times before. Brother Ravi, the stranger, and us two missionaries had all unwittingly taken part in the story of the Good Samaritan. Brother Ravi was the man in need on the side of the road, the stranger was obviously the Good Samaritan who went out of his way to help another, and my companion and I had played the unfortunate part of the priest and the Levite, two men specifically called to help those in need, but who had instead hurried on their way. We had abandoned our rightful duty, and it had fallen to another to fill that gap.

There is much that I have learned from that experience, but for now let us consider how the story of the Good Samaritan is full of symbols that manifest themselves in our lives, even without us realizing it at the time. As it turns out, humanity is full of examples of those who should help falling short, leaving strangers to take over the responsibility instead. I won’t go into the details on all of these, but you can see these themes among The Kindertransport, The Righteous Among Nations, and The White Helmets. These were all volunteers who stepped in to help when official aid was lacking or absent.

An important lesson from these symbols having so many applications is that we should never read these stories and say, “This is the one thing that that story is supposed to represent.” Because if it is a truly good symbol, it hasn’t finished representing all that it is meant to represent. There is no one, single, interpretation. Was Jesus’s story meant to symbolize the state of ancient Israel at the time? Yes. Was it also meant to represent me and my companion passing by Brother Ravi? Yes. And a thousand other instances of this pattern as well. It is a story that has played out through the past and will surely play out again in the future.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Richness of Scriptural Symbolism- Constant Reenacting

In my last post I mentioned that good symbols connect to the very core of the human experience. They identify something that is fundamental to our race, which means they keep showing up in the lives of countless individuals. This means that they will be reenacted by people who have no idea that that is what they are doing. Today I will give a scriptural example of this, and in my next post one that is more personal.

Receiving the Father’s Blessing)

The last time I studied the story of Jacob obtaining Esau’s blessing, I noticed a symbol in it that I had never seen before. In the Genesis account, Jacob dresses in the clothes of his brother Esau, prepares meat in the same manner as Esau, and presents himself under the name of Esau in order to receive the blessing that his father has for his elder brother. In this moment, it doesn’t appear that anyone involved in the charade saw it as anything more than an isolated family drama, but it was actually a sign of something bigger than them all.

Jacob’s presentation in the guise of his elder brother reflects how each of us hope to be presented to the Lord on judgment day. Obviously, we won’t actually be fooling God, but by laying down our own lives and taking up Christ’s, we hope to be introduced under the name, appearance, and deeds of Jesus, our elder brother. He, alone, is worthy of God’s blessing, but because we can be adopted under his name, we can receive his blessing as though we were him.

As I said, I do not think that Jacob, Esau, Isaac, and Rebekah had this in mind when they performed their little drama, but that symbol comes from the very roots of the human soul. It is baked into us, and it is not surprising that it rises to the surface now and again in our lives.

As we look for good symbols to guide our lives, we should take special note of patterns that emerge seemingly at random, but which echo things of a more eternal nature. We should consider if what we see in our typical day is, in fact, a new bud on a plant whose roots extend far, far below.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Richness of Scriptural Symbolism- Eternal Wisdom

The Perpetual Relevance of Symbols)

The Bible is a library of many different things, including historical accounts, legal instructions, moral teachings, prophetic sayings, psalms, letters, and gospel testimony. One of its defining features is its rich symbolism, which people continue to find new interpretations and new meanings for even today.

Some of the text in the Bible is, at a minimum, over 3000 years old. It is a rare thing to have words from that long ago that still resonate and have meaning to us today. Such an accomplishment demonstrates a profound understanding of the human condition, for it is only by identifying and representing something that is fundamental to humanity itself that these symbols can be consistent through all changes of culture and context. A symbol that is tied to the very core of the human soul will re-manifest itself perpetually, keeping its importance forever new.

They say that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. But history is but a record of how people reacted to their fundamental human nature, and since fundamental human nature persists, history will repeat itself again and again, whether we have studied it or not. Every great setback that we will face in the future has already been observed, and the way that each of those setbacks will be overcome is also already knowable. When the old evils return, it is the timeless symbols of ancient scripture that will guide us back to the light.

The Qualities of Good Symbols)

So far, we have identified one hallmark of good symbols: that they represent a core part of the human soul and thus reappear eternally through each generation. With the rest of this study, I want to consider what other hallmarks of good symbols, so that we may know how to separate the perpetually useful from the context dependent.

It will be necessary to provide specific examples of scriptural symbols as a part of this study, and when I do so, I will specifically use ones from the Bible. This will serve a secondary objective of this study, which is to demonstrate the intrinsic value of that book. That being said, this study will by no means be a comprehensive list of all the greatest symbols within the Bible. It remains the responsibility of each of us to find those nuggets for ourselves and to integrate them into our own lives.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 14:29

29 But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.

Verse 29 describes a most awe-inspiring situation for the Israelites. “The waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.” Thus, they went forward with the potential for absolute destruction raised on either side of them! It must have taken great faith to put themselves in such a situation. Of course, faith in a safe crossing would be strengthened by the fact that God had already proved He could part the sea in the first place, so He should be able to keep it parted for as long as needed to reach the other side. The God who brings us into the path by a miracle will also be able to sustain the path by continual miracles.

Recently, I observed how some of the symbolic expressions in the Judeo-Christian theology were literally manifested among the ancient Israelites. There is another example of this in today’s verses, too. Here, in the image of the Israelites walking down the parted sea we have the literal manifestation of the straight and narrow way “which leadeth unto life,” a way that is marked by God and provided to us by His grace and power. Meanwhile, on either side of the narrow path stood the broad expanse of the sea that led unto destruction.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 12:24-27

24 And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever.

25 And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the Lord will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service.

26 And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service?

27 That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped.

The notion that the yearly observation of the Passover was meant to remind the Israelites of what God had done for them is not up for debate. God explicitly instructed His people that when their children asked for an explanation of the ritual that they should tell the story of how He had delivered Israel from Egypt. God gave the symbol, and also the interpretation of it. He did the same when He gave the prior Pharaoh the vision of the cattle and grain, and then gave Joseph the interpretation of it. Christ, too, would teach by parable, and then explain its meaning to his disciples.

That isn’t to say that God’s works are single-dimensional, there are many combined lessons and symbols that can be found in them, but we should be careful when we look for these extra interpretations. There is always the danger of reading things into the text that we personally want, making them our story to teach our principles and not His. Indeed, the only times that I feel I have found a new and valid interpretation of a scripture story is when I feel that interpretation coming to me by revelation. There are many other times that I have ideas as to what a scriptural story could mean, but I recognize that they are only that: ideas. Genuine interpretation of scripture is given only by the divine author of it.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 2:10

10 And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.

Moses’s mother kept her end of the bargain. Though Moses was really her own child, to save his life she gave him to the princess to live as if he were hers. There is something very symbolic in this passing of the child to another, and also in the phrase “drew him out of the water.” This is clearly a baptism. Moses’s infant life was surrendered to the water, then he was drawn out as someone new. The destiny to live merely as a slave was drowned, and the destiny to live as a ruler was raised. And in conjunction with this rebirth, this baptism, there even comes a new name: Moses.

Much has been speculated about the name of Moses. The word “mose” is an Egyptian suffix that means “son of.” Much like how in English “Robertson” means “son of Robert,” in Egypt there were names such as Ramose which meant “son of Ra.” At the same time, the word “moses” was a Hebrew verb meaning “draw out.” Thus, it might be that Moses’s name was bilingual, having appropriate meanings in both his Egyptian and Israelite homes, a name that was very befitting to his dual identity.

Moses has special parallels to two other men in the scriptures. Like the patriarch Joseph, he was both a man of Egypt and Israel. This foreshadows his destiny to save the Israelites in their time of need, just as Joseph did. Joseph was a man of dual identity who saved the Israelites by bringing them into Egypt, and Moses was a man of dual identity who saved the Israelites by bringing them back out of Egypt. And, of course, both Joseph and Moses are archetypes for Jesus, another man of dual identity (son of God and son of woman) who would again save the Israelites, and also the entire world. In fact, the way Moses came into his Egyptian home is further reminiscent of the birth of Christ. Moses was presented to the daughter of Pharaoh as a gift from God, brought to her outside of the usual procreative act. Like Jesus, Moses came to the Egyptians, seemingly as a virgin birth.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 50:10-13

10 And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.

11 And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abel-mizraim, which is beyond Jordan.

12 And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them:

13 For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.

The funeral procession comes into Canaan, but pauses for a week at the threshingfloor of Atad, and I see some considerable symbolic significance with this place. First of all, it is a threshingfloor, which means a large, hard surface, upon which grain is threshed to separate the seed from the stalk. Often this is done by beating it with flails or crushing it under the foot of an ox. Also, this place is called Atad, which means “thorn bush.”

Things being beaten and thorns immediately bring to mind the abuse Jesus Christ suffered before his crucifixion. He was whipped and he was crowned with a ring of thorns before being taken to his place of death. Also worth noting is that Atad was “beyond Jordan,” the very river where Christ would be baptized, which baptism is also a symbol for death and burial. And finally, all these somber tokens are joined with the sound of mourning for the death of Jacob.

I feel that these connections to the Messiah are clear, but I admit I don’t fully understand why they are being invoked in this particular instance. What did the cosmos see in the death of Jacob that befitted a connection to the death of Christ? One possibility, I suppose, is that Christ’s death signaled a sort of death for all of Israel. His passing would bring his testament into full force, a new covenant to fulfill and supersede that of Abraham. Another reason might be that Jacob is the direct forerunner of the Israelite people in a physical sense, but Christ is their spiritual forerunner, and so the death of the physical is also pointing to the death of the spiritual. Or perhaps simply since the death of Jacob was notable and important, and all the eyes of the people were upon it, God saw it as an excellent opportunity to teach of a coming sacrifice.

Whatever the reason, the symbolism is unquestionably there. And so, the symbolic significance continues until the mourning of Jacob concluded, and then the Israelites and Egyptians move on, and Jacob is buried how and where he intended. The sons’ final duty to their father is fulfilled, and now they truly are out on their own.