Symbolism - Part 1

Understanding Symbolic Usage

A significant characteristic of prophetic and apocalyptic literary style is presentation of the teachings or revelations through the medium of visions or dreams. Another feature involved the use of symbols that allude to elements of the world. These might include astronomical symbols (like the sun, moon and stars), physical symbols (such as seas and mountains) or living symbols like animals or plants (for instance a lion or a fig tree). Colors play an important role in Biblical symbolism. Yet another technique was the use of numbers to represent important concepts. The combination of symbolic elements also conveys meaning. 

When trying to understand any symbols, it is critical to know several things. First, we need to understand how the symbol is used throughout Scripture. We also need to understand what the symbols meant culturally. In modern society, we may not attribute special meaning to an image of a horse, probably viewing it in the role of a farm animal (like plowing a field) or for use in riding and enjoyment. In Biblical times horses were normally associated with warfare and typically were not used for farming. We also need to understand that combinations of symbols may invoke specific meanings. For example, the use of a horse image with no other elements typically would convey a different meaning than a white horse or a red horse. In previous posts we discussed the importance of remez and it is a critical element to understanding prophetic and apocalyptic symbols because if we cannot understand the way either the symbol or the entire image would have evoked specific thoughts and associations, we will likely not fully understand the meaning or intent of the representation.  

Because the majority literature was written at a time when either the Jews or the early Christians were experiencing exile or persecution, symbols were used to conceal concepts from outsiders while revealing them in rich detail to those who had a depth of understanding of God's Word. This relates to our first element of understanding. How God's Word uses the symbol in clearer instances often helps when trying to understand a more difficult passage or symbolic usage. The idea of concealment from outsiders is important as well. Full understanding of symbolic concepts is only available to persons able to study and understand the symbol as it occurs throughout all of God's Word. Unbelievers or people not initiated into the system of symbolic substitutions would find their writings obscure, if not altogether unintelligible. This is also why many interpreters who do not spend time trying to understand the Old Testament often interpret images incorrectly (for example, stars falling from heaven becomes a nuclear missile attack when that concept is and always was foreign to what God intended). 

Looking at this from a slightly different perspective, Christianity and Judaism can be considered to be "at war" with the oppressors around them. As is true in any such conflict a secure code is necessary to communicate concepts to the believers while concealing it from outsiders. This is particularly important since the prophecies and the images often involved the promised destruction of the opposition. Like the modern cryptographer, the symbols used in apocalyptic literature were a means of preparing communication intended to be intelligible only to the person possessing the key, or method of developing the hidden meaning by using in apparently incoherent text with the context of other teaching. Cryptic messages depend for their success on being unsuspected; once they are discovered, they frequently offer little difficulty to decipherment. Codes in which words or phrases are represented by predetermined words, numbers, or symbols are usually impossible to read without the key code book. In the case of symbolism interpretation for Scripture, learning the "code book" would require in depth study of the Scriptures. While doing this study the person seeking the "break the code" may come to share in the belief itself (a facet of this particular code that differentiates it from common ciphers and codes). 

Revelation Symbolism Example - A Plague of Locusts

 When interpreting any symbols, always remember that the book of Revelation was written to a first century culture that differs from ours. It was also written to convey images which had more meaning to people living at that time than is true for people living now. As an example consider Revelation 9:1-11. The images associated with the fifth angel sounding his trumpet are complex and include a star falling to earth with several catastrophic effects. One of these effects involved a plague of locusts that swarms across the earth. The terrifying nature of a locust plague resonates even in modern times. However, modern readers probably cannot truly comprehend what a plague of locusts was like to an earlier agriculturally-based society; thus part of the impact of this symbol has faded. Even with modern pesticides and control agents, it is difficult to stop a swarm that can cover over 400 square miles and may contain from 80 to 160 million locusts in each square mile. Each locust can eat its weight in plants each day, so a swarm of such size could eat over 400 million pounds of vegetation each day. A swarm of this magnitude literally can overwhelm even modern resources. You can see some images of what a swarm is like in this search. If modern resources have difficulty coping, perhaps we can get dome sense of the terrifying nature of a locust swarm during Biblical times. 

However even with this we have only examined one of the elements of this symbol, that of understanding it in its cultural context or what it would have meant to the reader of that era. Now we want to add in the remez of what it meant based on usage throughout the Scriptures.

The first example that we will examine is related to the reason for the plague in Revelation 9. It is an aspect of God's judgment on the world. God's use of locust plagues as an agency of judgment relates back to the initial use in Exodus 10:1-20 as a judgment against Egypt and Pharaoh. It was one of the ways God showed His power over Egypt and their opposition to His Will. 

Next we can look at Deuteronomy 28:38-52 where God through Moses prophetically warns Israel of the consequences if they choose to disobey. "You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it...Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land...The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young. They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or olive oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined. They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the Lord your God is giving you." 

Note how God uses the image of a locust plague as the first effects, and then merges that into the judgment that He will bring a foreign army against Israel to overthrow it. Note that the symbolism of the effects of the foreign invasion is portrayed as being of the same symbolic nature as the locust plague. 

In the book of Judges, we see the opponents of Israel compared to locusts in swarm. Judges 6:4-6 speaks about the Midianites. Judges 7:12 uses similar imagery about the various people of Canaan. "The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore" 

In Joel 1-2 we see imagery of a devouring plague of locusts compared to the army that God will send to judge Judah if they do not return to follow His Word. This passage is very relevant to the one in Revelation 9 and it certainly should be considered in any interpretation of the meaning of Revelation 9. While the contexts differ (judgment against Judah for failing to follow God in Joel and Judgment against those who oppose God's kingdom in Revelation), the imagery of both have similarities as we can see below: 

Imagery	Joel	Revelation
Appearance	They have the appearance of horses.	The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle.
Effects	The sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine.	The sun and sky were darkened.

 Thus anyone who reads Revelation should naturally be drawn to the similarities with Joel. This is intentional and not an accident. God intends us to understand that the majority of the symbols of Revelation are used throughout Scripture. Further, their use in Revelation is related to their use throughout the rest of Scripture. We need to understand that usage in order to understand their use in Revelation. 

It is also important to note that in all of this discussion we only examined one element of the various symbols presented in Revelation 9, that of the locusts. That was to help understand the specific symbol, but as we noted above to fully understand the symbols we need to consider the symbols in the context in which they occur. However that goes beyond the scope of this post.  

In future posts we will examine some specifics of symbolism. For example, we will look at the symbolism of numbers in the next post. Once we have some of those basics, we should be ready to begin examining the text itself in detail.