UNDERSTANDING SYMBOLISM IN THE BIBLE
Symbolism plays a significant role in the Bible, where various objects and animals are used to convey deeper meanings.
For example, the dove symbolizes peace (Genesis 8:11), the lion represents strength (Proverbs 30:30), and the lamb symbolizes innocence (John 1:29).
These symbols are not objects of worship but rather serve as metaphors or illustrations to convey spiritual truths.
TOTEMS VS ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH
The use of totems is a pagan practice which originated among the Gentiles, and was not common among the Jews. The animals associated with Israel are not totems, but symbols of God’s glory revealed in nature, for Israel was the nation chosen by God to reveal the glory of God.
Deu 7:6 says, “For you are a holy people to Jehovah your God. Jehovah your God has chosen you to be a special people to Himself above all people that are upon the face of the earth.”
The history of the Hebrews started with Abraham, the first father of the Jewish nation. At that time, before the bible was written God revealed His glory to the patriarchs through nature. Abraham was told to count the stars to perceive the order divine nature in them, and conceive it in his seed.
Gen 15:5 says, “And he (God) brought him (Abram) forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”
The heavens were created by God and reflect His glory.
Psa 9:1-3 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.”
Psa 33:6 says, “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.”
There are three classes of heaven: the first being the dome of clouds, the second being the stellar heaven where we have the groups of stars, the moon and the sun, and the third being the spiritual realm where we have the court of angels, the paradise of saints, and the throne of God.
The stellar heavens reveals the three forms of God (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit) in their three major groups - the Pleiades, the Orion and the Bear/Arcturus. The Bear/Arcturus reveals to us the twelve groups known as the Mazzaroth which is the Hebrew word for signs of the Zodiac (sequence of animals).
Job 38:31-32 (AMPC) says, “Can you bind the chains of [the cluster of stars called] Pleiades, or loose the cords of [the constellation] Orion? Can you lead forth the signs of the zodiac in their season? Or can you guide [the stars of] the Bear with her young?”
From Job 38 to Job 41 we see these twelve signs of the zodiac known as the stars/cubs of the Arcturus/Bear. Here is their list with their matching names in the modern zodiac which has developed from Babylonian astrology:
- Water Jars/Bottles/Skins - Aquarius the Water Carrier (Job 38:37)
- Rooster/Ibis/ Ram’s horn/trumpet - Aries the Ram (Job 38:38)
- Lion - Leo the Lion (Job 38:39)
- Raven/Crow - Virgo the Virgin (Job 38:41)
- Wild Goats/Deer - Capricorn the Goat (Job 39:1)
- Wild Donkey - Libra the Balancing Scales (Job 39:5)
- Wild-Ox/unicorn/buffalo - Taurus the Bull (Job 39:9)
- Ostrich/Peacock/Stork - Pisces the Fishes (Job 39:13)
- Horse rider with Bow & Arrow - Saggitarius the Archer (Job 39:18)
- Eagle/Hawk/Vulture - Cancer the Crab (Job 39:26)
- Behemoth - Gemini the Twin (Job 40:15)
- Leviathan - Scorpio the Scorpion (Job 41:1)
Abraham looked at the major three groups of stars with the twelve signs of the zodiac and conceived the same image and likeness in the holy nation Israel.
He became a type of the Father in the Godhead as a father of many nations, Isaac his son became a type of The Son who would be offered as the sacrifice for man’s sin who was also offered as a sacrifice by his father on Mt Moriah; and Jacob his grandson became a type of the Holy Spirit who was to birth the body of Christ through twelve apostles just as Jacob (Israel) gave birth to the nation Israel through twelve sons.
The connection of the signs of the zodiac with the twelve sons and tribes of Israel were revealed when their Jacob (Israel) blessed them just before he died in Genesis 49. Here is their list with their matching names in the modern zodiac which has been developed from Babylonian astrology:
2. Asher - Rooster/Ibis/ Ram’s horn/trumpet/Aries the Ram (Gen 49:20)
3. Judah - Lion - Leo the Lion (Gen 49:9)
4. Simeon ‘The virgin’s avenger’ - Raven/Crow/Virgo the Virgin (Gen 49:5-6)
5. Naphtali (A deer let loose) Wild Goats/Deer - Capricorn the Goat (Gen 49:21)
6. Issachar - Wild Donkey/Libra the Balancing Scales (Gen 49:14)
7. Levi - Wild-Ox/unicorn/buffalo - Taurus the Bull (Gen 49:5-6)
8. Zebulun- Ostrich/Peacock/Stork/Pisces the Fishes (Gen 49:13)
9. Joseph - Horse rider with Bow & Arrow/Saggitarius the Archer (Gen 49:22-24)
10. Benjamin - Eagle/Hawk/Vulture/Cancer the Crab (Gen 49:27)
11. Gad – Behemoth/Gemini the Twin (Gen 49:19)
12. Dan ‘A serpent by the way’ – Leviathan/Scorpio the Scorpion (Gen 49:16-17)
We are told that Jacob blessed each of his sons with the blessing ‘suited to him.’ This means that there was a set order of blessing for each of the twelve sons according to its matching revelation of the glory of God in the twelve signs of the zodiac.
Gen 49:28 (AMPC) says, “All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each one according to the blessing suited to him.”
The connection of the signs of the zodiac with the twelve apostles and the body of the church (new Israel) were revealed when Jesus assigned nicknames to them before He died on the cross.
Here is their list with their matching names in the zodiac:
2. Andrew ‘the man shepherd’ - Ram’s horn/Aries the Ram (Mat 10:2)
3. Lebbaeus Thaddaeus ‘young lion’ – Lion/Leo the Lion (Mat 10:3)
4. James ‘the son of Zebedee’ - Raven/Crow/Virgo the Virgin (Mat 10:2)
5. Bartholomew Wild Goats/Deer - Capricorn the Goat (Mat 10:3)
6. Matthew ‘the tax collector’ - Wild Donkey/Libra the Balancing Scales (Mat 10:3)
7. James the son of Alphaeus - Wild-Ox/unicorn/buffalo - Taurus the Bull (Mat 10:2)
8. Peter ‘the fisher of men’ - Ostrich/Peacock/Stork/Pisces the Fishes (Luk 5:1-10)
9. Philip ‘horse lover’ - Horse rider/Saggitarius the Archer (Mat 10:3)
10. John ‘the son of Zebedee’ - Eagle/Hawk/Vulture/Cancer the Crab (Mat 10:2)
11. Thomas called Didymus (The Twin) – Behemoth/Gemini the Twin (Joh 11:16)
12. Judas Iscariot ‘the traitor’ – Leviathan/Scorpio the Scorpion (Mat 10:4)
So when Jesus gave the twelve apostles nicknames connected to animals, they were not totems of identity and protection. But they were symbols of the ministries of the twelve apostles which were to build the body of Christ in the same way the twelve tribes had built the nation of Israel. It is no accident that in the same way the physical human body is built of twelve interdependent systems listed below:
2. Digestive/Excretory system
3. Endocrine/Hormone system
4. Integumentary/Exocrine system
5. Immune system
6. Lymphatic system
7. Muscular system
8. Central nervous system
9. Renal /Urinary system
10. Reproductive system
11. Respiratory/Breathing system
12. Skeletal system
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