Symbolic Visions of The Prophets
Jeremiah beheld an almond-tree as a token of the speedy fulfillment of the word of God.
Amos saw a basket of summer fruit as a symbol of the approaching end of Israel.
Ahijah the Shilonite tore Jeroboam's mantle into twelve pieces, to typify the division of the kingdom of Israel, and Zedekiah made horns of iron to encourage Ahab to engage in war with Ramoth-gilead. King Joash, at the command of the prophet Elisha, shot arrows from the open window into the air, to symbolize the destruction of his enemies.
Isaiah walked naked and barefoot to show how the Egyptians and Ethiopians would be treated when taken captive by the Assyrians, while Jeremiah wore a yoke upon his neck to induce the nations to submit to the King of Assyria.
Ezekiel was commanded to inscribe the names of certain tribes upon separate pieces of wood, to show that God would reunite those tribes.
Read more about this topic: Jewish Symbolism
Famous quotes containing the words symbolic, visions and/or prophets:
“Iconic clothing has been secularized.... A guardsman in a dress uniform is ostensibly an icon of aggression; his coat is red as the blood he hopes to shed. Seen on a coat-hanger, with no man inside it, the uniform loses all its blustering significance and, to the innocent eye seduced by decorative colour and tactile braid, it is as abstract in symbolic information as a parasol to an Eskimo. It becomes simply magnificent.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)
“If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Men do not accept their prophets and slay them, but they love their martyrs and worship those whom they have tortured to death.”
—Feodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881)