The White Whale in Moby Dick is used symbolically for a variety of ideas.Learn about character background, universal symbolism, specific symbolism, and the character becoming a metaphor with examples in Herman Melville’s classic novel…
When we talk about a character being used as a symbol, we mean that the character, in addition to performing a role within the plot, also represents an abstract idea or concept.
Most people read the Bible in bits and pieces, verses and parables. But like Moby Dick, the Bible is a complete story, and to understand it you can’t just read a few pages.
So we find the first reference to resurrection, like the opening sentence “Call me Ishmael”, is vague, but loaded with enough significance to draw in the attention of the reader.
“the LORD God said unto the serpent…[the woman’s] seed…shall bruise [crush and destroy] thy head, and thou shalt bruise [only cripple] his heel.” (Genesis 3:14-15)
What we understand as we continue to read the biblical narrative is that the hyper dimensional Serpent personifies the abstract concept of Death. So when God tells humanity that the Seed of the Woman, i.e. a mortal human being, will crush the head of, i.e. kill, the Serpent, he is saying that he will utterly destroy death.
For those among us who have trouble with abstract thinking, this is spelled out later in the book. The biblical account of salvation from a dreadful disconnection from the source is presented as irrefutable logic.
- For since by [hu]man came death,
- by [hu]man came also the resurrection of the dead.
- For as in Adam all die,
- even so in Christ / The Promised Deliverer Seed of The Woman shall all be made alive.
- The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death...
- when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality,
- then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
- Death is swallowed up in victory.” (I Corinthians 15:21-54)
Nice allusion to a boa constrictor there.
In a parallel passage by the same author, Paul, notice a significant expansion of this concept.
- For if by one [hu]man’s offence death reigned by one;
- much more they…shall reign in life by one…which receive…the gift of righteousness
- Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation;
- even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
- For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners,
- so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” (Romans 5)
Notice that in this list contrasting the condition of
- sin, condemnation and death
- with righteousness, justification and life
ALL were made sinners by the genetic corruption of the human genome, but ONLY MANY are made righteous. Why is that?
- Because all humans are identified by the human genome,
- but not all humans choose to identify with YHVH as Lord and King of Righteousness
“without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet…prepared…by the which he…became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” (Hebrews 11:6-7)
By clearly applying this modus operandi to specific individuals referenced in the Bible who were neither Christian nor Jewish, this hermeneutically allows us to apply this to
- anyone in the world,
- at any era of history,
- to whatever degree an Intelligent Designer and his desire to be in relationship with us is understood,
- with respect for and operation of the system in accordance with proper use and maintenance documented by theOwner of the Patent.
Salvation from corruption of the body and the soul is 100% dependent on accepting the account of a Creator who is able to
- re-create
- and re-connect
- and re-rive the original form of body, soul and spirit.
Agnostics or atheists falling back on a half-hearted agreement that life is composed of energy but convincing oneself that it dissipates into a general pool of universal energy upon one’s death still denies the obvious fact of a higher order of being required to
- convert energy to mass and
- construct a stable system of interactive and interconverting mass to energy
for the entire universe and any sentient being capable of thinking logically through from the beginning to end of one’s own existence in a world marked by
- awe of the incredible beauty and diversity of nature,
- knowledge of the interconnectedness of ecology which is being destroyed by mankind’s ruthless exploitation,
- evidence of natural death every Fall
- with resurrection by seed which inexplicably transforms through the sun’s energy into a massively complex life form
- most evident through our own personal experience of starting life as a single celled organizing and transforming into a sentient being with the power to become what we choose to be in this lifetime.
So the options for existence after the death of the material body ending the maintenance of the electrical grid of the soul and the life force logically reduce to two:
- Leave this life connected with the Singularity Source of Life as established during this mortal life,
- in children and other individuals incapable of making an informed decision
- or by individuals who know enough to chose God’s way, however much of it they know.
- Leave this life still disconnected, as willfully chosen during this life. from the Singularity Source of Life and Authority
By then it’s too late to change your mind. At the inactivation of the body the soul is also deactivated, set for all time. This makes sense.
What happens next is also reported to us by the same man who witnessed and reported YHVH’s Savior’s resurrection. Legally, according to precedent, he is deemed a reliable witness. Best to take him seriously.
He reports two final outcomes consistent with two states of being
- eternal life connected to the infinite source of life AKA heaven,
- or eternal torment disconnected from the source of life due to one’s deliberate choice on earth to disregard his Power and Authority over life
God’s notice to the Woman that her conception would be greatly multiplied, i.e. many children, can also be viewed as a means of expressing the abstract notion of the passing of time and many generations of children before the particular Seed / child is born. Let’s bear in mind that the concept of “Time” wasn’t at all in existence. God couldn’t very well say “In a few millennia” could he? For that matter, conception wasn’t even known, so obviously there was a private sex education class for the Adams that was discretely not documented for public viewing.
The oldest clear biblical reference to resurrection is found in the oldest book of the Bible, written before Moses compiled the Torah. Because of the consistency between Job’s and Moses’ accounts of Creation, we can be assured that they both drew their information from the same originals.
The Book of Job is not only the finest expression of the Hebrew poetic genius; it must also be accorded a place among the greatest masterpieces of world literature. The work is grouped with Proverbs and Ecclesiastes as a product of the wisdom movement, even though it contains what might be called an anti-wisdom strain in that the hero protests vehemently against the rationalistic ethics of the sages. Yet it is the supreme example among ancient texts of speculative wisdom in which a man attempts to understand and respond to the human situation in which he exists.
“For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins [as with a horse, the controls, in this context nerves, observed in a dissected body as strings connecting the brain to every part of the body] be consumed within me [ashes to ashes, dust to dust].” (Job 19:25-27)
Job is waxing eloquent as he elaborates on Genesis 3:15:
the redeemer of mankind is alive now, i.e. hyper dimensional eternal God,- he will take physical form in the image of humanity as he did when he put his spirit in Adam,
- to “stand” on the earth, not simply to be here, but in conquest as he wrests dominion from the enemy of mankind in his role as redeemer
- “them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image…stand” (Revelation 15:2)
- which involves reversing subjection to the enemy, most especially in the death that he embodies, through the resurrection of “my” skin / “my” flesh” into a hyper dimensional body able to “see God”,
- by the same individual who experienced disconnect from life, emphasized as “I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold and not another.
Job’s faith can be chalked up to
- the reports handed down from generation to generation by Adam of his creation and actions that brought about death,
- validation in experience of new life coming from mortal bodies in the form of children
- and observation of regeneration after death of vegetation over the seasons.
Belief in the resurrection explains why Jacob and Joseph wanted to be buried in the Promised Land – so that they would find themselves among their people in that future time when Shiloh, or “the sent one“, the Promised One / the Redeemer / the Christ, gathers the people, i.e. uplifts the bodies with their souls back out of the earth.
“And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days…The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering [resurrection] of the people be…And Joseph said unto his brethren…God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying…ye shall carry up my bones from hence.”(Genesis 49;2-20; 50:2-5, 24-26)
Belief in the resurrection became the dividing line between denominations of the Old Covenant guardians of God’s revelation, and logically from that point of departure, the rest of the testimony regarding this proof of God’s satisfaction with his atoning death as fulfillment of the promised redeemer for all mankind.
“…when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question. And when he had so said, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees: and the multitude was divided. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both. And there arose a great cry: and the scribes that were of the Pharisees’ part arose, and strove, saying, We find no evil in this man: but if a spirit or an angel hath spoken to him, let us not fight against God.” (Acts 23:6-9)
Belief in the resurrection is not simply a religious dogma. It is based on legally defensible, documented evidence by the same methods that prove that any event in history actually happened.
No other spiritual belief system provides the Bible’s proof of resurrection of the soul into an immortal body with legally validated documented witnesses.
In the study of history, primary sources are the documents and artifacts closest to the matter being investigated. They are dated very close to the events they describe. In contrast, secondary sources use primary sources when writing about a historical matter be investigated. Sometimes the primary sources have all perished. For example, the earliest accounts we have describing the origins of Rome and Greece were written hundreds of years later. In these cases, all historians have to work with are secondary and tertiary sources. Eyewitness sources are primary sources.
Testimony of the Evangelists by Simon Greenleaf (1783-1853)
Greenleaf, one of the principle founders of the Harvard Law School, originally set out to disprove the biblical testimony concerning the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was certain that a careful examination of the internal witness of the Gospels would dispel all the myths at the heart of Christianity. But this legal scholar came to the conclusion that the witnesses were reliable, and that the resurrection did in fact happen.
“And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ / the Redeemer, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” (John 20:30-31)
The significance of YHVH’s Savior’s resurrection is that it can be replicated in every human being whose identity – genetics – derives from the original human Adam created by the Singularity Creator.
“because I live, ye shall live also.” (John 14:19)
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Yahweh’s Chosen Savior from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.” (I Peter 1:3-4)
Accepting the historic lives and actions of other individuals on the basis of limited evidence while denying the life, death and resurrection of YHVH’s Promised Savior despite overwhelming evidence is not simply biased, it is defiant rejection of God’s power and authority over life.
Kingdom Come 