PARABLES AND TYPES
It is a big mistake to think of Bible characters as historical people. If we do think of them as only historical people, we miss out on the potential to be corrected and trained in righteousness. We might find them to be interesting, detestable and even fascinating characters, but if we do not see them through the lens of the Old/First Covenant and New Covenant, we miss what God is trying to teach us through their successes and failures. In other words, we should learn how to see ourselves in those characters and see those characters in us.

To acquire this perspective, it is correct and necessary to always remember that God always speaks in parables. With this truth in mind, we always regard each Bible character as a type (i.e. example) of either an Old/First Covenant religionist or a New Covenant disciple. And sometimes, because some characters have  their hearts changed, they can be both Old/First Covenant religionist and New Covenant disciple — but never at the same time. And we always regard their stories, and the progression of the lives of those who experience heart change, as parables about our own lives. Just as many, but not all, of those characters change, many, but not all, of us change.

STUDY TIP: See TYPES AND FIGURES for more about how Bible characters are types of either Old/First Covenant religionists or New Covenant disciples.

When we look at individual Bible characters and groups of people (i.e. Israel, Jews, Gentiles, Egyptians, Babylonians, Canaanites,  Kings, Queens and Princes, Prophets, etc.) this way, the Bible takes on much more meaning than it does if we interpret it as mere history and geography. If we interpret the Bible as history  and geography it is interesting but it is hard to apply it to our lives today. However, when we interpret scripture symbolically, and when we listen for God’s voice to teach us while we read, scripture makes us wise for salvation and trains us for righteousness. Then scripture comes alive and we grow spiritually.

When we listen for God’s voice to teach us while we read, we can see ourselves in the travels and travails of Israel. We can see ourselves in Egypt and Babylon. We can see ourselves in conflict with Canaanites. We can see ourselves in characters like Adam, Cain, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Lazarus, Judas, Paul, Peter and Jesus. We see them in all their complexity as natural men who had their spiritual ups and downs. When God teaches us, we see that even Jesus, who is otherwise considered to be sinless, spent the first thirty years of his life as an Old/First Covenant, Jewish religionist. He did not become a messiah, and a mediator of the New Covenant until he was baptized by the Holy Spirit.

We see this pattern repeated in all Biblical characters beginning with Adam who, beginning as a man of the earth (i.e. Old/First Covenant religionist), was recreated (i.e. born again) as a life-giving spiritual being (i.e. New Covenant disciple). In other words, he went through the same process that Jesus went through:

STUDY TIP: See this link for more about creation.

The only difference between Adam and Jesus is that Adam backslid into Old/First Covenant religion along with his wife Eve when they sinned by eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Jesus, of course, was tempted, but did not backslide after he was baptized. As a messenger (i.e. true prophet, angel, messiah, high priest, warrior), he was faithful in his mission.

STUDY TIP: See this link for details of Jesus mission.

Each of these characters is in the Bible so we can compare ourselves to them and learn from their mistakes and successes. Some characters are Old/First Covenant religionists who never learn how to hear God’s spoken voice. Others are recreated (i.e. born again) into New Covenant disciples. And some characters transition back and forth from Old/First Covenant religionists to New Covenant disciples.

The fact that many characters never waver from one condition (i.e. Old/First Covenant religionist or New Covenant disciple) to another makes it hard learn from them. In our simple-minded assumption  that their character never changes, we find it difficult to understand why they do the things they do or to evaluate if what they do is evil or good. We look at their outward behaviors — not at their hearts as God does. If we don’t pay close, careful attention to these changes in character and the conditions that cause these changes, we will not understand how the stories of Bible characters train us in righteousness. Nor will we be able to evaluate our own  spiritual lives.

Making these comparisons and evaluations is the essence of discerning the difference between clean and unclean things. When a person is in the character of an Old/First Covenant religionist, he/she is considered to be an unclean thing. When that person is in the character of a New Covenant disciple, he/she is considered to  be a clean thing.

Making these evaluations gets more complicated when we consider that God also uses creatures (i.e. animals, birds, bugs, etc.) to symbolize people. Thus we find Leviticus 11 going into much detail about the animals and birds which are fit and unfit for human consumption. But the issue is not whether physically eating the bird/animal/bug is approved by God or not. Rather, the issue is about whom we listen to when we want to learn about God and his ways.

Basically, this issue comes down to True Prophets from whom we do want to learn and False Prophets from whom we do not want to learn. True Prophets are clean animals and birds while False Prophets are unclean animals and birds. Knowing the difference is a life and death issue.

STUDY TIP: Learn more about clean and unclean things in Bread, Food and Wine.