Biblical Objects and Symbols

Reference works

Each of these is named so you can open it and check us. Each carries what it is good for and what it cannot decide.

Every entry below is labelled with the kind of evidence it is, so a lexicon is never mistaken for the text and a commentary is never mistaken for a conclusion Scripture has drawn.

• The Temple: Its Ministry and Services

  Historical and cultural backgroundSupports the text, never settles it · Alfred Edersheim, 1874 · Public domain

  The daily round of temple sacrifice, priesthood and festival in the time of Christ.

  Use forPicturing what a worshipper actually saw, heard and carried to the altar.

  CautionDraws heavily on the Mishnah, which records practice as later rabbis remembered and idealised it.

  Source and authority

• Easton's Bible Dictionary

  Scholarly referenceSupports the text, never settles it · Matthew George Easton, 1893 · Public domain

  Short entries on nearly every name, place, object and term in the English Bible.

  Use forA quick, sober orientation to a word or name before you go back to the passage.

  CautionWritten for readers of a century ago. Its geography and dating have been overtaken in places by later excavation, and its theological asides are Reformed and nineteenth century, not neutral.

  Source and authority

• International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

  Scholarly referenceSupports the text, never settles it · James Orr, editor, 1915 · Public domain

  Long, signed articles on books, doctrines, peoples, languages and customs.

  Use forWorking through a subject at length when a dictionary entry is too thin.

  CautionArticles differ in quality and outlook because they have different authors. Where one contributor states a critical theory, that is his judgement, not a finding.

  Source and authority

Entries on this shelf

Audela's own entries for this kind of study. Each one is taught from the passages that use it and links into the chapter studies, topics and questions that go furthest with it.

• Bread of Life

  ScriptureFinal authority · Written and reviewed by Audela against the passages it cites · Nothing here rests on evidence outside the Bible

  Daily sustenance, and the one who feeds the soul

  Source and authority
• Light of the World

  ScriptureFinal authority · Written and reviewed by Audela against the passages it cites · Nothing here rests on evidence outside the Bible

  Light that exposes, guides, and drives out darkness

  Source and authority
• Living Water

  ScriptureFinal authority · Written and reviewed by Audela against the passages it cites · Nothing here rests on evidence outside the Bible

  Water that runs and never fails, given by Christ through the Spirit

  Source and authority
• The Cross

  ScriptureFinal authority · Written and reviewed by Audela against the passages it cites · 2 named sources behind anything that is not the biblical text

  The instrument of Christ's execution, and the centre of the gospel

  Source and authority
• The Vine

  ScriptureFinal authority · Written and reviewed by Audela against the passages it cites · Nothing here rests on evidence outside the Bible

  Israel as God's planting, and Christ as the true vine

  Source and authority
• Vineyard and vine

  ScriptureFinal authority · Written and reviewed by Audela against the passages it cites · 2 named sources behind anything that is not the biblical text

  Years of patient work, and God's picture of the people He planted.

  Source and authority

Back to Scripture

• Symbols and pictures

  Each image traced from first use to fulfilment

• Bible Topics

  One theme followed through the whole Bible

The order of authority

Scripture · Biblical cross references · Original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek · Historical, cultural, geographical and archaeological background · Trusted biblical reference works · Explanation and application

Read how Audela weighs each rung