... see the true state of the hearts of the people, a heart that is only focused on regaining what they had personally lost in the exile to Babylon. The paneled houses in which they lived describe quite luxurious homes. King Cyrus had provided the Jews with money to buy hardwood timber ... their houses stood finished and furnished. Focusing solely on rebuilding what they had lost in the exile made the people selfish and ultimately flung them farther from the Lord, who delivered them back from exile. The Lord again tells the people to consider their ways and reflect thoughtfully on what they ....

• Word Count: 3103
• Approx Pages: 12
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... and Messianic prophecy with implicit references to the coming of Christ to free all people from the burden of sin. Isaiah consistently uses the metaphor of vines and a vineyard to explain how God tends to the needs of the people of Israel as long as they remain faithful ... also directly identifies the Lord as responsible for tending the vineyard and associates vineyard with the house of Israel. Using the concept of a vineyard as a metaphor for people or groups is not unique to Isaiah. Micah prophesizes that the Lord will punish Samaria: "Therefore I will make Samaria as a heap of ... ...

• Word Count: 4115
• Approx Pages: 16
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... Baal. The prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel became a reality in Judah. Then there was a rebellion against Babylon. Jerusalem was besieged and submitted the king. The leading men were taken into exile. Jerusalem again rebelled. The Israelites believed that God will not allow Jerusalem to be destroyed. Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed by the Babylonians. The people were carried into ... exile, where Ezekiel ministered to them. The land was left desolate. The Babylonian captivity lasted seventy years. Some of the people taken captive during this time were Daniel (Belteshazzar), Han...

• Word Count: 2969
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: High School

... men but in the power of God (I Cor. 2:5). A Scriptural Foundation The word "pastor" comes from the Greek poimena which means shepherd. I find this to be the most prominent and comprehensive metaphor for pastoral ministry found in Scripture. "The shepherd image is one of the few applied exclusively to leaders, and not to members of the community as a whole. Therefore it becomes ... is the example that Christ has given us to follow? It should be stated first, that if we are shepherds, then indeed the people of God are sheep, and this metaphor is just as comprehensive for the sheep as it i...

• Word Count: 7573
• Approx Pages: 30
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... of God, something that God uses to make men. God through nature helps men understand themselves, their life and death.  Matthew Arnold makes use of water and the ocean as a metaphor for his feelings in To Marguerite--Continued and Dover Beach. In Marguerite, Arnold see people as small islands surrounded by "echoing straits...Dotting the shoreless watery wild" (2-3). Humans feel the ... of spiritual help. His poem ends on a note of melancholy and he does not seem to have faith that a spiritual revival will happen. These two poets successfully use nature as a metaphor for human feelings....

• Word Count: 5237
• Approx Pages: 21
• Grade Level: High School

... its identity and its history. For God (who is one)has really come to us as the Holy One of Israeli, as Jesus Christ and as Spirit. Whether "Father- is a metaphor, simile, analogy or name, the term cannot create meaning without some degree of association with human father-child relationships. Constant liturgical use of masculine language for God cannot help giving ... is "Without body, parts, or passions-. We cannot in any form :Personalize-God as God or treat God as an "Ego- even "I am what I am-, glorious as it is, remains a metaphor, in that it ascribes a self identifying personality ...

• Word Count: 3877
• Approx Pages: 16
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... ordinary senses. So to say "God is good,"" what does mean empirically it is quite empty, because in the world we can witness evil. So therefore the statement it is a metaphor because what we value as goodness, God in turn cannot be judged by a human conception of good, so therefore all divine attribute they are all metaphors. Religious language what does ... to be statements about God. Can they in fact really be what they seem to be, that is claims to say something true about a divine reality? Religious language chiefly involves metaphor, symbol, and analogy. Given the variety of religi...

• Word Count: 4041
• Approx Pages: 16
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... of things." The entirety of rabbinic discourse is framed around the temple that does not exist anymore. In order to cope with the loss of the temple and banishment into exile from Jerusalem, the Jewish sages instead created a way to keep their Jewish heritage and ways of interacting with the Temple alive. This "virtual temple" mentality is seen right ... ...

• Word Count: 3136
• Approx Pages: 13
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... that he was put on trial for asking too many questions in the midst of a time of great troubles. He was convicted of his crimes, and was offered a sentence of exile. But, he instead chose to be a martyr to free inquiry, and died by poisoning. 3. Greek physicists tried explain the origins of the universe since the sixth century bc. Anexmander thought ... ...

• Word Count: 4738
• Approx Pages: 19
• Grade Level: High School

... many persecutions and hardships, but at the same time was hindering his worldly flesh in some way. On the other hand, Paul could be using ἄγγελος Σατανᾶ as yet another metaphor to help describe his thorn for the flesh. What are Paul's previous experiences with messengers from Satan in the demonic sense? It was in Philippi that Paul was met with ... ...

• Word Count: 3123
• Approx Pages: 12
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... the European tradition. The question that remains is whether the concepts of demons and the Devil are truly helpful in understanding and conquering evil. Russell states that "The Devil is a metaphor. Even as such he is not to be dismissed, for we have no access to absolute reality and must always rely upon the metaphors that our minds manufacture from sense ... ...

• Word Count: 2641
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography

... seems to be buried beneath the poem's sexual language. "Because of the personified reason, because 'three person'd God' is named as the lover, we recognize that sexual rape is here a metaphor for the forcible entrance of the deity into an otherwise impenetrable soul" (Kerrigan 354). This remark seems to rekindle the idea that the speaker is begging God to take him ... ...

• Word Count: 2802
• Approx Pages: 11

... (1-12) Elisha inherits the mantle of Elijah when the latter ascends into heaven on a chariot of fire' pulled by horses of fire- (Burris 1). Melville uses this biblical allusion as a vivid metaphor for the dawning of Billy's execution day. Like Christ, Billy sacrifices his life as the innocent victim of a hostile society. Both Jesus and Billy are killed in the name of ... ...

• Word Count: 3760
• Approx Pages: 15
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... and the subjective philosophers err fundamentally in their perception of the intended role of faith. Climacus illustrates the magnificence and glory of the faith in paradox in one final, masterful metaphor: Sitting quietly in a ship, while the weather is calm is not a picture of faith; but when the ship has sprung a leak, enthusiastically to keep the ship afloat by pumping while ... ...

• Word Count: 4550
• Approx Pages: 18
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... the European tradition. The question that remains is whether the concepts of demons and the Devil are truly helpful in understanding and conquering evil. Russell states that "The Devil is a metaphor. Even as such he is not to be dismissed, for we have no access to absolute reality and must always rely upon the metaphors that our minds manufacture from sense ... ...

• Word Count: 2828
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: High School