Types and Shadows of the Old Testament
The belief that the Bible is God’s inspired Word, written by men but authored by God, is under attack today as never before. Even some Christians are reluctant to stand firm on this crucial truth, having been deceived by simplistic arguments that cite scribal errors, human canons and supposed contradictions which conclude that the Bible is neither infallible nor divinely authored.
A common feature of these arguments is to focus on details and ignore the bigger picture. They do not dispute the general validity of the Bible, because its content has proven to be extremely reliable both historically and philosophically. So instead, they find a detail that appears to be contradicted elsewhere, or perhaps a statement that present-day Science says is incorrect, and then they extrapolate that supposed error to reject the entire Bible. In the mind of many skeptics, to find an error in the Word of God is to find the whole Word in error.
That is a very simplistic argument which cannot see the forest on account of the trees. It thinks it has found a reason to ignore the truthful 99.9% by finding fault with .1%. The purpose of this article, however, is not to address those issues, but to remind us again of the big, incontrovertible story of the Bible. Its overall message is accurate, inspired by God and highly convincing. That ultimate subverter of the truth, Satan, is ever looking for ways to place doubt in the minds of men, so let us beware of his tactics.
One way to deepen conviction that the Bible is truly divinely authored is by studying the types and shadows of the Old Testament. Over forty men, spanning at least 1500 years, wrote the books of the Bible. Corroboration was impossible. Yet ancient prophecies are found throughout the Scriptures that were fulfilled centuries later in amazing precision. Some of them are very direct and clear, while others are veiled in figurative language and subtle analogies. Luke records the account of the two disciples who walked unknowingly with Jesus on the road to Emmaus, and how beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself (Luke 24:27).
None of the twelve saw and understood those things before Christ died. It was only later that the hidden truths of the Old Testament become evident in light of the New. We read the account of Abraham offering up Isaac as a sacrifice, and cannot fail to see the God-designed parallels with the Father offering up His only Son to redeem mankind. We see the precise chronological correlation of Jesus’ death and resurrection with the Old Testament Feast of Unleavened Bread, in which He died on the very day and hour that the priests were offering up the Passover lamb in the temple, and He rose again at the very day and hour that they were celebrating the offering of First Fruits. We read the prophets, and appreciate the veiled references to NT truths that even they did not understand when they wrote them.
Who can honestly think these things accidentally happened? Is not the finger of God prominently evident in these Old Testament Scriptures? They were incomprehensible and hidden until the day dawned, and the light revealed the dark places of prophecy (2Pet 1:19-21).
Another reason that God designed types and shadows is to aid our human minds to better understand spiritual mysteries. Events in the spirit world are obviously beyond our full understanding, because we are physical creatures. Types and shadows help us better understand a spiritual event by describing a physical event that we can understand. For instance, we are able to comprehend in better detail the event of Jehovah God offering Jesus as a sacrifice for the sins of world when we read the typological account of Abraham offering up his son, Isaac. Types and shadows do not reveal new truths, but they tell again the old truths in ways that plain words cannot, and in ways that give new meanings and accents to those old truths, such that they become new to us again.
Seeing these New Testament truths foretold in the Old Testament cannot fail to increase one’s faith in the divinely-inspired Word of God. That is the primary goal of this paper.
David and Absalom
Hidden in a simple historical detail of David’s life is an amazing typological parallel to Christ’s last night and day on earth as a man. The account is found in 2Samuel 15-16, which details David’s sudden, urgent flight from Jerusalem when he was threatened by Absalom’s rebellion. Remarkably, both David and Christ passed by the same landmarks during their individual moments of greatest stress, and the details of their stories have striking parallels. It will be necessary to read those chapters in order to follow the points in his paper.
The first parallel to be noted concerns the two principal characters, David and Absalom. David, of course, is a well-known type or figure of Jesus Christ. In the NT, Jesus is called the Son of David, which draws attention to the famous prophecy that the Messiah would reign on the throne of David forever (Ps 132:11; Luke 1:32). David was specially chosen and anointed by God to be King of Israel (compare John 1:49). He became Israel’s literal “savior,” who made that fledgling nation soar to heights never seen before or after, yet towards the end of his reign the very people he had risked all to serve suddenly turned and utterly rejected him. Like Jesus, David was belittled by his own brothers, trusted in the God of Israel like no other, and defeated the Giant by the power of God. Also like Jesus, David’s genealogy on his mother’s side was…interesting. A Moabite great-grandmother named Ruth, and a great-great-grandmother named Rahab, a Canaanite. But on his father’s side, well, there was Boaz, Judah, Jacob, Isaac and Abraham.
Absalom, however, appears to be a figure of Satan, the sly slanderer, for that is exactly what he did to David. Note the similarity in the Bible’s description of Absalom and Satan: But in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty: from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him (2Sam 14:25). God said of Satan: Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty…thou art the anointed cherub…thou wast perfect in thy ways in the day that thou wast created (Ezekiel 28:12-15).
Like Satan, Absalom was lifted up in pride and secretly attempted to rebel against his father’s rule. Exactly like Satan, Absalom deceived the people by insinuating that his father’s judgment was deficient, while his was superior and right (2Sam 15:2-4). Absalom was a master of cunning and manipulation; the Bible says that he stole the hearts of the people (2Sam 15:6). David had done everything the people of Israel could have possibly wished for – he had delivered them from their enemies, he had brought Israel much riches and honor as the head nation of the known world, and he had given them joy and contentment by his good and kind reign. Incredibly, the hearts of the people were easily turned aside by Absalom, to the point of assembling themselves for the purpose of deposing and killing the King whose hand had wrought their good condition.
In the same way that the intricacies of nature evidence the character of God to our eyes, the beauties of Bible types and shadows evidence His character to our minds. However, as with any analogy, care must be taken to correctly understand the typological details. Even the parables of Jesus can be misused by seeing parallels that were not intended, or by misunderstanding the meaning of a symbol or detail. A primary way to avoid this blunder is to remember that types and shadows will never conflict with revealed truth, and that the meanings of Bible symbols are consistent throughout the Scriptures. Another important characteristic of Bible analogies and symbols is that, in general, they focus on a particular aspect of a person, event, or reality, and not on the entire reality, event, or person.
An example of misapplying a typological detail is possible in the case of David and Absalom. We should not infer from David’s great love for Absalom that God will not punish Satan for his wickedness and rebellion. Neither should we infer from the fact that Absalom was the son of David that Satan is the son of God. Of course, in one sense Satan is a son of God, since he is an angelic being that God created, and the angels are called the sons of God (Job 1:6). The followers of Christ are also called the sons of God (1John 3:1). Christ, however, has a unique title. He is the only begotten Son of God (John 3:18). Much has been written about the technical meaning of that phrase, yet surely its chief point is that, unlike mankind and the angelic host, Jesus is God. That fact alone demolishes the erroneous idea of some groups that Jesus and Satan are brothers.
The two sides in this conflict are clearly drawn. Standing on the one side is the rightful King David, God’s anointed and His chosen deliverer, while the usurping Absalom with his rebel host stands on the other. Key figures are seen in both camps, some surprising, some expected. Among those faithful to David were true men of Israel like Joab, Hushai, Zadok, and Abishai, and yet we are surprised to also see with him Ittai the Gittite, a Gentile who had joined himself with Israel to worship the true God of heaven and earth. As might be expected, among those who rebelled with Absalom were two of Saul’s relatives, Shemei and Mephibosheth, yet we are surprised and mystified to also see there Ahithophel, a man very close to David, a counselor of his own court, a man who knew David well, and who was highly regarded by all.
Ahithophel’s betrayal of David parallels Judas’ betrayal of Jesus in several key details. David was almost certainly speaking of Ahithophel when he wrote, Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me (Ps 41:9). Jesus quoted those very words in speaking of his own imminent betrayal by Judas: He that eateth bread with Me hath lifted up his heel against Me (John 13:18). Ahithophel’s conspiracy was exceedingly strong (2Sam 15:12), and it appeared to be supernatural, it was as if a man had enquired at the oracle of God (2Sam 16:23). He was part of David’s inner circle, and therefore knew David very well, which made the actions of his betrayal that much more effective. Nevertheless, as in the case of Judas, the LORD had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring evil upon Absalom (2Sam 17:14), and so the conspiracy failed.
If Ahithophel was really so wise, why did he betray David? Being the wisest counselor in the land, surely he had discerned that David was God’s anointed, and that David’s rule was far better than that of the egocentric, scheming Absalom? Did he really think the Lord would forsake David? These are mystifying questions that we ask also of Judas, who knew the Lord as well as anyone, and yet turned against Him. The Scriptures say that when Ahithophel realized his conspiracy had failed, he gat him home to his house…and hanged himself, and died (2Sam 17:23). Remarkably, Judas the betrayer mimicked Ahithophel: When [Judas] saw that He was condemned…he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself (Mat 27:4-5). As far as I was able to find, these are the only two men in the Bible that hanged themselves.
David’s Gethsemane
When David heard of Absalom’s rebellion, and that he was coming against Jerusalem with a large army, he decided to leave the city. The reasons for his decision are not entirely clear. Jerusalem was a formidable city and many of its people supported him – men of valor who had fought for him over the years. And yet somehow, David knew that this time victory would not come by fighting. So he left the city, accompanied only by his closest men.
It was a dark day for David, certainly the very saddest moment in a life already marked by numerous difficulties. The Bible describes his exodus from Jerusalem like this: And all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over: the king also himself passed over the brook Kidron…And David went up by the ascent of mount Olivet, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered, and he went barefoot (2Sam 15:23, 20). The night that Jesus was betrayed, He went forth with His disciples over the brook Cedron (Kidron), where was a garden, into the which He entered, and His disciples. Matthew records this was the garden of Gethsemane (Mat 26:36), a secluded place on the Mount of Olives that Jesus went often to pray (Luke 22:39). While Gethsemane is not mentioned by name in David’s ascent of mount Olivet, the Scriptures say that as he neared the summit, he stopped and worshiped God (2Sam 15:32). It could have been at that very garden.
The brook Kidron is a small stream that flows through the Kidron valley located a little to the east of the city of Jerusalem. At least three times the idols of Jerusalem were cast into the brook Kidron (2Kings 23), and certain Jewish writings say that a canal connected it to the Temple above in the city. All the blood and filth of the animal sacrifices were dumped directly into the stream (2Chr 29:16; Jer 31:40, see John Gill).
There was an emotional parting at the brook Kidron as David passed over with his men, but the priests Zadok and Abiathar returned to the city carrying the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark was the most sacred piece of the entire Old Testament worship system, and it represents God Himself. David’s words as he left the Ark at the brook Kidron are prophetic: And the king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall find favour in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me again, and shew me both it, and his habitation. But if he thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold, here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him (2Sam 15:25-26). During Jesus’ final night on earth, He too relinquished His own wishes in favor of the Father’s will: O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt (Mat 26:39).
In a sense, Jesus too had to leave the Ark of the Covenant behind as He crossed the bloody, dusky waters of the brook Kidron on that night. Certainly the Father was watching as His only Son ascended the Mount of Olives near midnight, but this was one act that the Son must do alone. Yet as also with David, God did delight in His Son, and Jesus did return victorious to Jerusalem to see again the Lord’s house and His Ark of the Covenant after His resurrection (in the spiritual sense).
Both David and Jesus ascended the Mount of Olives on their darkest hour. David’s closest men traveled with him; likewise did Jesus’ disciples. The Mount of Olives was one of Jesus’ favorite places when He was in Jerusalem, and is mentioned quite a few times in the NT. But in the OT, that mount is mentioned only twice; first this account of David leaving Jerusalem, and then in a Messianic prophecy (Zech 14:4). Incidentally, it was this minor detail that intrigued me, and led me to study 2Samuel 15-16 more thoroughly.
The Bible says that David worshiped God there on Mount Olivet (2Sam 15:32), but gives no details. Surely it was a somber event. Perhaps he there composed the words of his loneliest, saddest Psalm by far, the profoundly messianic Psalm 22, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me? I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.
Jesus worshiped too on Mount Olivet, there in the Garden of Gethsemane, and it too was a somber, intense event. Alone He knelt in prayer under a springtime tree in the dark of night while His closest disciples slumbered nearby. Alone He wrestled with His mission, alone He sweated as it were great drops of blood (Luke 22:44; Isa 29:16; 63:1-6). I am convinced that Jesus experienced His darkest hour, His greatest temptation, His deepest pain, there in the Garden of Gethsemane. Yes, He suffered greater physical sufferings, harsher rejections, deeper humiliations later on, but the anguish and struggle He endured in Gethsemane were his very worst, if we are to judge by the Scriptures’ description of that hour.
Gethsemane was His greatest trial because it marked the beginning of His unfathomable task – laying down His boundless power and authority, allowing Himself to be spitefully abused by the powers of evil, taking upon His perfect, sinless soul all the dirty, sinful deeds of Man and bearing them in our place, dying a miserable, lonely death, uncared for and unappreciated by the very ones He saved. If ever there was utter loneliness, this was it. Forsaken even by God, He felt; nobody to understand and sympathize. Gethsemane was a place of sorrow, agony and inner struggle. A place where the fate of all mankind hung in the balance as one, lonely Man fought the ultimate battle to save him (Is 63:5).
Matthew records that in the Garden, He began to be sorrowful and very heavy…even unto death (Mat 26:37). Mark and Luke add more to the incredible scene, describing His distress of soul in the strongest terms imaginable – He was sorrowful, very heavy, sore amazed, exceeding sorrowful even unto death, in an agony (Mat 26:37-38; Mark 14:33-34; Luke 22:44). The inner anguish and conflict within His soul was so great that His body was affected. Sweat, as it were great drops of blood, began dripping off His face, and he prayed even more earnestly (Luke 22:44) that God would deliver Him from this hour of suffering and death if it were possible. Was this not the beginning of His ultimate mission? Of bearing our sins in His own body, of paying the price that was required to redeem us from the guilt of sin? All mankind’s grieves and sorrows were laid upon Him this night (Isa 53:4).
It was reading these verses that brought me to believe that when Jesus said He would spend three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Mat 12:40), He was including Gethsemane. We count a partial day for a whole day, so beginning with the terrible hours in Gethsemane, Jesus spent Thursday night, Friday, Friday night, Saturday, Saturday night, and Sunday in the heart of the earth – in the hands of wicked men and Satan’s angels. When He crossed the brook Kidron with its symbolism of blood and filth, and ascended Mount Olivet to the Garden of Gethsemane, the hour of evil began. In Jesus’ own words to the rough crowd that came to arrest Him that night: this is your hour, and the power of darkness (Luke 22:53).
Jesus had told His disciples on several occasions that this hour would come, Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again (Luke 24:7). On Thursday night, in Gethsemane, He was delivered into wicked hands, both in the physical sense, and in the spiritual sense. I remember well my grandfather, who believed unreservedly in the inerrancy of the Scriptures, wrestling with Jesus’ enigmatic statement that He would spend three days and nights in the heart of the earth, and I wish I could have discussed this idea with him before he died.
It was not, as some think, the coming death of His body that troubled Him in Gethsemane, but a result of that incomprehensible act of God, who made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (2Cor 5:21). Our limited knowledge of God and the spiritual realm makes it impossible to understand what this means, yet the Scriptures are clear that in some deep, spiritual way Jesus suffered in our place to redeem and deliver the souls of men from the just recompense their sin requires, which is eternal separation from God and spiritual death in Hell (Rom 6:23; Mat 25:46).
Theologians disagree on the details. Some say Jesus did not literally become sin for us, but that He became a sin offering for us. Others refuse to use the common expression that “Jesus paid the penalty for our sins,” saying this would mean Jesus suffered spiritual death in Hell. Yet somehow Jesus did suffer as a substitute for us, not just a bodily death (for all will die physically, saved or unsaved) but a terrible spiritual agony that we cannot understand. I believe the transaction of a sinless Man “being made sin” truly happened, but I cannot fathom how that could be, or what it means. The Scriptures say it, and we see it clearly portrayed in Jesus’ anguish in Gethsemane.
To make Jesus’ suffering simply His physical death in our place not only confuses terms, it demeans His great sacrifice to something which any human being could do (give his life for someone else). It confuses the terms by teaching that Jesus’ physical death can substitute for mankind’s spiritual death, for while Jesus was entirely without sin, His body was the same as ours. Sin is a moral, spiritual term – an action or thought – and it incurs a spiritual debt. Sin cannot be physically imputed any more than righteousness can be physically imputed (Rom 4:11). Neither did Adam physically die the day that he ate the forbidden fruit, but spiritually (Gen 2:17). Jesus’ extreme anguish of soul in Gethsemane hints at the spiritual suffering He endured in bearing our sins in His own body.
David’s Hope Renewed
David had finished worshiping, but had not yet left Mount Olivet, when on two separate occasions he was met by key men. First, his good friend and companion, Hushai the Archite, communed with David and assured him of his support. Then Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, who was Saul’s closest surviving relative, came to David leading two mules laden with gifts of bread, raisins, fruit and wine. Jesus was also refreshed in Gethsemane, when there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him (Luke 22:43).
Hushai the Archite was the crucial figure in helping David to escape from Absalom. He did not go into hiding with David, but returned to Jerusalem from Mount Olivet to secretly assist David while pretending to be on Absalom’s side (2Sam 15:32-37). The plan worked perfectly. Absalom’s court, just as the Sanhedrin did many years later, met to discuss how to kill the King immediately upon Absalom’s arrival to Jerusalem, but after initially following Ahithophel’s counsel, they were persuaded by Hushai’s tactful response, and David was able to escape out of Absalom’s hands.
Perhaps Hushai is a type of the Holy Spirit, who was the active member in Jesus’ resurrection. In a sense, God tricked Satan into crucifying Christ, because Satan thought that if he killed Jesus, he would win. In fact, the Bible says that none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. That knowledge was hidden from them, having been ordained by God for our benefit before the world began (1Cor 2:7-8). He taketh the wise in their own craftiness (1Cor 3:19; Eph 6:12).
Shemei Curses David
One of the most curious details in David’s departure from Jerusalem is the humiliating treatment he voluntarily endured at the hands of Shimei, an ignorant and foolish man of the house of Saul. The Scriptures say that shortly after passing the top of Mount Olivet, a man named Shimei came out and began to curse David, and to throw stones and dirt at him, seemingly oblivious that all David’s mighty men were on his right hand and on his left (2Sam 16:6). “Get out, get out, you bloody man of Belial,” Shimei shouted at David.
Abishai, one of the famous three in David’s elite men of valor, said, “Why does this dog curse the King? Give the command, and I will go and cut his head off.”
“What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? Let him alone and let him curse,” David said, “For the Lord hath bidden him.” And so Shimei continued to follow the small group of men, heaping insults, throwing stones and mocking David (2Sam 16:13).
David’s humiliation and manner of response is remarkably similar to Christ’s response to those who mistreated Him. Jesus was also called a son of Belial (Mark 3:22), and was rejected by His own people in words similar to those Shimei uttered. “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him,” they cried (John 19:15). Later, as He hung on the cross, He was reviled by the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders, who passed by wagging their heads and saying, If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God (Mat 27:39-43).
Just as David refused to avenge himself in his hour of humiliation, so too did Jesus, for when the band of men came to arrest Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter, like Abishai, was zealous for his King, and tried to cut off the head of the high priest’s servant, but managed to take off only an ear. Jesus immediately stopped him, saying, Put up again thy sword into his place…Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? (Mat 26:52-53). Clearly, Jesus was surrounded by far more formidable men of valor than David was, yet the chief priests and rulers cursed him, mocked him, and spake many other things blasphemously against Him (Luke 22:65). Jesus, however, waited for His salvation, which He knew the Father would accomplish.
John’s Gospel records an additional detail when Jesus healed the ear which Peter had cut off: Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it? (John 18:11). Like David when he endured Shimei’s insults, Jesus had total power and justice on His side. Like David, He could have given the word, and the insults and humiliation would have been immediately silenced. But no, He knew that this was from the Father, and He rested in His Father’s will, refusing to fix the matter by His own means.
Absalom Defeated
As a result of Hushai’s counsel on his behalf, David was able to escape Absalom, and cross the Jordan River to safety. Then preparations began for a great, final battle as David gathered all those in the land of Israel who were faithful to him and Absalom did the same. The battle took place in the woods of Ephraim, but in comparison with other Old Testament battles, this one was not that remarkable, at least in terms of slaughter – 20,000 men were killed. However, it resulted in total defeat for Absalom’s men, and in the death of Absalom himself.
Almost immediately, the battle went badly for Absalom and he fled from David’s men. As his mule passed under a large oak tree, his head became trapped in its branches and he was left hanging in midair, yet alive. He apparently hung there for some time, until someone informed Joab, the captain of David’s force. Joab went and threw three darts into his heart, and killed him. And they took Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones upon him (2Sam 18:17).
Satan was also defeated by a tree, the cross of Calvary on which Jesus died. The New Testament says that through death He [destroyed] him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and to deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. In that He himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted (Heb 2:14-18). Here is the reason Jesus bore the humiliation, suffered the pain and endured the rejection. Could there have been an easier, less painful way to die for the sins of the world? He chose the right, difficult one so that His followers would be inspired and encouraged to do the same.
According to Hebrews 2, Satan, like Absalom, met his demise on a tree, but Jesus did not! For Him, the tree spelled victory and triumph, because there His mission of atoning for the sins world was effected and accomplished. Truly death was then swallowed up in victory. That fact is brilliantly illustrated by the marvelous type portrayed in Moses putting a serpent upon a pole, so that those who were bitten by the poisonous snake might look at the serpent and be healed. The snake does not represent Jesus, it typifies Satan, whose power and authority over the souls of men was crushed by the momentous events involving the Cross at Golgotha (Gen 3:15).
Someday, Jesus Christ is returning with the hosts of heaven, this Word of God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The King will culminate Satan’s defeat at the Cross by casting him into a great pit, the bottomless pit of the eternally burning Lake of Fire. All those who choose to follow him in rebellion and wickedness will be cast in with him, but then shall the righteous shine forth forever as the sun in the Kingdom of the Father (Mat 13:37-43).