Biblical Allusions

AP English IV, Per. 1

Abel

Cain and Abel both brought
sacrifices to God, but God
chose the offerings of Abel so
Cain killed Abel out of jealousy.

The use of Abel often refers to
a tragic victim of violence.

Example: The man set out
intent on killing the innocent
Abel that had become his
enemy.
 Potiphar's wife

When Joseph was made head
of Potiphar's household and
Potiphar's wife attempted to
seduce him, he resisted so she
falsely accused him of
attempting to rape her resulting
in his being sent to prison.

Used in reference to Joseph's
noble chastity or the jealous
malcontent of Potiphar's wife.

Example: He felt much like
Joseph being accused by
Potiphar's Wife as the
prosecutor revealed fabricated
evidence to convince the court
of his guilt in the affair scandal.
Babel

Refers to Tower of Babel in the
ancient city of Babylon, built in
an attempt to reach heaven and
culminating in the creation of
new languages. In Hebrew,
Babel comes from the verb
balal, “to confuse or confound”.

Alludes to confusion or
unintelligibility, especially in
relation to sounds or voices.

Example: “At the shocking
announcement, the conference
room broke into a Babel of
sounds.”
 Babylon

The chief city of ancient
Mesopotamia, capital of
Babylonia and known for its
luxeriousness and corruption.

Most commonly used to
describe something as overly
luxurious, sinful, or corrupt.

Example: The huge, Babylonian
city was filled with criminals and
prostitutes.
Beat swords into plowshares

Used several times in the Bible
in reference to the laying down
of arms. Plowshares symbolize
creative tools that benefit man.

Means that people should give
up trying to destroy and
conquer, instead work together
to create something wonderful.

Example: “Until the nations turn
their swords into plowshares...”
(Heal The World) ~Michael
Jackson
 Bell, book, and candle

A bishop would recite an oath,
ring a bell (tolling death), close
a Bible, and snuff out a candle
while knocking it to the floor
symbolizing the soul of the
excommunicant being
extinguished and removed from
the light of God.

Used to describe a death
sentence for a great crime.

Example: “Bell, book, and
candle, shall not drive me back,
when gold and silver becks me
to come on.” ~Shakespeare
Belshazzar's feast

King of Babylon toasted to his
gods with wine in golden
goblets stolen from God's
temple in Jerusalem, a hand
appeared spelling out his
kingdom's downfall on the wall,
and he was murdered that
night.

Source of phrase “writing on the
wall” meaning a very obvious
prediction of doom.

Example: The executives
continued to pray for the
wellbeing of their company
despite the writing on the wall.
 My brother's keeper

Cain and Abel are brothers and
Cain murders Abel out of
jealousy. When God questions
Cain where Abel has gone,
Cain replies "am I my brother's
keeper?"

Implies a responsibility (or, in
question form, the resentment
of responsibility) for another.

Example: "No, I can't go to the
party. I have to stay home and
watch Jason tonight. I'm my
brother's keeper, you know?"
Cain

When God chooses Abel's
offering of "fat portions from the
firstborns of his flock" over
Cain's "fruits of the soil", Cain
kills his brother, presumably out
of jealousy.

Often used to describe a
jealous person and is especially
fitting in a situation where the
older sibling is jealous of the
younger.

Example: When the new baby
was brought home, Isaiah
became a regular Cain, doing
anything to get attention.
 City on a hill

Matthew 5:14, "You are the light
of the world. A city set on a hill
cannot be hidden." (Sermon of
the Mount). John Winthrop also
gave a sermon alluding to this
when founding the Puritan
colony of New England.

Suggests that one is always
being watched by the world
(and by God in some contexts).

Example: "Today, the eyes of
all people are truly upon us--
and our governments [...] must
be as a city upon a hill." ~John
F. Kennedy
Cross of gold

William Jennings Bryan’s 1896
Cross of Gold speech
condemning the proposed gold
standard-“You shall not press
down upon the brow of labor
this crown of thorns, you shall
not crucify mankind upon a
cross of gold.”

The figurative crucifixion of one
economic class for the
enrichment and protection of
another.

Example: Some would argue
that we are creating a cross of
gold through capitalism.
 Eden

The place where Adam and
Eve, the first man and woman,
lived after they were created.
When Eve convinced Adam to
eat the fruit of the Tree of
Knowledge, God punished them
by ejecting them from Eden.

Usually references some
seeming paradise.

Example: Escaping the ghetto,
the young man found an Eden
in suburbia.
Feet of clay

The Babylonian king
Nebuchadnezzar had a dream
in which he saw a statue with a
head of gold, but feet that were
"part of iron, part of clay"; the
statue was shattered and
destroyed by being struck on
the feet.

Suggests that someone
regarded as an idol has a
hidden weakness.

Example: The king of Sparta
was very powerful yet had feet
of clay. His inability to listen to
his people led to his downfall.
 Four horsemen of the
Apocalypse

The allusion comes from the
Bible, and refers to four
horsemen said to come at the
end of the world.

Used as a description of terribly
destructive forces, often
echoing the names commonly
given the riders (War, Famine,
Pestilence, and Death).

Example: "Politicians say we
shouldn't change horses in
midstream. More like change
Horsemen in Mid-Apocalypse."
Golden calf

While God was giving Moses
the Ten Commandments, the
people whom Moses was
leading built a golden calf,
which they began to worship.
When Moses returned, he
smashed the tablets on which
the Ten Commandments were
written and made the people
destroy the idol.

A false god; anything worshiped
undeservedly.

Example: The girls fawned over
the hunky football player like a
golden calf.
Job

Refers to a successful man,
who was tormented by Satan
but did not curse God. His
friends' comfort only made him
feel worse.

The Patience of Job: refers to
extraordinary ability to shrug off
misfortune. Job's Comforter 0ne
who's consolations do nothing.

Examples: “He displayed the
patience of Job all through the
trial.” “Steve's friends were no
more than comforters of Job,
suggesting that his firing meant
he didn't have to deal with
traffic.”
 Jonah

God's chosen messenger, he
could not accept the jeers of
those he preached to. Thus he
left to sea and was swallowed
by a huge fish. When he
realized that God wished him to
be more patient, he was saved.

Refers to the idea that one must
be patient to get anywhere in
life. Turning away from
responsibilities or troubles
makes them as large as a
whale.

Example: She learned she must
finish the job when her brother
told her she was just like Jonah.
Judas' goat

Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus
for 30 pieces of silver

A type of goat that leads others
to slaughter or one who entices
others into danger and betrays
them

Example: “But I am not going to
do for Dole what I did for Bush,
and be a Judas goat, taking
conservatives—practically
military ones and pr-lifers who
trust me—and...march them
into Dole's camp,” he said.
 Land of milk and honey

The Lord promises to bring the
Israelites out of Egypt and into
a land flowing with milk and
honey. In the Old Testament, it
is a name for the Promised
Land.

Describes a place where there
is an abundance of everything
and represents a country where
immigrants would like to live
because they imagine that their
quality of life will improve.

Example: Thousands of
immigrants flood to the United
States because they see it as
the land of milk and honey.
Loaves and fishes

Jesus fed hundreds with five
loaves of bread and two fishes
after his disciples gave them up
to him.

Refers to the idea that there is
hope even when evidence tells
us otherwise. By showing
compassion for the less
fortunate people are filled not
only in their stomachs, but also
in their hearts.

Example: Throughout cities in
the U.S. the Loaves and Fishes
programs feed thousands of
people.
 Lot's wife

In destroying Sodom and
Gomorrah, God spared Lot's
family, but Lot's wife disobeyed
good, looking back as the city
was destroyed, and was
immediately turned to a pillar of
salt

Used to describe a disobedient
person, and also a person who
values their vain material
possessions over their own life.

Example: Unable to abandon
her superfluous amount of
shoes, she felt sympathy for
Lot's wife as she attempted to
minimize her college luggage.
Original Sin

Adam disobeyed God when he
ate the fruit of the Tree of
Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Adam’s sin, in turn, was passed
on to all of his descendants (all
humans).

Used to describe an event
that has a lot of gravity to
it or will affect many
people.

Example: “What that man just
did was as horrible as the
Original Sin!”
 30 pieces of silver

Judas Iscariot was given thirty
pieces of silver for delivering
Jesus to the chief priests.

describe payment for treachery
and is often referred to as
“blood money”.

Example: Jim got a generous
package of stock options for
helping depose his partner as
CEO, but the thirty pieces of
silver didn't keep his
conscience from gnawing at
him.
Sodom and Gomorrah

God destroys the cities of
Sodom and Gomorrah for their
immorality after sending two
angels to find ten righteous men
and only finding one:
Abraham's brother, Lot.

Has given rise to words such as
"sodomy“ and “sodomite” and is
used to reference immorality,
sin, and homosexuality.

Example:
FIN