Read an Excerpt

Metaphysical Bible Dictionary

Dover Publications, Inc.

METAPHYSICAL BIBLE DICTIONARY

* * *

Aaron, aâr' -on (Heb.)—illumined; enlightener; mountaineer (very lofty).

Brother of Moses; of the Israelitish tribe of Levi, and first high priest of Israel (Exod. 6:20; 28:1-4).

Meta. Executive power of divine law. Aaron, the first high priest of Israel and the bearer of intellectual light to the Israelites, signifies the ruling power of the intellectual consciousness. The making of the "molten calf" by Aaron (Exod. 32:1-8) signifies the false states of thought (idols) that man builds into his consciousness when he perceives the Truth but does not carry his spiritual ideals into execution, choosing instead to let his thoughts function in a lower plane of consciousness.

In Exodus 40:12, 13, Aaron and his sons typify spiritual strength, which becomes the presiding, directive power of a new state of consciousness. Through spiritual strength there is set up an abiding thought action that contributes to the building of the holy Temple (redeemed body). Bringing Aaron and his sons to the door of the tent of meeting and washing them with water means that we should declare spiritual strength to be the presiding, directive power of this new state of consciousness—not a mere animal strength, but a strength purified from all grossness of sense. This declaration of strength is absolutely necessary to the permanency of the body tabernacle. Through it is set up an abiding thought action that continues while one's attention is elsewhere: Aaron continues to minister in his priestly office.

Abaddon, a-bad'-don (Heb.)—destroyer; destruction.

Called Apollyon, in the Greek tongue. Said to be king over the great army of locusts that came out from the abyss to destroy (Rev. 9:2-11).

Meta. That this name has reference to a very destructive belief of man's is evident from the meaning of the name and from the 9th chapter of Revelation. From Exodus 10:14, 15 and Joel 2:3-10 (compare these texts with their references and you will see that they all are speaking of the same thing) one can get an idea of the destructiveness of the locusts of Palestine and the surrounding countries. They quite commonly came up like great armies and ate every living plant in their path; also, the leaves and the branches of the trees. So Abaddon must stand for the error belief in utter destruction of life and form.

The true life principle can never be destroyed; only the outer form of man's belief in materiality is destructible. So long as man believes in materiality or destruction, the outer destruction of forms will take place. It is very necessary, therefore, that the thought of the possibility of life's being destructible, or in any way limited, be erased entirely from the consciousness. "There is only one Presence and one Power in the universe—the Good omnipotent." Life is omnipresent, eternal, sure; life cannot be destroyed, because it is God Himself.

Abagtha, a-bag'-thl (Pers.)—happy; prosperous.

One of the seven eunuchs, or chamberlains, who served in the palace of Ahasuerus, king of Persia (Esther 1:10).

Meta. A eunuch, in consciousness, represents a thought from which the capacity to increase life and its forms has been eliminated. The chamberlain, in this instance, is a keeper of the king's bedchamber. Abagtha therefore represents a pure, happy, prosperous thought guarding and ministering to the king (the will). This thought is not spiritual (Abagtha was not of Israel), but it is of the outer realm, or realm of phenomena. The Medes and Persians are thought to have been descended from Japheth (one of the sons of Noah), who typifies the intellect or reason. The thoughts that they signify therefore belong to the mental and the psychic in man. Seven signifies perfection or fullness on the natural plane of consciousness.

Abanah (A. V., Abana), ab'-a-nah (Heb.)—permanent; enduring; perennial; a rock, a stone; stony.

A river in Syria (II Kings 5:12). This river flows through Damascus, which is one of the oldest known cities of the world.

Meta. The name symbolizes something constantly renewing, therefore permanent and enduring. From its setting, however, the river Abanah signifies intellectual thoughts and reasonings about life. A river represents a current of thought. The thoughts of the intellectual domain (Syria) apart from the real life current in the organism (the Jordan symbolizes this current in the instance of the healing of Naaman the Syrian, who thought that he could just as well wash in the rivers Abanah and Pharpar of Syria as in the Jordan) and apart from the loving, spiritual power of the I AM (Elisha) have no healing potency. Intellectual thoughts become permanent only when the intellect is quickened by Spirit and becomes transmuted into spiritual consciousness.

Abarim, ab'-a-rim (Heb.)—regions beyond; passages; fords, crossings.

A range of mountains in the country of Moab, opposite Jericho (Num. 33:47, 48; Deut. 32:49).

Meta. The Moabites were descended from Lot, whose name means hidden, a covering, dark colored. Lot's domain is the flesh, the part of man's consciousness that is still in darkness. Mountains are high places in consciousness. Among the peaks in this range of mountains (Abarim) are Nebo, Pisgah, and Peor. It was from the top of one of these mountain peaks that Moses was shown the land of Canaan, which was to be possessed by the Israelites. It was there that Moses died, that the Moses consciousness or understanding of divine law was merged into the I AM (Joshua), positive expression of the law. Abarim, therefore, though situated in Moab (the flesh or carnal consciousness) represents high, inspiring thoughts that look away from error over into the Promised Land; that see the possibility of the elevation of the whole man, spirit, soul, and body, to spiritual consciousness.

Abba, ab'-bl (Aram.)—father.

A word of endearment signifying my father (Mark 14:36; Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6).

Meta. In olden times a slave or menial servant was not allowed to call his master (the lord or head of the house) Abba. Only the children of the family could do this, or some one in close relationship or association, because it was an indication of the tenderest affection. When Abba is used in the Bible the word Father follows it and therefore gives emphasis to the term. It is only as we come to know our sonship, our true relation to God, that we enter into the consciousness of love and tender affiliation with Spirit that is signified by the word Abba.

Abda, ab'-dl (Aram.)—servant; a servant of God is implied; also slave; worshiper; worshiper of God.

a Father of Adoniram, one of the princes of King Solomon who "was over the men subject to taskwork" (I Kings 4:6). b Son of Shammua, a Levite who returned from the Babylonian captivity (Neh. 11:17).

Meta. The idea of spiritual work or service, but containing a thought of bondage (servant, slave, worshiper). This idea of service was lifted to a higher level in the son, Adoniram, meaning my lord is high, my lord is exalted, or lord of heights.

Abdeel, ab'-de-el (Heb.)—servant of God.

Father of Shelemiah, who was one of those whom the king of Judah, Jehoiakim, sent to take Jeremiah after he (the king) had burned the roll that contained the law of God (Jer. 36:26).

Meta. A thought of service to God (servant of God), but dominated by the ignorant, disbelieving will (Jehoiakim, the king). Jehoiakim, the king (the will), has the capacity to establish God in consciousness, since the name Jehoiakim means whom Jehovah hath set up, Jah establishes, and the will in man has the power to accept or to reject Truth. Jehoiakim, however, represents a ruling state of mind that does not reverence or obey the higher law and is not receptive to new ideas; therefore Abdeel signifies a thought of service to God that is in bondage to old established religious ideas that persecute man's inner spiritual faith and discernment (the prophet Jeremiah). Jeremiah also signifies the exalted state of thought that connects us with Divine Mind and demands that all our religious thoughts (Israelites) be faithful in observance of divine law.

Abdi, ab'-di (Heb.)—my servant; servant of Jah.

a Son of Malluch (I Chron. 6:44) and father of Kish, of the Levites (II Chron. 29:12). b A son of Elam (Ezra 10:26).

Meta. Thoughts that serve Jehovah or are subject to Jehovah (my servant, servant of Jah). The first mentioned Abdi signifies a thought that springs from counseling with Spirit and meditating on divine law. The father of this Abdi was named Malluch, which means counselor.

Abdi, the son of Elam, represents a thought of service to God that is established in an idea of youth and strength (Elam means fully developed, a young man) but is united to a physical or carnal soul quality (he was married to a foreign wife). This carnal idea has to be given up. The Israelites had to separate themselves from their foreign wives and from the children (mixed thoughts) that had come of union with them.

Abdiel, ab'-di-el (Heb.)—servant of God.

A Gadite, who lived in Gilead in Bashan (I Chron. 5:15, 16).

Meta. Gad means fortune, or fortunate; also, a troop, and refers to the power faculty in individual consciousness. (See GAD.) Gilead means enduring rock, and Bashan means smooth, fertile soil, fruitful. So it is quite evident that the thought of service that Abdiel (servant of God) typifies has reference to the expression of power and strength in relation to bountiful supply and increase of good.

Abdon, ab'-don (Heb.)—servile; service; a servant.

a A judge of Israel. He had "forty sons and thirty sons' sons, that rode on threescore and ten ass colts: and he judged Israel eight years" (Judg. 12:13-15). b The name of a city in Asher that was given to "the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites" (Josh. 21:30).

Meta. A phase of the judging, discerning faculty in man. Abdon served Israel as judge. The forty sons imply a thought of completeness, and the seventy ass colts refer to the animal part of man as expressed through the seven senses, seventy being a multiple of seven and showing a tenfold increase of the expression of this animal phase of consciousness, which was held in dominion by the thoughts for which Abdon's sons and sons' sons stand. The riding of Abdon's sons and sons' sons on seventy asses shows that in thought the animal phase of man symbolized by the ass (meekness, stubbornness, persistency, and endurance) is in subjection. (One meaning of servile is held in subjection.)

"And Abdon ... died, and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill-country of the Amalekites" (Judg. 12:15). This means that, as the thought of good judgment, service, and dominion over the animal phase of man (symbolized by Abdon and by the riding of his sons and sons' sons on the asses) sinks deeper into the consciousness, a fuller uplifting of the animal forces, appetites, and passions (Amalekites) may be accomplished.

The city of Abdon symbolizes a happy (Asher), fixed state of consciousness, or an aggregation of thoughts of judgment and service utilized by the natural religious tendencies (Levites) of the individual, from which opposite thoughts of error have been expelled. (Gershon means expulsion.)

Abed–nego, a-bed'-ne-go (Aram.)—servant of Nego or Nebo.

A friend of Daniel's, by the name of Azariah, to whom the name Abed–nego was given by the prince of the eunuchs of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (Dan. 1:7). He was of the tribe of Judah, of royal blood, and was skilled in all wisdom (Dan. 1:3, 4, 6). He was one of the three (Abed–nego, Meshach, and Shadrach) who came out of the fiery furnace unharmed (Dan. 3:12-30).

Meta. Light, understanding. Nebo was a Babylonian and Assyrian deity who represented the planet Mercury. Nebo was worshiped as the god of wisdom, and was believed to be the scribe and interpreter of the gods. The name Nebo, according to The New International Encyclopaedia, means announcer, proclaimer.

Abel, a'-bel (in Hebrew, heh-bel)—breath or vanity; transitoriness; a breath; vapor.

Second son of Adam and Eve, killed by his brother Cain (Gen. 4:2-8).

Meta. Abel means breath, which places him in the air, or the mental realm. He represents not the spiritual mind but the mind that controls the animal functions—he was a sheep raiser. The mental is more closely related to the spiritual consciousness than the physical (Cain) is, and its offerings are more acceptable to Spirit than are those of the physical. In Hindu metaphysics, Abel would be termed the animal soul. Paul would call him the creature.

Abel, a'-bel (in Hebrew, aw-bali)—meadow; fresh; grassy; a grassy place.

A great stone "in the field of Joshua the Bethshemite," "whereon they set down the ark of Jehovah" (I Sam. 6:18, see marginal note also).

Meta. A very firm, abiding realization of substance in consciousness.

Abel–beth–maacah, a'-bel–beth–ma'-a-?ah (Heb.)—meadow of the house of Maacah; meadow of the house of oppression.

A city of Naphtali (I Kings 15:20; II Kings 15:29); in II Chronicles 16:4 it is called Abel–maim.

Meta. Abel means meadow. A meadow is a grassland, and is generally used to provide grass and hay for domestic animals, principally horses, cattle, and sheep. These animals symbolize the physical strength and the natural vital forces of the human organism. Abel therefore stands for a substance state of consciousness by which the animal forces of the body are sustained.

Naphtali refers to the strength center in man. This center is located in the region of the kidneys, whose office is to eliminate certain watery elements from the blood.

Beth means house, and Maacah means oppression, depression, or pressed down, worn. Abel–beth– maacah, meadow of the house of oppression, a city of Naphtali, therefore signifies the weighed-down, worn-out feeling that we experience when our strength (Naphtali) has been given over to the physical and our substance has been dissipated through sense activity. When this condition obtains, the whole vitality is lowered; the depression usually strikes first at the pit of the stomach, the substance center in consciousness.

Abel–beth–maacah also was called Abel–maim, meadow of waters. Waters symbolize an unstable, changing element in consciousness; waters often stand for a cleansing quality also. So the substance in our organism must be cleansed, uplifted, and transmuted (changed) into its original spiritual essence before it becomes stable, abiding.

Abel–cheramim, a'-bel–che-ra'-mim (Heb.)—plain of the vineyards; meadow of the vineyards.

A small town to the east of the Jordan (Judg. 11:33).

Meta. A fixed state of thought in which the idea of the substance of life predominates. Abel, or meadow, stands for substance, while a vineyard (grapes) always suggests life.

Abel – meholah, a'-bel – me-ho'-lah (Heb.)—meadow of the dance; dance-meadow.

A town that is mentioned in connection with Gideon's victory over the host of Midian (Judg. 7:22; see also I Kings 4:12; 19:16). This town is supposed to have been in the Jordan valley.

Meta. An aggregation of joyous, harmonious thoughts of substance activity, or of the activity of substance.

Abel – mizraim, a'-bel – miz'-ra-im (Heb.)—mourning of Egypt or Egyptians; mourning or meadow of distress.

---

Excerpted from Metaphysical Bible Dictionary by Charles Fillmore. Copyright © 2013 Dover Publications, Inc.. Excerpted by permission of Dover Publications, Inc..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---