Biblical Allusions: The Old Testament

Adam and Eve: Allusions to the Garden of Eden may include: fig-leaf, apple, Eden, serpent, humanity, sin, mortality because of sin. Eden is the perfect garden. The serpent is a symbol of a negative force, even evil. Adam and Eve are cast out once they eat the “forbidden fruit.” Giving into the serpent’s temptation, Eve takes the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, eats it, and then gives it to Adam. 

Cain and Abel: Cain and Abel were sons of Adam and Eve. After God accepted Abel’s offering and had no regard for Cain’s, Cain killed his brother Abel. God cursed Cain to be a “wanderer of the earth,” and marked Cain so that no one who comes upon him may kill him.

Noah and the flood: God floods the world, symbolizing his intolerance for sin, and new beginning. Noah builds an ark and gathers two of every animal.  Only those on the ark survive the flood (God’s love toward Noah and his family). The dove and the rainbow symbolize God’s promise that he will never flood the world again.

Tower of Babel: Symbolizes the Humbling of humanity; man’s futile attempt to work their way to heaven by building a tower is seen as too ambitious by God, hence he destroys the tower.  Babel symbolizes God’s power over man, and the creation of the different languages by God. 

Abraham: A story about faith - God commands Abraham to kill his oldest son, Isaac. Abraham begins to, then God saves Isaac since Abraham proved his faith and obedience.  Abraham makes a covenant with God. This marks the beginning of the Jewish / Christian and Muslim faiths, father of the Jews and Muslims.

Lot and his Wife: Sodom and Gomorrah are cities of debauchery, and God destroys them.

God has mercy on Lot in saving his family from his wrath.  They are not supposed to look back at the destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, and when Lot’s wife does look back she is turned into a pillar of salt.

Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael: Sarah is Abraham’s wife.  She is barren (she later gives birth to Isaac).  Abraham has a child with Sarah’s handmaid, Hagar (the hierarchical structure of Gilead in The Handmaid’s Tale is based on this).  Hagar gives birth to Ishmael. Sharah banishes Hagar and Ishmael into the desert.  Mohammad (the Muslim prophet) is a descendant of Ishmael. 

Isaac and Rebecca: They are the parents of Jacob and Esau.

Rachel and Leah and Jacob: They are sisters and both marry Jacob. He is the father of the 12 tribes of Israel.  He steals his brother’s (Esau) birthright (primogeniture) by tricking Esau into trading a bowl of porridge for his birthright. Jacob also wrestles tieh and angel and then changes his name to Israel.  Jacob’s ladder is a ladder from Heaven that he climbs and hears the voice of God.

Joseph: coat of many colors, sold into Egypt, Potiphar’s wife, Pharaoh’s dream, Joseph is a visionary and tells the Pharaoh what his dreams mean.  Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers and the favorite of his father, 

Jacob.  He is the son of Isaac and Rebecca. He steals his brother’s (Esau) birthright (primogeniture) by tricking Esau into trading a bowl of porridge for his birthright. Jacob also wrestles tieh and angel and then changes his name to Israel.  Jacob’s ladder is a ladder from Heaven that he climbs and hears the voice of God.

Moses: burning bush, Aaron’s rod (magically turns into a snake before the Pharaoh), Passover and the 10 plagues, crossing and parting of the Red Sea, 10 commandments, leader to the Promised Land, Exodus of the Jews out of Egypt to land of Milk and Honey.

Samson: jawbone of an ass. Samson fights with the Philistines with the jawbone of an ass.

Ruth and Naomi: Naomi is Ruth’s mother-in-law.  Naomi’s sons die and she returns to Bethlehem. Ruth is loyal to Naomi and goes with her.  Ruth meets a man named Boaz.

David, Goliath, Jonathan, Bathsheba, Absalom, King of Israel.  The messiah is descended from this line (the kingly line). (According to Matthew who appears in the New Testament Jesus is this messiah).  David is the second king of the United Kingdom of Israel.  He is also considered the author of The Book of Psalms.  According to the Muslim tradition he was a prophet.  He fights Goliath a giant and wins.  Jonathan is Saul’s son and he and David are friends. Jonathan helps David escape from the Philistines. Absalom is David’s son who betrays his and begins a war against David. Bathsheba (a married woman) is seduced by David and gives birth to Solomon -- she is often alluded to as a woman who emasculates men. 

Solomon: Wise man - when two women were fighting over custody of a baby, he suggested that the baby be cut in half. One woman said, “okay” while the other did not want to hurt the baby. This is how Solomon determined that the woman who did not want to harm the baby would be a better mother and she got custody.  Solomon is the son of David and some of the psalms are attributed to Solomon. 

Ahab and Jezebel: Ahab built a pagan temple, under Jezebel’s guidance and Elijah warned Ahab that this was a bad idea. Ahab did it anyway and was seen as a bad or even evil king.

Elijah: a prophet: Elijah challenged Ahab and his pagan priests on Mount Carmel. God sent down fire to ignite a sacrifice, but the priests of Baal could not summon Baal to do the same. Then the people realized that God was the only true God (1 Kings 18:18-39). Then rains came and ended the drought.

Job: Job is a devout and faithful man. Satan wants to make Job suffer to prove to God that when Job suffers he will curse and denounce God.  God allows Satan to make Job suffer.  Job remains faithful and instead of cursing God, Job curses the day he was born. The book of Job is considered to be the poetic masterpiece of the Bible. 

Daniel: Allusions include: writing on the wall, lion’s den...the lion whisper. Daniel was a faithful man who prayed three times a day. He had enemies. His enemies saw to it that a law was passed against prayer. Daniel was arrested and thrown into the lion’s den where he made friends with them and survived.  The men who accused Daniel were thrown into the lion’s den along with every member of their family and were torn apart before they even hit the ground.  David interprets dreams for the pharaoh and becomes his favorite.