Curated: published only
Typology
Persons, events, and institutions that prefigure: led by the places the New Testament itself says so.
The shape of this lensA shadow and the substance
- 116pairs published
- Law
- History
- Wisdom
- Major Prophets
- Minor Prophets
- Gospels
- Acts
- Pauline Epistles
- General Epistles
- Apocalyptic
8 more pairs are anchored to a person or a theme rather than to a single verse, so they have no one place on this line. They are listed below with the rest.
Law
60 pairsThe five books of Moses: the exodus, the tabernacle, the sacrifices.
The shadow
Leviticus 16:21“Then he is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities and rebellious acts of the Israelites in regard to all their sins. He is to put them on the goat’s head and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man appointed for the task.”
The substance
Isaiah 53:6“We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.”
On the Day of Atonement the live goat carries “all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited” (Lev 16:21–22); Isaiah says “the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa 53:6). The same sin-bearing verb carries both: nasaʾ, “to bear”: the goat “shall bear upon him all their iniquities” (Lev 16:22), and the Servant “hath borne our griefs” (Isa 53:4) and “bare the sin of many” (53:12). Isaiah adds a second verb of his own, sabal, “to carry as a load” (53:4, 11). The Epistle of Barnabas already reads the two goats of Leviticus 16 of Christ. Where scholars push back: Who or what “Azazel” names in Leviticus 16 (a place, a demon, or the goat's own removal) is disputed, and the answer changes how far the picture can be pressed.
thematic/lexical; Epistle of Barnabas 7 (PD)
The shadow
Genesis 3:15And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
The substance
Romans 16:20“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”
Genesis 3:15 is the first promise of a deliverer: the seed of the woman crushing the serpent's head. Paul speaks it as a promise still being kept: “the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly” (Rom 16:20). Where scholars push back: Read at its plainest level the verse can be taken as an account of why snakes and people fear one another; the Aramaic Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 3:15 resolves that enmity “in the days of the King Messiah,” and Bereshit Rabbah 23:5 reads the promised “other seed” of Genesis 4:25 as the Messiah, so the messianic reading is ancient, not modern.
Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Appendix IX (public domain)
The shadow
Exodus 12:13“The blood on the houses where you are staying will distinguish them; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will fall on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.”
The substance
1 Peter 1:19“but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot.”
'When I see the blood, I will pass over you' -> redeemed 'with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish.'
1 Pet 1:18-19; TSK
The shadow
Exodus 12:6“You must keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight.”
The substance
1 Corinthians 5:7“Get rid of the old leaven, that you may be a new unleavened batch, as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”
The Passover lamb -> 'Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.' Depth-2 cross-link from the lintel scene.
1 Cor 5:7
History
3 pairsIsrael's story in the land, from Joshua to Esther.
The shadow
Joshua 2:18“unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother and brothers and all your family into your house.”
The substance
Hebrews 9:22“According to the law, in fact, nearly everything must be purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
Rahab hangs a scarlet cord in her window and everyone inside the house is spared (Josh 2:18–21): a house marked with scarlet, standing untouched in a doomed city. First Clement already reads it of the blood of Christ, and Hebrews says “without shedding of blood is no remission” (Heb 9:22). Where scholars push back: The New Testament never links the cord to the blood, and by the classic rule for types this reading is allegory drawn by the interpreter rather than a picture Scripture itself points out.
Josh 2:18-21; Heb 9:22; 1 Clement 12 (PD); Origen
The shadow
2 Samuel 7:14“I will be his Father, and he will be My son. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men.”
The substance
Hebrews 1:5“For to which of the angels did God ever say: “You are My Son; today I have become Your Father”? Or again: “I will be His Father, and He will be My Son”?”
Solomon as God's 'son' foreshadows the true Son (explicit-nt)
2 Sam 7:14; Heb 1:5
The shadow
2 Samuel 7:12“And when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom.”
The substance
Acts 2:30“But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that He would place one of his descendants on his throne.”
Peter reads the Davidic seed-promise fulfilled in the resurrected Christ enthroned (explicit-nt)
Acts 2:29-36
Wisdom
17 pairsThe songs and the sayings: Job through the Song of Solomon.
The shadow
Psalms 22:1“My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, so far from my words of groaning?”
The substance
Matthew 27:46About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
From the cross Jesus cries the opening line of Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt 27:46). He is not quoting at random: he is naming the psalm that describes what is being done to him. Where scholars push back: Psalm 22 is written as one man's lament, and many read it as David's own suffering rather than a prediction.
public-domain commentaries in agreement
The shadow
Psalms 22:18“They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.”
The substance
John 19:24“So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it. Instead, let us cast lots to see who will get it.” This was to fulfill the Scripture: “They divided My garments among them, and cast lots for My clothing.” So that is what the soldiers did.”
“They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture” (Ps 22:18). John records the soldiers doing exactly that at the cross, down to the seamless coat they would not tear (John 19:23–24). Where scholars push back: Psalm 22 is written as an individual lament, and many read the line as figurative language for a man stripped of everything.
public-domain commentaries in agreement
The shadow
Psalms 16:10“For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor will You let Your Holy One see decay.”
The substance
Acts 2:31“Foreseeing this, David spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did His body see decay.”
God would not abandon His Holy One to Sheol
The shadow
Psalms 68:18“You have ascended on high; You have led captives away. You have received gifts from men, even from the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there.”
The substance
Ephesians 4:8This is why it says: “When He ascended on high, He led captives away, and gave gifts to men.”
He ascended on high and led captivity captive
Major Prophets
19 pairsThe long prophetic books, Isaiah through Daniel.
The shadow
Isaiah 53:10“Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush Him and to cause Him to suffer; and when His soul is made a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.”
The substance
Leviticus 5:15“If someone acts unfaithfully and sins unintentionally against any of the LORD’s holy things, he must bring his guilt offering to the LORD: an unblemished ram from the flock, of proper value in silver shekels according to the sanctuary shekel; it is a guilt offering.
'Thou shalt make his soul an offering for guilt (asham)' uses the technical Levitical guilt-offering term: the Servant IS the reparation offering
Hebrew asham (word:h817); Lev 5 asham statute
The shadow
Daniel 9:25“Know and understand this: From the issuance of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, until the Messiah, the Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of distress.”
The substance
Luke 19:41“As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it”
Messiah cut off after 69 weeks
The shadow
Isaiah 11:1“Then a shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.”
The substance
Luke 3:23“Jesus Himself was about thirty years old when He began His ministry. He was regarded as the son of Joseph, the son of Heli,”
A shoot from the stem of Jesse
The shadow
Isaiah 35:5“Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.”
The substance
Matthew 11:4“Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see:”
The blind see, deaf hear, lame leap
Minor Prophets
8 pairsThe twelve shorter prophets, Hosea through Malachi.
The shadow
Hosea 11:1“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son.”
The substance
Matthew 2:15where he stayed until the death of Herod. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
Out of Egypt I called My Son
The shadow
Zechariah 12:10“Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son.”
The substance
John 19:37And, as another Scripture says: “They will look on the One they have pierced.”
They will look on Me whom they have pierced
The shadow
Micah 5:2“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come forth for Me One to be ruler over Israel—One whose origins are of old, from the days of eternity.”
The substance
Luke 2:4“So Joseph also went up from Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, since he was from the house and line of David.”
Born in Bethlehem Ephrathah
The shadow
Malachi 3:1“Behold, I will send My messenger, who will prepare the way before Me. Then the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple—the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight—see, He is coming,” says the LORD of Hosts.
The substance
Mark 1:2As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “Behold, I will send My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way.”
I will send My messenger to prepare the way
Pauline Epistles
1 pairPaul's letters to the churches.
The shadow
Ephesians 6:14“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness arrayed,”
The substance
Isaiah 59:17“He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on His head; He put on garments of vengeance and wrapped Himself in a cloak of zeal.”
God wears this armor first: image-anchored by Roman military artifacts; curated/interpretive; drawn as the ghost figure behind the believer.
biblical text
Apocalyptic
1 pairThe visions of the end: Daniel's kind of sight, and John's.
The shadow
Revelation 21:22“But I saw no temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.”
The substance
1 Kings 6:20“The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar.”
New Jerusalem is a cube (Rev 21:16) = the Holy of Holies (1 Kgs 6:20 cube) expanded to a city; no separate temple needed.
Rev 21:16,22; Beale 2004
Persons
5 pairsPairs anchored to a person's whole life rather than to one verse.
The shadow
DanielMatthew 26:64: Jesus applies Son of Man to Himself
The substance
Matthew 26:64“You have said it yourself,” Jesus answered. “But I say to all of you, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
The shadow
DavidJohn 10:11: I am the good shepherd
The substance
John 10:11“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”
The shadow
IsaiahIsaiah 53:5: Suffering Servant anchor verse
The substance
Isaiah 53:5“But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.”
The shadow
AbrahamHebrews 11:17: offering Isaac, figure of resurrection
The substance
Hebrews 11:17“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac on the altar. He who had received the promises was ready to offer his one and only son,”
Themes and words
2 pairsPairs anchored to a theme or a single word running through Scripture.
The shadow
AcrosticThe acrostic's meaning 'from aleph to taw' = total completeness (Motyer); Christ names himself 'the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end' (Rev 1:8; 21:6; 22:13), same first-to-last-letter idiom in Greek. Devotional resonance, NOT proof (fails availability/volume: Greek, no verbal borrowing).
The substance
Revelation 1:8“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and was and is to come—the Almighty.
Motyer NIDB 'Acrostic'
The shadow
TreeThe tree of life stylized as the seven-branched golden lampstand, a tree of light in the Holy Place.
The substance
Exodus 25:31“Then you are to make a lampstand of pure, hammered gold. It shall be made of one piece, including its base and shaft, its cups, and its buds and petals.”
Beale 2004