Biblical Allusions

The literal meaning of an allusion is, a device that stimulates ideas, associations and information in a reader's mind with the help of a few words that refer to a common phrase. It also depends on the reader to understand the meaning hidden behind the words if he is familiar with the related phrase. Biblical allusions definition is the same except that these references made to the reader are from the Holy Bible. There are many such references commonly used by a number of writers when they want their readers to understand the grave meanings behind their indirect words, for an example, "Adam", "Prodigal Son", "Alpha and Omega", etc. These words and phrases are names and phrases from the Bible and are often used when the meaning is to be made clear in a few words. Given below are other such examples of Biblical allusions and their meanings, thus take a look.

Biblical Allusions Examples
The Bible is a form of literature brought down through the years and passed down from generations. This prose of literature has many common allusions which is used in the English language to make a reference for certain sentences. Such biblical allusions in literature are mentioned in the following list, thus read on to find the exact meaning of this figure of speech.

• Garden of Eden - Paradise prepared by god
• Adam - First man
• Eve - First woman
• The serpent - Chief of god's fallen angels; Devil
• The tree of knowledge or life - Gaining knowledge about the right and wrong.
• Be fruitful and multiply - When God sent Adam and Eve away from the garden of Eden to work in the field and be punished. He told Eve to bear the pain of reproduction and labor because it was her who got tempted to eat the fruit.
• Ashes to ashes, dust to dust - God said that from mud man was made and when he dies, into mud he will go.
• The flood - Hard rain that destroyed the whole world in 40 days.
• Burning bush - God appeared to Moses in this form.
• The ten plagues - God sent Moses to the pharaoh to plead for the release of the Israelites. Read on to know about the ten plagues:

1. Plague 1 - The waters of the Nile turned to blood
2. Plague 2 - Frogs were multiplied on the land
3. Plague 3 - Lice infested both animals and people
4. Plague 4 - Flies infested the land
5. Plague 5 - A disease caused the cattle to die
6. Plague 6 - People were covered with boils
7. Plague 7 - Hail destroyed crops
8. Plague 8 - Locusts destroyed the crops which remained after the storm
9. Plague 9 - Darkness covered the land for three days
10. Plague 10 - The first born of the cattle and people were killed

• The passover - Israelites might escape the tenth and last plague; God commanded to sprinkle blood of a lamb on their door posts; angel of death passed over to kill the first born; first born lived if blood over door post.
• David and Goliath - Brave warrior who slew the giant Goliath, a philistine with a rock from his sling-shot; followed Saul as king of Israel.
• King Solomon - Another son of king David; wisest man on earth; god told him he could have anything he wished for and it would be gathered.
• Virgin Mary - Mother of Jesus Christ.
• Jesus Christ - Known as Son of God; the promised savior; or messiah.
• Apostle or disciple - Were twelve men handpicked by Jesus to be his chosen followers; after his death and resurrection they were to carry on his mission.
• Good Samaritan - The Samaritan who helped a dying man when no one stopped to nurse him.
• Crown of thorns - The crown of thorns that was put on Jesus' head as the King of the Jews.
• Turn the other cheek - Jesus preached that you should never take revenge. Turn the other cheek if someone slaps you on the one, and he will not dare to slap you on the other one.
• Judas Iscariot - One of the twelve disciples of Jesus; betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver; later repented but too late.
• Armageddon - Armageddon was a battlefield where several historical events took place.
• Judgment day - Last day, when the world will again be destroyed; all souls will rise and be judged; Jesus will come again.

There are many more biblical allusions which are used as references to explain certain sentences. You can use these while talking as well as writing since many people can relate to this text when put in situations. It is said, that the Bible has references to everything that has ever been created in the world. Thus isn't it easy to understand when someone uses these biblical allusions to elaborate on a particular issue? Try using them yourself and see if it works!