The Bible In Paintings >>> “Women in the Bible” Series ✝️ SYMBOLIC WOMEN – Gomer, Wise and Foolish Virgins, Woman as the Church, Woman on the Beast ✝️

[Hebrews 11:6]

The Bible
In Paintings

~ Encouragement for Applying
and Appreciating God's Word ~

•Drawings•Engravings•Facades•Frescoes•Illuminations•Miniatures•Mosaics•Photographs•Reliefs•Statues•Tapestries•Windows•

WOMEN IN THE BIBLE
WOMEN AS SYMBOLS

		GOMER, HOSEA’S PROSTITUTE WIFE

HOSEA 1:
When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, “Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD.” So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim.

1
Source

2
Source

3
Source

4
Source

HOSEA 3:
The LORD said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”

So I bought her. Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will live with you.”

For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days.

5

6

7
Source

8
Source

		THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS

MATTHEW 25:
Jesus answered: “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’

“ ‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

“Later the others also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’

“But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

9
WILLIAM BLAKE
"The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins"

10
PHOEBE TRAQUAIR
"The Parable of the Ten Virgins"

11
Source

12
Source

13
Source

14
Source

15
Source

16
Source

17
JAMES TISSOT
Source

18
ERNEST FRIEDRICH VON LIPHART
"Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins"

19
FRANCESCO FONTEBASSO
"The Bridegroom and the Foolish Virgins"

		WOMAN AS THE CHURCH

REVELATION 12:
A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.

When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.

20
HOWARD DAVID JOHNSON
"The Great Wonder in Heaven [Revelation 12]"

21
Source

22
Source

23
HERBERT R. SIM
"The Woman, the Child, and the Dragon"

24
CLARA RETTICH
"Woman Clothed with the Sun"

25
GUSTAVE DORÉ
"The Crowned Virgin: A Vision of John"

26
VIGOVSKY
"Israel Jesus and Woman v Seven Headed Dragon Revelation 12"

27
Source

28
"Woman of the Apocalypse"

29
JACOPO PALMA IL GIOVANE
"Woman of the Apocalypse"

30
AGOSTINO COMERIO
"La Donna e il Drago"

31
Source

32
BENJAMIN WEST
"The Woman Clothed with the Sun Fleeth
from the Persecution of the Dragon"

		WOMAN RIDING THE BEAST

REVELATION 17:
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters. With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.”

Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. The woman held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. This title was written on her forehead:

MYSTERY
BABYLON THE GREAT
THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES
AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.

Then the angel said to me: “I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns. The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings. The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.

“The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”

Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.”

33
HANS BURGKMAIR the Elder
"The Whore of Babylon"

34
Source

35
ALBRECHT DÜRER
"The Whore of Babylon"

36
JOHN THORNTON
"The Great Whore Riding on the Beast"

37
Source

38
Source

39
Source

40
TED LARSON
"Woman Who Rides the Beast"

41
HENRY JOHN STOCK
"The Whore of Babylon"

42
ANTHUENIS CLAEISSINS
"Whore of Babylon Riding the Seven-Headed Beast"

→ a n d   f i n a l l y ←

43
WILLIAM BLAKE
"The Whore of Babylon"

New International Version ©1984, Abrgd, EMPHASES added
Masthead Painting: “GUEST” by Andrey Mironov

[Hebrews 11:6]

A R C H I V E S
Click for links to all prior posts


P I N G   L I S T
Typical posting frequency is five threads weekly
To receive new-posting alerts,
either request below or FRmail me

[Hebrews 11:6]

Feel free to comment below.

No expertise is needed,
either in Scripture or in art—
so please jump right in!

A FRIENDLY FORUM

[Hebrews 11:6]

This is the thirty-fourth and final installment of the “Women in the Bible” series. I hope you found it worthwhile.

On Monday we’ll begin a new ten-part series, “Martyrs in the Bible.”

[etabeta]

Thank you, Dan!
#9 Blake
#25 Dore’
All the fenster..

[Hebrews 11:6]

Fenster-Fun for Adoring-Alba!

[Red Badger]

Diblaim!...Diblaim!...Diblaim!....

[No name given]

Fascinating.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Do you enjoy life there on Fantasy Island?

[Hebrews 11:6]

Symbolic.

[Red Badger]

Yes, there’s a never-ending supply of new and interesting people....................

[Red Badger]

“For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosea

A ‘day’ is as a thousand years to The Lord, and a thousand years is as a day.

When Hosea prophesied these things, the Assyrian, Babylonian and Roman Diasporas had not yet happened......................

[Hebrews 11:6]

I respect Hosea, who obeyed His Lord so faithfully.

[InkStone]

Good Morning Dan, and good day to all.

A glad way to start the morning; have greatly enjoyed this series, and look forward to “Martyrs in the Bible”

Really appreciate your happy labors in this ministry Dan, thank you.

[Jim W N]

For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days.

Hosea 3.

An exact descriptive prophecy of Israel in the last 2000 years who "afterward" (after Jesus takes up the Church) will be saved (Romans 11:26; Revelation Chapter 7).

The woman as Israel is depicted as married with a child (Rev. Chap. 12) who will be killed by the beast except for the remnant who will hide for the duration of the tribulation (Rev. 12:6, 14 - scripture repeats itself here to show the thing is established).

The woman as the Church is already in Heaven after Revelation Chap. 3, enjoying the Marriage Supper with Jesus her bridegroom.

The Ten Virgins are Israel - interesting because Israel is usually depicted as a woman married to God. But five of them are Israel who have received Jesus and are raptured with the church, so as part of the church, they are seen as virgins. The other five (potentially "virgins" with the church but fail) is the Israel that does not receive Jesus and goes into the tribulation and and will be saved in "Jacob's trouble".

So the women as the Church and Israel are God's people. The rest is the "other" woman - those who are not God's people depicted as "Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and abominations of the Earth. Her fate is horrific.

Love your ministry here. God bless you.

[Jim W N]

I don’t know how he did it really. Talk about God’s grace. Same thing in Ezekiel 24:15-27. Whew.

[Red Badger]

...They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days."

A huge amount of time will (and did) pass between Hosea's prophecy and the present time. Notice that he refers to them as 'The Israelites', not the 'Jews' or 'The Kingdom of Israel', meaning the Northern Kingdom. He's talking about ALL the descendants of Jacob/Israel. The northern kingdom was taken into captivity by the Assyrian Empire and when it fell, all traces of the Israelites who lived there basically disappeared from history. Hosea mentions King David in his prophecy, whose throne is still in existence, else they could not return to him................

[Hebrews 11:6]

“Happy labors” describes it well, Leon. If Snow White shows up, we dwarves will be laboring, some happily, some otherwise....

[Hebrews 11:6]

Thanks for your essay. My intent here was only to give the broadest of suggestions as to the meaning of the symbols and leave to viewers such as you how to understand them.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Excellently put, Mike. What a feeling it must have been for prophets such as Hosea to receive the word of the Lord and be prompted to pass it on, knowing that he would not live long enough naturally to see its fulfillment.

[Red Badger]

There will be a Great Evangelizing amongst the Jewish population ‘in the Last Days’.

Their eyes will be opened and they will all realize suddenly what has been withheld from them for nearly 2000 years..............