Interior meaning
Metaphors abound in the Bible, and names are often
expressive of spiritual ideas. The most distinguished
theologians in Europe and America agree that
the Scriptures have both a spiritual and lit-
eral meaning. In Smith's Bible Dictionary it is said:
"The spiritual interpretation of Scripture must rest
upon both the literal and moral;" and in the learned
article on Noah in the same work, the familiar text,
Genesis vi. 3, "And the Lord said, My spirit shall not
always strive with man, for that he also is flesh," is quoted
as follows, from the original Hebrew: "And Jehovah
said, My spirit shall not forever rule [or be humbled] in
men, seeing that they are [or, in their error they are]
but flesh." Here the original text declares plainly the
spiritual fact of being, even man's eternal and harmo-
nious existence as image, idea, instead of matter (how-
ever transcendental such a thought appears), and avers
that this fact is not forever to be humbled by the belief
that man is flesh and matter, for according to that error
man is mortal.
