According to CM, “The Principle of Expositional Constancy” is the theory that an idiom is used the same way throughout Scripture. A few examples would be the rock, leaven, a lamb, and the scarlet thread.
Throughout both the Old and New Testaments the rock and/ or stone is used a type of the Messiah. I covered this in “References about rocks that have messianic overtones.”
[http://sallycp-inthebeginninggod.blogspot.com/2016/04/references-about-rocks-that-have.html]
Thayer's definition of leaven; “metaphorically of inveterate mental and moral corruption, viewed in its tendency to infect others Leaven is equated with sin, a puffing up.” The Complete Word Study Dictionary adds the reference of a false doctrine and is associated with “hypocrisy and insincerity.”
There are 29 references to leaven in the Bible in 20 verses, 18 in the Old Testament and 11 in the New Testament.
First mention of leaven in the Bible, Exodus 12:15, “Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.”
Matthew 13:33, “Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.” The Believer’s Bible Commentary suggests that in this parable the meal represents the Biblical food of God and the leaven is evil doctrine. The woman is a false prophet as in Revelation 2:20.
Jesus warned of the Hypocrisy of the Pharisees in Luke 12:1, “…., he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” This warning was repeated in Matthew 16:6,11,12 and Mark 8:15.
Paul warns us in Galatians 8:9, “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.”
From Genesis through Revelation, the Lamb is an idiom for the Messiah.
Genesis 22:8, “And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.” Prophetic of Jesus as our propitiation.
Passover lamb, Exodus 12:5, “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats”
Exodus 12:13, “And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.” As the Israeli were protected by the blood of the lamb, the blood of Jesus protects us.
John 1:29, “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” Again, Jesus was to be our propitiation.
1 Peter 1:1, “But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:”
Revelation 22:3, “And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him” is one of several verses in Revelation referring to the Lamb.
One of the many patterns In the Bible is the Scarlet Thread that starts in Genesis with the seed of the woman. Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her’s; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
When departing Egypt God told Moses, Exodus 12:7, “And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.”
An interesting interweaving of the Scarlet Thread is in the story of sons of Judah and his daughter-in-law Tamar. Genesis 38:29-30, “And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out: and she said, How hast thou broken forth? this breach be upon thee: therefore his name was called Pharez. And afterward came out his brother that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and his name was called Zarah. Pharez/ Perez was in the line of Jesus.
The Scarlet Thread hung from her window saved Rahab and her family. Rahab is in the line of Jesus.
Psalm 22:6, “But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.”
On the cross Jesus gave His life as a propitiation to bridge the gap between a righteous God and fallen man, something of a similitude to the Tola, the scarlet worm, who gives her life so that her young may have life. Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
The lamb and the rock are two idioms of Jesus and are found throughout the Bible. The Scarlet Thread also weaves its way throughout the Bible. Leaven is an idiom for sin, puffing up and hypocrisy.
How about snake? There's the Bronze Snake of Moses and the other snakes have negative connotations.
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