Type the best definition of this word, in its theological sense, is that which supplies: a type is a shadow of good things to come, or as the apostle elsewhere expresses it () 'a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.' Adopting this definition as the correct one, we proceed briefly to point out the different types by which God was pleased in various ages to adumbrate the person and work of the Redeemer.
Before the law, Adam, Enoch, Noah, Melchizedec, Abraham, Isaac, and Joseph were eminently typical of Christ. Again, under the law, Moses, Joshua, Samson, David, Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Jonah, Zerubbabel, and Joshua the high priest, were, in many points, singularly types of Christ.
The first-born, the Nazarites, prophets, priests, and kings, were typical orders of persons.
Under the head of things typical may be noticed: Jacob's ladder, the burning bush, the pillar of cloud and fire, the manna, the rock, and the brazen serpent.
Actions typical were: the deliverance out of Egypt, passage of the Red Sea, sojourn in the wilderness, passage over the Jordan, entrance into Canaan, and restoration from Babylon.
Rites typical were: circumcision, various sacrifices, and sundry purifications.
Places typical were: the land of Canaan, the cities of refuge, the tabernacle, and the temple.
The above types were designed to shadow forth Christ and the blessings of his salvation; but there were others also which pointed at our miseries without him. There were ceremonial uncleannesses; the leprosy, for instance, was a type of our natural pollution; and Hagar and Ishmael a type of the covenant of works.
As there must be a similarity or analogy between the type and the antitype, so there is also a disparity or dissimilitude between them.
It is not in the nature of type and antitype that they should agree in all things; else, instead of similitude, there would be identity. Hence the apostle, while making Adam a type of Christ, yet shows how infinitely the latter excelled the former (). So the priests of old were types of Christ, though he infinitely excelled them both as to his own person and as to the character of his priesthood (see Hebrews 7-10).
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John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.
From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself.
One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.
A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.
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