This expression has long been commonplace in the modern world. Most often it is used with a certain shade of skepticism, ridicule of a person. First of all, this speaks of a certain loss of the original meaning of the phrase “the lamb of God”. The true meaning of it today is known to a few native speakers.
Who is the lamb
The very sounding, spelling of a word speaks of its antiquity, a certain obsolescence. The very form of this expression evokes associations with the distant past and, of course, sacred texts. So who is this very lamb?
Surprisingly, initially this word was not fraught with anything supernatural. The lamb is simply the outdated name for the lamb. However, anyone who is more or less familiar with Christian doctrine should ask why the lamb is usually called the son of God.
Appeal to the Old Testament
If you dig a little deeper than the standard interpretation, you will notice that the first mention of the lamb within the biblical worldview is found in the Old Testament and, accordingly, in the Torah. It was the lamb that was brought as a sacred sacrifice to the Lord.
This begs the question: "Why exactly the lamb to the slaughter?" Why not a calf or, for example, a deer? It is all about the nature of this animal. The peculiarity of this herbivore is that the lamb voluntarily goes to its own death. Unlike other representatives of the fauna, he does not at all resist his fate. Moreover, he even in a sense promotes her, craning her neck, as if for the greater convenience of his killer.
The incredible humility of this animal, such a strange biological feature, caused associations with the absolute humility, sacrifice of the lamb, strengthening it in the memory of mankind.
Lamb of the New Testament
Despite this, more often than not an animal sacrificed is associated with the lamb. For most, the lamb is the son of God. It will be difficult for a person who is far from the biblical picture of the world to understand why the object of worship, the main figure in religion, is called the lamb.
People more sophisticated will easily draw an analogy between the sacrificial act of Jesus and the Old Testament slaughter. In fact, in the history of Christ, the original plot is almost exactly repeated. Only in this case, the sacrifice was much larger, for the much greater sins of mankind.
Like a submissive lamb, Jesus completely voluntarily ascended Golgotha, taking upon himself the cross of human imperfections.
The analogy of internal purity is also quite obvious. Like the lamb, the Son of God did not know sin, he was completely clean before execution. It is also death in the name of life.
More depth
If we look more closely at the biblical triad of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we can pay attention to its inner unity. Despite the various names and hypostases, in fact, all three phenomena are one. Thus, ascending to Calvary, Jesus sacrificed not only himself. At the same time, the other two incarnations of the Lord were sacrificed.
It turns out that the lamb is a much more capacious concept than one might imagine at first glance.
Holy sacrifice in Jewish culture
Despite the fact that Christianity has learned a lot from the Torah, there are significant differences. An example of this phenomenon is the understanding of the lamb. Initially, the values ​​completely coincided, but they diverged with the development of religions. Christianity transferred such a successful image to Jesus, and then to God himself. In the second case, the properties were transferred to the entire Jewish people, who were destined to atone for the guilt of centuries past.
Image in different cultures
Due to the fact that the lamb is mainly a Christian symbol, it is quite obvious that certain cultures also adopted it. It should be noted that in various countries this symbol of sacrifice and humility was adapted in its own version.
For Italians and Bulgarians, for example, it is customary to bake a lamb on a spit entirely in honor of the holidays. In Russia, there is a different tradition: it is customary to cook pies and gingerbreads in the form of lamb for Orthodox holidays. In this case, the sacrifice is made symbolically, and the slaughter of the animal is absolutely not required for this.
The lamb in art
It is clear that such a multifaceted, powerful symbol could not but be reflected in art. In addition to numerous references in the literature, this image is often found in painting. It is noteworthy that in almost every picture depicting the birth of Christ, there is also a lamb.
If we take particular cases, the painting “Adoration of the Lamb”, written by Jan van Eyck in 1432, is quite famous. He portrayed the sacred animal and the famous Roerich. In the Prado Museum, a painting by Francisco de Zurbaran, The Lamb of God, is stored as an exhibit.
So, we examined the state of affairs today. But we can safely say that in the future the word “lamb” will continue to transform, acquire new meanings, additional shades. At the moment, the lamb is one of the basic, fundamental religious symbols.