Leaf

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

 Genesis 3:7 (c) These leaves represent the actions and ways of human beings who attempt to hide their sins under their own righteous acts and deeds. As Adam and Eve made these transient coverings for themselves, and used the things which would soon shrink and fade, so self- righteous sinners try to cover up their evil deeds and wicked ways by good works and religious performances. You will note that Adam and Eve hid from God after they made the fig leaf aprons. They themselves realized that the aprons did not hide them from the eyes of God. Only the precious Blood of Christ avails to hide our sins from a holy Judge.

 Psalm 1:3 (b) This type illustrates the bright, attractive, happy life which is lived by that individual in whom is the life of God. As the leaf reveals the kind of tree that it is on, so the life of the individual reveals whether or not he belongs to Jesus Christ. Leaves usually represent a profession, but not necessarily the possession of eternal life.

 Isaiah 6:13 (b) By this we are taught that though one may be a Christian and have the real gift of eternal life, he may be having a winter-time in his experience, when the leaves are not to be seen.

A live tree may have no leaves on it because of the conditions that exist.

 Isaiah 64:6 (a) As leaves fade, so the human life fades. Some grow more beautiful as they grow older. They become more attractive with age. As many leaves grow more beautiful, waxen, and tinted when they are ready to fall, so some lives are more glorious in their closing days. Other leaves, however, fade in a most unattractive way. They are sear, yellow, worm-eaten, curled, shrunken, and very unsightly. No one wants them. They are quickly swept up and burned. Many lives are like that. The individual grows sour, fault-finding, critical, demanding, and there is no grief when he falls and is swept away into eternity.

 Jeremiah 17:8 (b) By this figure we are taught that the person who walks with God in happy communion with Him will be a constant testimony and will continually bear fruit for God. The leaves represent both confession and profession. The godly Christian will never hide his identity with Christ, but will always be confessing Him.

 Ezekiel 17:9 (b) In this graphic way the Lord is telling us that in the time of persecution Israel would lose her identity with God and would no longer profess to be the people of God. They do retain their physical identity but their spirituality has disappeared. The present nation of Israel is a godless nation, with no recognition at all of the great truths of the sacrifices, the temple, and the Lord God.

 Ezekiel 47:12 (b) Here we see a type of the constancy, beauty and certainty of the profession and confession of the real child of God. The believer is represented as GOD's tree, planted in GOD's Word, and permeated by the Spirit of God.

 Daniel 4:12-21 (b) By this figure we are told that the profession and identity of the great king were clear, plain and definite until God cast him down from his throne.

 Matthew 21:19 (b) In this way we learn of the empty profession of the nation of Israel who claimed to be GOD's people. Their hearts were not right with God, and they produced no fruit for His glory. This figure also may apply to individuals who are members of some church, are active in the Christian life, and yet are not themselves saved by grace, and redeemed by the Blood.

 Revelation 22:2 (b) This is probably a type of the blessings and graces of Christ which are innumerable in number. They have their source in GOD's heart, and bring the blessings of Heaven to those who belong to the Lord.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) A colored, usually green, expansion growing from the side of a stem or rootstock, in which the sap for the use of the plant is elaborated under the influence of light; one of the parts of a plant which collectively constitute its foliage.

(2): ( n.) Something which is like a leaf in being wide and thin and having a flat surface, or in being attached to a larger body by one edge or end; as : (a) A part of a book or folded sheet containing two pages upon its opposite sides. (b) A side, division, or part, that slides or is hinged, as of window shutters, folding doors, etc. (c) The movable side of a table. (d) A very thin plate; as, gold leaf. (e) A portion of fat lying in a separate fold or layer. (f) One of the teeth of a pinion, especially when small.

(3): ( n.) A special organ of vegetation in the form of a lateral outgrowth from the stem, whether appearing as a part of the foliage, or as a cotyledon, a scale, a bract, a spine, or a tendril.

(4): ( v. i.) To shoot out leaves; to produce leaves; to leave; as, the trees leaf in May.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Genesis 8:11 Matthew 21:19 Mark 11:13 Isaiah 1:30 6:13 Leviticus 26:36 Isaiah 34:4 Jeremiah 8:13 Daniel 4:12,14,21 Mark 11:13 13:28 Psalm 1:3 Jeremiah 17:8 Ezekiel 47:12 Job 13:25 Isaiah 1:30 64:6 Jeremiah 8:13

Leaf of a door ( 1 Kings 6:34 ), the valve of a folding door.

Leaf of a book ( Jeremiah 36:23 ), perhaps a fold of a roll.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Leaf. The word occurs, in the Authorized Version, either in singular or plural number in three different senses.

1. Leaf of a tree. The righteous are often compared to green leaves.  Jeremiah 17:8. The ungodly, on the other hand, are "as an oak whose leaf fadeth."  Isaiah 1:30.

2. Leaves of doors. The Hebrew word, which occurs very many times in the Bible, and which in  1 Kings 6:32 (margin) and  1 Kings 6:34 is translated "leaves", in the Authorized Version, signifies beams, ribs, sides, etc.

3. Leaves of a book or roll occurs in this sense only in  Jeremiah 36:23. The Hebrew word (literally doors ) would perhaps be more correctly translated columns .

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: φύλλον (Strong'S #5444 — Noun Neuter — phullon — fool'-lon )

"a leaf" (originally phulion, Lat., folium; Eng., "folio," "foliaceous," "foliage," "foliate," "folious," etc.), is found in  Matthew 21:19;  24:32;  Mark 11:13 (twice); 13:28;   Revelation 22:2 .

King James Dictionary

Leaf, n. plu. leaves.

1. In botany, leaves are organs of perspiration and inhalation in plants. They usually shoot from the sides of the stems and branches, but sometimes from the root sometimes they are sessile more generally supported by petioles. They are of various forms, flat, extended, linear, cylindric, &c. 2. The thin, extended part of a flower a petal. 3. A part of a book containing two pages. 4. The side of a double door.  1 Kings 6 . 5. Something resembling a leaf in thinness and extension a very thin plate as gold leaf. 6. The movable side of a table.

Leaf, To shoot out leaves to produce leaves. The trees leaf in May.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

a term occurring in the Bible, both in the singular and plural, in three senses.

1. Leaf Of A Tree (prop. עָלֵה , aleh', so called from springing up; Gr. φύλλον; also עַפַר , ophi', foliage [ Psalms 104:12], or in Chald. the top of a tree [ Daniel 4:9;  Daniel 4:11;  Daniel 4:18], and טֶרֶ Š‘, to'reph, a fresh leaf [ Ezekiel 17:9] "plucked off" [ Genesis 8:11]). The olive-leaf is mentioned in  Genesis 8:11. Fig-leaves formed the first covering of our parents in Eden. The barren fig-tree ( Matthew 21:19;  Mark 11:13) on the road between Bethany and Jerusalem "had on it nothing but leaves." The fig-leaf is alluded to by our Lord ( Matthew 24:32;  Mark 13:28): "When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh."' The oak-leaf is mentioned in  Isaiah 1:30;  Isaiah 6:13. Leaves, the organs of perspiration and inhalation in plants, are used symbolically in the Scriptures in a variety of senses; sometimes they are taken as an evidence of grace ( Psalms 1:3), while at others they represent the mere outward form of religion without the Spirit ( Matthew 21:19). Their flourishing and their decay, their restoration and their fragility, furnish the subjects of numerous allusions of great force and beauty ( Leviticus 26:36;  Isaiah 1:30;  Isaiah 34:4;  Jeremiah 8:13;  Daniel 4:12;  Daniel 4:14;  Daniel 4:21;  Mark 11:13;  Mark 13:28;  Revelation 22:2). The bright, fresh color of the leaf of a tree or plant shows that it is richly nourished by a good soil, hence it is the symbol of prosperity ( Psalms 1:3;  Jeremiah 17:8). A faded leaf, on the contrary, shows the lack of moisture and nourishment, and becomes a fit emblem of adversity and decay ( Job 13:25;  Isaiah 64:6). Similar figures have prevailed in all ages (see Wemyss, Symbol. Dictionary, s.v.). In Ezekiel's vision of the holy waters, the blessings of the Messiah's kingdom are spoken of under the image of trees growing on a river's bank; there "shall grow all trees for food, whose leaf shall not fade" ( Ezekiel 47:12). In this passage it is said that "the fruit of these trees shall be for food, and the leaf thereof for medicine" (margin, for bruises and sores). With this compare John's vision of the heavenly Jerusalem ( Revelation 22:1-2): "In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life...and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." There is probably here an allusion to some tree whose leaves were used by the Jews as a medicine or ointment; indeed, it is very likely that many plants and leaves were thus made use of by them, as by the old English herbalists. (See Tree Of Life).

2. Leaf Of A Door (צֵלָע, tse'la, a side, in  1 Kings 6:34 [where the latter clause has, prob. by error, קֶלִע, ke'lang, a curtain], means the valve of a folding door; so also דֶּלֶת, de'leth, a door [ Isaiah 45:1]). (See Door).

3. Leaf Of A Book (דֶּלֶת , de'leth, a door-valve, as above, hence perhaps a fold of a roll [ Jeremiah 36:23], like our column of a volume). (See Book).