A metaphor is when something is used to represent something else. It is not simply a coding hash, where one thing is replaced with another. The metaphor also has allegorical connections. The properties or attributes of the metaphor relate to the idea through word-play and/or riddle.

A simple example of this is the stone. The Greeks use 'rock' as a symbol for Christ, but only because he refers to himself as the rock and because Paul calls him the rock. It is merely a substitution and a weak memory of the true metaphor. The Hebrew word for 'stone' is aben אבן. It consist of father ab and son ben. Every stone becomes a metaphor for the Father and Son together. When it is split, it is a picture of the cross when the Father left the Son.^{[1] [2]}

Mr 1:6 And John was clothed with camel’s hair ^[3], and with a girdle of a skin ^[4] about his loins ^{[5] [6]}; and he did eat locusts ^[7] and wild honey ^[8] ;

1. ↑ Mt 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
2. ↑ The stone is the heavenly representation of the Father and Son, and the rock is the earthly. To be precise, the rock was split and the stone was shattered. The theological implications are too small to discuss this early in the conversation.
3. ↑ The authority (hair) of a judge (camel)
4. ↑ Kings girdle אזור of righteousness (skin עור is a pun to lightאור )
5. ↑ as a gift מתן (Elijah was righteous as a gift)
6. ↑ 2Ki 1:8 And they answered him, [He was] an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It [is] Elijah the Tishbite
7. ↑ The increase/hidden/church ארבה. He ate the body of Christ. This is a symbol of the priest.
8. ↑ The word דב of marriage ש. The prophecy of Christ as the bridegroom in the flesh.