People grasping Old Testament symbols (8)
I believe the answer is:
notation
'symbols' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'people grasping old testament' is the wordplay.
'people' becomes 'nation'.
'grasping' is an insertion indicator.
'old testament' becomes 'ot'.
'nation' enclosing 'ot' is 'NOTATION'.
(Other definitions for notation that I've seen before include "System of written symbols representing something" , "An added comment or instruction" , "Set of representative symbols" , "System of musical symbols" , "Written comment" .)