* Fuerst (Heb.-Chald. Worterb.3 1876, 8.0.) co-ordinates zip
aw!
‘rule’ with the Arab. λαμ: (baswa), ‘strenuus fuit.’ This is
not absolutely impossible. For the Aram. $np is not found with the sense of ‘rule,’ and therefore there need not be found
4 an Arab, Ure answering to the Heb. Svin ‘rule.’ Further, a
correspondence between m and ὁ is not altogether rare in Semitic (cf. J. Barth, 7d lope Studien, p. 32). But it is not necessary to appeal to this basula. By the way, the connexion between the two leading senses of Sein is not explained by Abu "l-walid in his Kitdbu 'l-'ugali (ed. Ad. Neubauer), p. 895. He contents himself with simply linking together the different
groups of words by the formula | « ‘and another >
sense’ (appears, etc.). David Kimchi, in his Book of Roots, says nat $e 937 mor wa Seon py, Ke. ‘the sense conveyed by the term mdshdl is the likeness of one thing to another.’ Like- wise the two latest commentators on the Book of Proverbs (Wildeboer in the Kurzer Hdcomm. and Frankenberg in Nowack’s Hdkomm., published in 1897f.) have made no τον δὶ to solve the linguistic difficulty presented by the word \
the Arab. matalun is used both for ‘sententia’ and ‘parabola.’ In like manner the Heb. mashal has the sense of ‘general proposition’ (γνώμη, sententia, ‘maxim’), as in ‘the proverb of the ancients, Out of the wicked cometh forth wicked- ness’ (1 § 24"). In the sense of ‘proverb’ Syp is found also in Sir 477, See, further, art. PROVERB.
But none the less has mashal the sense of ‘ par- able.’* This is clear from the later identification of it and its cognates with ‘similitude’ (Germ. Gleichniss). ‘Three mésdle’ are announced in Eth. Enoch 375, namely those contained in chs. 88-44. 45-57. and 58-71. In these mésdlydt or mésdléyat phenomena and processes of the supra- mundane sphere are employed to illustrate the earthly fortunes of the kingdom of God. These three sections, then, contain essentially what we call parables. The same purpose is the starting- point of visions. This comes out clearly in the words, ‘demonstra mihi et hoc, si plus quam preteritum sit habet venire’ (4 Ezr 4*), for this request is satisfied by a vision which is described thus, ‘ecce fornax ardens transiit coram me,’ ete. (v.“8), and this vision is expressly called in vy.” a ‘similitudo.’ We read of another ‘similitudo’ in 85, and again a vision is expressly called a ‘ simili- tudo’ in the words ‘vidisti similitudinem eius, quomodo filium lugeret’ (10%), Likewise the ᾿απιδᾶϊ, which make up the third part of the Shep- herd of Hermas, are visions in which the vine, etc., is shown (see the Ethiopic version published by Antoine d’Abbadie in Abhandlungen fiir die
unde des Morgenlandes, ii. 1, p. 47 11.). In any
case the Syr. DAs», which exactly corresponds to the Heb. Sv, is used to render παραβολή in Mt 1318. 81. 33 ete. 21, Mk 4? ete., Lk 5° 6” 147 etc. The post-biblical literature of the Jews exhibits the same use of the word médshal. For instance, the Talmud (Shabb. 1524) records how a certain king distributed royal garments among his ser- vants. The wise amongst these placed the arments in a chest, but the foolish wore them in going about their ordinary work. One day the king asked for his garments. The wise gave them back to him just as they had been when they received them, but the garments returned by the foolish were soiled. Then the king commended the wise, but ordered the foolish to be cast into prison, and their garments were handed over to the fuller (0225). his story is expressly called a ρον Ὁ ‘a parable of a king,’ and is introduced to illustrate the saying, ‘ Give it (the soul) back to Him (God) as He gave it to thee’ (Ayn) 7x2 ὃν Ayn 3). The very same expression, 7505 Se, is met with in Shabdb. 153a; and in ‘Aboda Zara 544 one finds ‘x δ ἢν Sivox, namely the parable of the king who presented his son with a dog, etc. In like manner the celebrated stories of ‘the seven sages’ were called Mishlé Sindbad (ed. P. Cassel, 3 Autflage, 1884), and in point of fact they are only partially ‘ Examples’ (see above 2 a β (iv.)), namely in so far as they are intended to describe real occurrences. The most of them are parables, and they contain such expressions as ‘the second par- able of the empress,’ etc. It may be added that we hear of a Buddhist parable (cf. e.g. Edmund Hardy, Der Buddhismus, 1890, p. 124 f.), and that Herodotus (i. 141) records the parable of the flute- player and the fishes which would not dance to his playing. Volkmann (p. 379), too, speaks of the παραβολή which is clothed in the form of a narrative. (6) How closely connected the expression mashal was with the notion of a parable is evident from
* A combination of ‘sententia’ and ‘similitudo’ may be ob- served in Ἵν *be/p of Job 1813, ‘sentences which are strewn as lightly as ashes.’
662 PARABLE (IN OT)
PARABLE (IN NT)
the circumstance that Se is the title of the pas- sage Ezk 9458, V.™ reads g7px) dp ‘2 Sep ‘ Utter a parable unto the rebellious house, and say’ (=saying); and in νυν. δ we read, ‘Set on a pot, set it on, and also pour water into it: gather its ieces (i.e. those which belong to the pot), ete. ake the choice of the flock, and burn also the bones under it, and make it boil well, and let them seethe the bones of it therein.’ This last assage furnishes a double proof of our position. nm the one hand, it contains a narrative which corresponds with the above-cited stories in 2 8 12'* etc. Consequently these five passages also might have been equally designated by the title applied ore