At times the comparison is expressly made by some formula, or by some word or particle (e.g. Snoiov, uxTirep, or d>j). Attention is in this way directed to the resemblance between two di.stinct relationships. The writer makes his readers aware that a concrete experience is being used to teach some moral or spiritual les.son. Parables of this kind have been happily called Similitudes. The passage regarding the Fig-tree, found in all the
Go.spels (Mk 1328f-, Mt 24-f-, Lk 212W), and desig- nated in them all as a parable, is a good example. ' Now from the fig-tree learn her parable : when her branch is iiow become tender and putteth forth its leaves, ye know that the summer is nigh ; even so ye also, when ye see these things coming to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors.' All the dwellers in I'alestine knew that the bursting buds and tender shoots of the fig-tree gave unmis- takable indication that summer was at hand. The application is that the nearness of the Parousia can with equal certainty be inferred from the signs that immediately precede its coming. There is here no thought of the resemblance of details, as, for example, between summer and the Parousia ; but in both instances it is pointed out that with equal certainty, from the signs of the coming, the nearness of the coming itself can be inferred. The likeness is one of relation.ships and not of details. In the pair of parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl of Great Price we have two illustrations of like character to enforce the one truth, that to gain a possession of greatest value no sacrifice is too great. The Synoptic records afford evidence that not infrequently Jesus thus employed a double illustration. The attempt to discover resemblances between the Kingdom of heaven and the treasure or the pearl may be homiletically admissible, but it is exegetically beside the mark. Equally irrele- vant are the ethical discussions regarding the con- duct of the man who found the treasure. Jesus no more approves the quality of his act than He does that of the younger brother, or that of the unjust steward.
The following inferences regarding the character of a SimUUiide are possible in view of what has been said: (1) Fundamentally it is a comparison. Often this is expressly indicated, as above. (2) It is a comparison of relation.ships and not of details. There may chance to be some suggestive resem- blance in details, but this is immaterial to the real purpose of the illustration. (3) In each Similitude there is one main comparison and one application, one truth that is unfolded. (4) Since there are two xjarts, the statement needing proof and the illustration supplying this, it is wrong, as is often done, to speak of the illustration alone as the Similitude. (5) 'J'he purpose of the Similitude is manifestly to elucidate or to prove, to win assent for what is unfamiliar by an appeal to what is well known.
A group of pass.ig-es of lesser extent than the one .iust con- sidered makes a like use of sayinsrs which were apparently jiroverbial. Lk 4^3 is an instance of this: ' .\nd he said unto thcni, Doubtless ye will say unto me this parable, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in thine own country.' Jesus' conduct is likened to that of the physician in question. The proverb by itself does not constitute the parable, but the proverb used as an, illustra- tion. Since such proverbs are the concise and pointed formu- lations of the truths of common experience, we need not dirtVrentiate these parables from those last discussed — no further, at least, tlian to make them a subdivision of the Similitudes. Besides the passagre (|Uoted, others, such as Jit .'jHb. C24 (LI; ifii3) i^u (i,k 039) •.i428(Lk 17"), Mk 2" (Mt <J^^'-, Lk o^i'-), would be included.
Often the illustration from experience is not stated as a general inference, recognized always and by all, but is embodied in the form of a specific incident, in what was done by some per- son or persons, or in what happened to them. Thus Lk l.")^i-3- begins, 'A certain man had two sons,' and ]\Ik 4^'^ 'Behold, the sower went forth to sow.' In purpose and in the way the illustration is em- ployed there is close resemblance between this group and the Similitudes. The difference is mainly in the definiteness of the experience. Here it is presented a.s a single occurrence. It may still be, and no doubt u.sually is, whollj' im- aginary. All that is required is a degree of natti- ralness and probability sufficient to command
\
3U
PARABLE
PARABLE
unhesitating assent. Such a story, formed by the imagination from the material of actual experi- ence, might be classed as a Fable, had not this name gained in the course of time a restricted meaning. By many writers it is looked upon as applicable only to the small group of animal fables in which the main actors are animals or inanimate objects. Since such stories often serve merely to entertain or to teach worldly prudence and dis- cretion, the difference between parable and fable is made by some to consist in the kind of truth enforced. The latter is restricted to the lower realm of worldly knowledge, while the former is assigned to the service of the higher truths of morality and religion. We need not further dis- cuss the distinction, because fable has become ex- clusively associated in most minds with the type of teaching attributed to ^sop. To connect it with any of the discourses of Jesus would occasion mis- understanding. Jiilicher's proposal is to retain for this gi'oup the name Parable in its narrower mean- ing. Until a better designation is found, it will be well to accept this.