2. In the New Testament it is employed by our translators as the rendering of TrapafioXi) (derived as above), a word which seems to have a more restricted signification than tlie above Hebrew term, being gen- erall}' employed in the second sense mentioned above, viz to denote a fictitious narrative, under which is
veiled some important truth. It has been supposed, indeed, that some of the parables tittered by our Sav- iour narrate real and not fictitious events ; but wheth- er this was the case or not is a point of little conse- quence. The fact that in one instance only (the par- able of Lazarus and "Dives") an actual name is given ' — though probably but a conventional one commonly indicative of a class — is evidence that our Lord had no particular individual in view. Each of his parables, however, was essentially true ; it was true to human nature, and nothing more was necessary. Another meaning which the word occasionally bears in the New Testament is that of a type or emblem, as in Heb. ix, 9, where irapajioXi] is rendered in our version j?!/- vre. According to Macknight, the word in Heb. xi, 19 has tlie same meaning, but this is probably incor- rect. See EjiDLExvr.
The word TvapajSoXt) therefore does not of itself imply a narrative. The juxtaposition of two things, differing in most points, but agreeing in some, is suffi- cient to bring the comparison thus produced within the etjnnology of the word. The TrapajioXii of Greek rhetoric need not be more than the simplest argument from analogy. "You would not choose pilots or ath- letes by lot ; why then should you choose statesmen ?" (Aristot. Rhet. ii, 20). In Hellenistic Greek, however, it acquired a wider meaning, coextensive with that of the above-mentioned Hebrew mashal, for which the Sept. writers, with hardly an exception, make it the equivalent. That word {= similitude) , as was natural in the language of a people who had never reduced rhetoric to an art, had a large range of application, and was applied (as seen above) sometimes to the short- est proverbs (1 Sam. x, 12 ; xxiv, 13 ; 2 Chron. vii, 20), sometimes to dark prophetic utterances (Numb, xxiii, 7,18; xxiv, 3 ; Ezek. xx, 49), sometimes to enigmatic maxims (Psa. Ixxviii, 2 ; Prov. i, 6), or metaphors ex- panded into a narrative (Ezek. xii, 22). In Ecclesias- ticus the word occurs with a striking frequency, and, as will be seen hereafter, its use by the Son of Sirach throws light on the position occupied by parables in our Lord's teaching. In the N. T. itself the word is used with a like latitude. While attached most frequently to the illustrations which have given it a special mean- ing, it is also applied to a short saj-ing like "Physician, heal thyself" (Luke iv, 23), to a mere comparison with- out a narrative (Matt, xxiv, 32), to the figtirative char- acter of the Levitical ordinances (Heb. ix, 9), or of single facts in patriarchal history (Heb. xi, 19). The later historj' of the word is not without interest. Natu- ralized in Latin, chiefl}' tlirough the Vulgate or earlier versions, it loses gradually the original idea of figura- tive speech, and is used for speech of any kind. Medi- eval Latin gives us the strange form of parabolare, and the descendants of the technical Greek word in the Romance languages are parler, parole, parola, palabras (Diez, Roman. Worterb. s. v. Parola). See Simile.
1 1. Definition and Distinctions. — From the above ex- aminations we are prepared to find the word frequently used both by the evangelists and by the disciples of Jesus, with reference to instructions of Christ which we should call simply figurative, or metaphorical, or proverbial. In Luke vi, 39 we read, "And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind .' Shall tliey not botli fall into the ditch ?" (comp. iMatt. XV, 14, 15, where Peter speaks of the saying as "this parable"). In Mark vii, 17, after Jesus had taught that not the things entering into, but those coming out of a man defile him, we are told that, "when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable ;" and, in Luke xiv, 7, the warning against taking the chief seats at table is introduced as "a parable put forth to those which were bidden." In all these saj'ings of our Lord, how- ever, it is obvious that the germ of a parable is con- tained. We have only to work upon the hint given
PARABLE
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PARABLE
us, and we have the perfect story. Two blind men, for example, are seen leading each other along the road, and, after struggling for a time with the diffi- culties of doing so, both fall into the ditch by the way- side. A pure and noble-spirited man takes his food with unwashed hands, while a hypocrite and oppressor of the poor is careful to cleanse them before he eats ; both rise up from table and return, the one to his career of benevolence, the other to his wrongs and his injus- tice : whicli is the one, deserving condemnation ? The banquet is spread, a vain guest enters and takes the highest seat, a meritorious but humble one follows and takes the lowest, the master of the house notes tUe im- propriety, and requests the former to go down, the latter to come up, the attention of the whole company is directed to them, the one is shamed, the other is honored. Thus in each case we have the substance, although not the form, of the parable ; in each an in- cident of common life is employed for the illustration of higher truth. But while comparison is thus the general meaning of the word before us, it has acquired a special sense in distinction from those other words, similitude, metaphor, allegorj-, fable, etc., which also imply comparison. Let us endeavor to distinguish it from these.