Parable
(The word parable is in Greek parable (parabole) which signifies placing beside or together, a comparison, a parable is therefore
literally a placing beside, a comparison, a similitude, an illustration of one subject by another.—McClintock and Strong.
As used in the New Testament it had a very wide application, being applied sometimes to the shortest proverbs, (1 Samuel 10:12; 24:13; 2 Chronicles 7:20) sometimes to dark prophetic utterances, (Numbers 23:7,18; 24:3; Ezekiel 20:49) sometimes to enigmatic maxims, (Psalms 78:2; Proverbs 1:6) or metaphors expanded into a narrative. (Ezekiel 12:22) In the New Testament itself the word is used with a like latitude in (Matthew 24:32; Luke 4:23; Hebrews 9:9) It was often used in a more restricted sense to denote a short narrative under which some important truth is veiled. Of
this sort were the parables of Christ. The parable differs from the fable (1) in excluding brute and inanimate creatures passing
out of the laws of their nature and speaking or acting like men; (2) in its higher ethical significance. It differs from the
allegory in that the latter, with its direct personification of ideas or attributes, and the names which designate them, involves
really no comparison. The virtues and vices of mankind appear as in a drama, in their own character and costume. The allegory
is self-interpreting; the parable demands attention, insight, sometimes an actual explanation. It differs from a proverb in
that it must include a similitude of some kind, while the proverb may assert, without a similitude, some wide generalization
of experience.—ED.) For some months Jesus taught in the synagogues and on the seashore of Galilee as he had before taught
in Jerusalem, and as yet without a parable. But then there came a change. The direct teaching was met with scorn unbelief
hardness, and he seemed for a time to abandon it for that which took the form of parables. The worth of parables as instruments
of teaching lies in their being at once a test of character and in their presenting each form of character with that which,
as a penalty or blessing, is adapted to it. They withdraw the light from those who love darkness. They protect the truth which
they enshrine from the mockery of the scoffer. They leave something even with the careless which may be interpreted and understood
afterward. They reveal on the other hand, the seekers after truth. These ask the meaning of the parable, and will not rest
until the teacher has explained it. In this way the parable did work, found out the fit hearers and led them on. In most of
the parables it is possible to trace something like an order.
- There is a group which have for their subject the laws of the divine kingdom. Under this head we have the sower, (Matthew 13:1; Mark 4:1; Luke 8:1)... the wheat and the tares (Matthew 13:1) ... etc.
- When the next parables meet us they are of a different type and occupy a different position. They are drawn from the life
of men rather than from the world of nature. They are such as these—the two debtors, (Luke 7:1) ... the merciless servant, (Matthew 18:1) ... the good Samaritan, (Luke 10:1) ... etc.
- Toward the close of our Lord’s ministry the parables are again theocratic but the phase of the divine kingdom on which they
chiefly dwell is that of its final consummation. In interpreting parables note— (1) The analogies must be real, not arbitrary;
(2) The parables are to be considered as parts of a whole, and the interpretation of one is not to override or encroach upon
the lessons taught by others; (3) The direct teaching of Christ presents the standard to which all our interpretations are
to be referred, and by which they are to be measured.