PARABLE

The parabolical, enigmatical, figurative, and sententious way of speaking was the language of the Eastern sages and learned men; and nothing was more insupportable than to hear a fool utter parables: “The legs of the lame are not equal; so is a parable in the mouth of fools.” (Prov. xxvi. 7.) It is generally applied, as in the New Testament, to a figurative discourse, or a story with a typical meaning; but in the Old Testament, it sometimes signifies a mere discourse: as Job’s parable , which occupies many chapters of the book of Job (xxvi.——xxx i. inclusive). The same title is applied by its inspired composer to the seventy-eighth Psalm, (ver. 2,) which is historical, not deeply mystical, like the forty-ninth. Our Saviour in the Gospel seldom speaks to the people but in parables: thereby verifying the prophecy of Isaiah, (vi. 9,) that the people should see without knowing, and hear without understanding, in the midst of instruction. Some parables in the New Testament are supposed to be true histories. In others our Saviour seems to allude to some points of history in those times; as that describing a king who went into a far country to receive a kingdom. This may hint at the history of Archelaus, who, after the death of his father, Herod the Great, went to Rome, to receive from August us the confirmation of his father’s will, by which he had the kingdom of Judea left to him.