Reading biblical figures of speech

FIGURES OF speech are colourful, non-literal ways of speaking or writing that play important roles in all literature and are especially prominent in poetic literature. Reading the Bible meaningfully demands that we develop the ability to detect where figures of speech are used. There are many figures of speech used in the Bible, but we mention just a few of the simpler and more popular ones.

You are familiar, no doubt, with the figures of comparison that we call similes and metaphors. So we begin with these.

1. SIMILE

A simile is a comparison between two things or two actions in which one is said to be as or like the other. So, in Psalm 42:1, we read “As a deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.”

In this simile, this comparison, the soul’s desire for God is compared with a deer’s desire for water.

Here’s another example in Proverbs 11:22, “Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion.”

Here, the oddness of a beautiful woman without discretion is likened to the oddness of a gold ring in a pig’s snout. The writer’s meaning easily comes across in this comparison.

2. METAPHOR

The metaphor also compares, but there is no like or as to readily tell you that there is a comparison. A good example of this is found in Luke 13.32, where Jesus says, concerning Herod Antipas, “Go, tell that fox…” Since Herod is not literally a four-footed animal, then our Lord seems to have been comparing Herod’s characteristic craftiness or ‘Anancyism’ with that of a fox.

When you are dealing with similes and metaphors, make sure you do not push the comparisons too far or in too many directions, because usually there is only one point of comparison or a likeness between the two things that the figure of speech emphasises.

3. PARABLE

You may need to note as well that when a simile is developed into a story, it becomes a parable.

You do remember that our Lord’s parables have some expression of comparison, such as the Kingdom of Heaven is like, or as in the case of the Parable of the Samaritan in Luke 10:30 onwards, to behave like or to behave as a neighbour, you behave as or like the Samaritan. Hence, at the end of the parable, after the lawyer had correctly identified who it was that behaved as neighbour, Jesus said to him in verse 37, “Go and do likewise”. So a simile developed into a story becomes a parable

4. ALLEGORY

Now, when a metaphor is developed into a story, we get an allegory. There’s a lovely romantic allegory in Proverbs 5:15-23, where sexual intimacy and marital faithfulness are depicted as drinking from one’s own cistern. There is a stated allegory in Galatians 4:22 and the following verses.

5. HYPERBOLE (SOUND=HYPRBOLEE)

Another figure of speech that can be misread or misunderstood is the hyperbole.

This is when a writer or speaker consciously exaggerates or overstates a case to increase the effect of what is being said. A non-biblical example in a regular speech is like smilingly, but firmly telling someone that if she divulges a secret shared with her, you are going to kill her. You do not literally mean that you will take her life. You are using a hyperbole. You are exaggerating for effect. Just like when we see a good size crowd and say, ‘Man, there were millions of people there’, we don’t literally mean millions. What we want to convey is that it was a very, very large crowd. A classic hyperbole in the Bible is in Matthew 5:29, where Jesus says, “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away.”

If you take that literally, you will end up as a Cyclops. What Jesus is emphasising by the exaggeration is the need to deal decisively with whatever causes one to sin.

6. EUPHEMISM

One other figure of speech deserves mention. The euphemism is a nicer, softer way of saying something that is offensive, disagreeable or indelicate. In our speech, we may see someone who we regard as ugly and describe that one as not so handsome or not exactly comely. That’s a euphemism. Or notice how we use restroom or bathroom for toilet. That’s also using a euphemism. In Judges 3:24 and in 1 Samuel 24:3, (both KJV texts) we read of a man ‘covering his feet’.

This is a euphemism for going to the toilet or passing faeces because his garments would fall around his feet as he stooped down.

7. PROVERB

A last word on the proverb. This is a brief memorable saying that has wide application but should not be taken as an inflexible rule for every situation without exception. This is highlighted in Proverbs 26:4-5, where one verse says, “Do not answer a fool according to his folly”, and the other says the exact opposite.

What’s happening here? You apply each in context or when it is appropriate. There are times when you answer a fool to help the fool, but other times, silence with a fool might be helpful for the fool.

(Excerpted from my MP3 download Reading the Bible Meaningfully, www.thechisholmsource.com

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