CHAPTER 16 - It’s A Parable Meathead!THE USE OF PARABLESWhy does Yeshua employ parables when He could just spit it out and say what He means? Parables are so feeble in their ability to concisely deliver specifics, or a concrete concept or idea. There is always so much ambiguity in the possible interpretations of a parable. Shortly, we will go on to discuss the parable of the sewer and what it is that chokes out and steals the freshly sown seed. For a few moments though, we will look at the issue of the use of parable by the Messiah as His delivery method for truth. Yeshua is relentlessly connected to the parable as a style of teaching the individual and the masses. Previously, I briefly mentioned the use of parable and provided some insight from Robertson Word Pictures on the topic. In the following verses, we will see the Messiah state that He speaks in parables for a reason. We find His reason is because He is fulfilling prophecy and the prophecy. This fulfillment of prophecy was essential so those who rejected Jesus would not be privileged to have a clear and plain understanding of the deep truth of the Kingdom. This is mentioned in Matthew 13. I am not talking here about special knowledge like the Gnostics are famous for? No, the type of understanding that came to the person with the submissive heart and mind was available to all. And little children were readily able to hear and understand much of the principles taught by Yeshua. There were those however who could not submit to Yeshua’s authority and therefore because of their pride they did not hear from the meaning in the parables Yeshua was teaching. Missing the point because of their blindness, they then missed out on receiving healing and other good things that come alongside the truth. Notice in the passage below how the reason for parables is to keep a certain group from getting the point.
The parable is not merely a tool employed by a wise first century Hebrew teacher which tells of a story that actually happened, nor does it tell of a story which will at some point actually happen. One writer tells of truth and parables in this way;
It is understood that a truth is very difficult for the hearer to accept if it is stated directly, for this reason a parable is used. When a parable is employed the hearer must think on, ruminate on, and then hopefully digest the message of the parable. This then becomes a vehicle for the teacher to infuse His student with truth; truth that becomes self-evident to the student only after the parable has been received and interpreted in the spirit of the student. The story we receive from the parable is designed to magnify certain aspects of truth or explain and enhance a moral concept. When Yeshua tells a parable, many readers often take the characters in the story and assign them real status as if they actually existed. We then form our ideas and theology based on believing that the characters in the parables of Yeshua are real. However, these elements of a parable are in almost all cases, not real. In the telling of a parable, Yeshua would have wanted the hearer to ask not about the specifics of the story or for Him to more clearly define the characters, but to ask and search for the meaning of the story. In essence, we should perhaps be asking, “What is the moral of the story?” Looking at what parables are and what they are not might require a thorough cataloguing of all the parables both in the “Old” and “New” testaments. This would then require the diligent researcher to equate all metaphors in said parables, with imagery and concepts found elsewhere in the Scriptures and those found in the culture wherein the parable was spoken. The monumental task of cataloguing parables has been done in several volumes by several commentators, so we will leave that for now. However, a brief note from the article on Parables in the ISBE does add some information to help our understanding of the parable.
To fully understand the deep and often evasive meaning of the stories Yeshua tells, we must come to accept that as parables, His stories mean something different than what the specifics of the words and characters in the story suggest on a cursory reading. We must accept the elements of the parable are neither real nor literal. In light of this information, we will continue to look at the sayings of Yeshua that are important to our topic and
[61] From article titled “Parable” in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.
Now for a sneak peek at . . . CHAPTER 17 - How Satan Stole The Seed? (A Sneak Peek)
As English readers, we see the parable of the sewer as a story teaching about a person spreading seed. However, the parable of the sewer is seen in the Aramaic version to be a parable about the seed not a parable of a person who sews the seed. Notice for now that the word one, after wicked, which I have highlighted, is not found in the Greek text. Therefore it does not belong in the text. When reading the KJV or certain other versions one will often see words written in italics. This is done to show the reader that the italicized word is placed in the text by the translators to add clarity where they thought it was needed. An italicized word does not belong in the text and does not appear in the earliest manuscript evidence. I am trying to show the reader that the evil, or “wicked” as it is put in the above passage, is talking about the human spirit that is oppositional or resistant to the God of the Universe. In recognizing that the word “one” is not a part of the sentence in the above text but was added at the translator’s discretion, we are able . . .(To read more of this chapter, request your copy of Who's the Devil Jesus Knew?)
Be sure not to miss Jim's Articles Volume 1 Volume 2 Volume 3 Volume 4 |
James R. Brayshaw