{"id":4607,"date":"2013-10-11T00:05:06","date_gmt":"2013-10-11T07:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/?p=4607"},"modified":"2013-10-10T15:05:56","modified_gmt":"2013-10-10T22:05:56","slug":"biblical-fables","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/2013\/10\/11\/biblical-fables\/","title":{"rendered":"Biblical Fables"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some people will say that the Bible is just a bunch of fables. In fact, there are only two that I can think of, both in the Old Testament, that fit the strict definition of fable:<\/p>\n

But Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah: \u201cA thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, \u2018Give your daughter to my son in marriage.\u2019 Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle underfoot. You have indeed defeated Edom and now you are arrogant. Glory in your victory, but stay at home! Why ask for trouble and cause your own downfall and that of Judah also?\u201d (2 Kings 14:9-10; parallel account 2 Chronicles 25:18-19)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And:<\/p>\n

When Jotham was told about this, he climbed up on the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted to them, \u201cListen to me, citizens of Shechem, so that God may listen to you. One day the trees went out to anoint a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, \u2018Be our king.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cBut the olive tree answered, \u2018Should I give up my oil, by which both gods and humans are honored, to hold sway over the trees?\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cNext, the trees said to the fig tree, \u2018Come and be our king.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cBut the fig tree replied, \u2018Should I give up my fruit, so good and sweet, to hold sway over the trees?\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThen the trees said to the vine, \u2018Come and be our king.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cBut the vine answered, \u2018Should I give up my wine, which cheers both gods and humans, to hold sway over the trees?\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cFinally all the trees said to the thornbush, \u2018Come and be our king.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThe thornbush said to the trees, \u2018If you really want to anoint me king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, then let fire come out of the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cHave you acted honorably and in good faith by making Abimelek king? Have you been fair to Jerub-Baal and his family? Have you treated him as he deserves? \u00a0Remember that my father fought for you and risked his life to rescue you from the hand of Midian. \u00a0But today you have revolted against my father\u2019s family. You have murdered his seventy sons on a single stone and have made Abimelek, the son of his female slave, king over the citizens of Shechem because he is related to you. \u00a0So have you acted honorably and in good faith toward Jerub-Baal and his family today? If you have, may Abimelek be your joy, and may you be his, too! But if you have not, let fire come out from Abimelek and consume you, the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and let fire come out from you, the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and consume Abimelek!\u201d (Judges 9:7-20)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So what is the strict definition of a fable? It is a short tale designed to teach a moral lesson, often with animals or inanimate objects as characters. The most well-known examples of this would be the fables of Aesop. For instance, the story of the Ant and the Dove<\/em>:<\/p>\n

An Ant went to the bank of a river to quench its thirst, and
\nbeing carried away by the rush of the stream, was on the point of
\ndrowning. A Dove sitting on a tree overhanging the water plucked
\na leaf and let it fall into the stream close to her. The Ant
\nclimbed onto it and floated in safety to the bank. Shortly
\nafterwards a birdcatcher came and stood under the tree, and laid
\nhis lime-twigs for the Dove, which sat in the branches. The Ant,
\nperceiving his design, stung him in the foot. In pain the
\nbirdcatcher threw down the twigs, and the noise made the Dove
\ntake wing.<\/p>\n

\tOne good turn deserves another<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, we can’t help but notice that parables take the same basic form as a fable; the primary difference being that parables usually have people as the actors, rather than animals or plants. That said, some of what we call fables in the collection of Aesop are strictly about people, such as The Boasting Traveler<\/em>:<\/p>\n

A Man who had traveled in foreign lands boasted very much, on
\nreturning to his own country, of the many wonderful and heroic
\nfeats he had performed in the different places he had visited.
\nAmong other things, he said that when he was at Rhodes he had
\nleaped to such a distance that no man of his day could leap
\nanywhere near him as to that, there were in Rhodes many persons
\nwho saw him do it and whom he could call as witnesses. One of
\nthe bystanders interrupted him, saying: “Now, my good man, if
\nthis be all true there is no need of witnesses. Suppose this
\nto be Rhodes, and leap for us.”<\/p>\n

\tHe who does a thing well does not need to boast<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Compare that with one of Jesus’ parables, from Luke 18:1-5:<\/p>\n

\u00a0Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: \u201cIn a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, \u2018Grant me justice against my adversary.\u2019 \u201cFor some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, \u2018Even though I don\u2019t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won\u2019t eventually come and attack me!\u2019\u00a0\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thus, a case could be made that Jesus’ parables could, at least sometimes, as easily be called fables; they differ from what we normally think of as fables only in this: that the actors in them are people rather than animals or plants that inhabit most, but not all of those stories we call fables.<\/p>\n

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Some people will say that the Bible is just a bunch of fables. In fact, there are only two that I can think of, both in the Old Testament, that fit the strict definition of fable: But Jehoash king of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[18,17,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4607"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4607"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4609,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4607\/revisions\/4609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}