PARABLE (or. parable, porolede. Fr. paro led', from Lat. parabola. purabole. irom Gk. 7rapa0o)eo. coin pa r i-on. ion. pa rable, parabola. from rapaSdXXeip, pqraballeit to throw to compare. from rap& para. beside, IN'• 1-011d 1 ballein, to throw). A short nar rative, founded upon any real event in nature or human experience, intended to convey a moral or religious meaning. The parable is best known from it, use in the Bible. In the Old Testament it is not of Very common occurrence. The five examples which admit of the least question are: (1) The prophet Nathan's parable of the poor man with the one ewe lamb, told to King David (II. Sam. xii. I-4) ; (2) the story of the woman of Tekoa concerning her sons (II. Sam. xiv. 5-7) (3) the tale of the prophet regarding the escaped captive, told to King Ahab (I. Kings xx. 39-40) ; (4) .Iehovah's rebuking song of the vineyard (Is. v. I-61: and (5) the parable of planting and threshing (Is. xxviii. 24-28). Ancient Jewish writings outside the Bible abound in parables. Jesus of Nazareth was the great master in their use. In the New Testament the word parable occurs 48 times in the Synoptic Gospels, but nowhere else except twice in the Epistle to the Hebrews. It designates either a short narrative
designed to convey spiritual truth, such as the parable of the sower (Matt. xiii. 8 sqq.), or, more rarely, a popular proverb, such as 'Physi cian. heal thyself' (Luke iv. 23). Hence many of the utterances of Jesus, which are commonly regarded as proverbs ('consider the lilies,' salt of the earth,' 'light under a bushel') might he classified as parables. The well-known parables of Jesus veers taken from the natural scenes and events of common life with which Ile and llis disciples were familiar. In the art with which Ile seized upon and illustrated the supreme point in a parable Be never has been surpassed. Ile made both nature and history a parable of which the Kingdom of God is the spiritual in terpretation. For definition of the parable and a study of those spoken by Jesus, consult : French, Notes on the Parables of Our Lord (New York, 1851) ; also Guthrie, The Parables (London, 1866) ; Bruce, The Parabolic Teaching of Christ (1892) ; ,Iiilicher, Die Glcichnisrcdcn Jcsu (Frei burg, 1899).