The Parables of Our Lord | Page 6

Christi, von Fred. Arndt,
vol. i. 2.

Into all parables human motives and actions go as constituents, and in
most of them the processes of nature are also interwoven. The element
of human action is generally introduced in a historic form, as "a certain
man had two sons;" but some of the similitudes of Scripture, which by
general consent are reckoned parables, lack this feature, as for example,
the Lost Sheep.[3] "What man of you, having an hundred sheep?" For
my own part, while there are some that, on the one hand, I can with
confidence include, and some that, on the other, I must with equal
confidence keep out, I see not a few lying ambiguous on the border. My
judgment inclines to what seems a medium between two
extremes,--between the decision of some German philosophical
expositors who are too critical, and the decision of some English
practical preachers who are not critical enough. I would fain eschew, on
the one hand, the laborious trifling by which it is proved that the
parable of the Sower is not a parable; and, on the other hand, the
unfortunate facility which admits into the number almost all similitudes
indiscriminately. I shall adopt the list of Dr. Trench,[4] thirty in number,
as being on the whole a fair and convenient medium; although I could
not undertake to demonstrate that these only, and these all possess the
qualities which in his judgment go to constitute a parable. Some that
are included can scarcely be distinguished by logical definitions from
some that are excluded; but so far am I from considering this a defect,
that I deem it a necessary result of the impalpable infinitesimal
graduation by which the fully-formed parable glides down into the brief
detached metaphorical aphorism, in the words of the Lord Jesus during
the period of his ministry.
[3] It is not, however, by the universal consent of critics that even this
is admitted as a genuine parable. Schultze boldly excludes it; but he
excludes also all the group in Matt. xiii. except the Tares. By one
arbitrary rule after another, he cuts down the whole number of our
Lord's parables to eleven.--A. H. A. Schultze, de parabolarum J. C.
indole poetica com. Men have good cause to suspect the accuracy of
their artificial rules, when the application of them works such havoc.
Better that we should have no critical rules, than adopt such as separate
on superficial literal grounds, things that the judgment of the Church
and the common sense of men have in all ages joined together as

substantially of the same class.
[4] Notes on the Parables.
Certain figurative lessons, differing from the parable on the one hand,
and the allegory on the other, may be found scattered up and down both
in the Scriptures and in secular literature, whose distinguishing
characteristic is, that they are not spoken but enacted, and which I am
disposed to regard as more nearly allied than any other to the parables
of our Lord.
They seem to constitute a species of simple primitive germinal drama.
Some examples occur in the history of the Hebrew monarchy before the
period of the captivity. At Elisha's request, Joash, King of Israel, shot
arrows from a bow, in token of the victory which he should obtain over
the Syrians. Left without instructions as to the frequency with which
the operation should be repeated, the king shot three arrows
successively into the ground, and paused. Thereupon the prophet,
interpreting the symbol, declared that the subjugation of the Syrians
would not be complete (2 Kings xiii.) Another specimen may be
observed, shining through the history in the reign of Jehoshaphat, when
a prophet named Chenaanah made a pair of iron horns, and flattered the
King of Israel by the symbol that he would push the Syrians till he
should consume them (2 Chron. xvii. 10). About the time of the
captivity, and in the hands of Ezekiel, this species of parable appears
with great distinctness of outline, and considerable fulness of detail.
When a frivolous people would not take warning of their danger, the
prophet, godly and grave, took a broad flat tile, and sketched on it the
outline of a besieged city, and lay on his left side, silently
contemplating the symbol of his country's fate (chap. iv.) The strange
act of the revered man attracted many eyes, and stirred new
questionings in many hearts. Equally graphic is the representation of
Israel's captivity, in the dramatic parable recorded in chap. xii., where
the prophet personally enacts the melancholy process of packing his
goods, and escaping as an exile.
From the subsequent history, we learn that this significant act arrested
attention; the people gazed in wonder on the sign, and anxiously

inquired into its meaning.
It is eminently worthy of