Parable

Parable a word derived from the Greek verb παραβάλλω, which signifies to set side by side, and thus comes easily to have attached to it the idea of doing so for the purpose of comparison. A parable therefore is literally a placing beside, a comparison, a similitude, an illustration of one subject by another. Parables or fables are found in the literature of most nations. They were called by the Greeks αι῏νοι, and by the Romans fabuloe. In the following discussion we treat the whole subject from a Scriptural as well as rhetorical point of view, as developed by modern criticism. See FIGURE.

I. Signification of the Terms in the Original. — "Parable" is the rendering in the A.V. of the following Hebrew and Greek words.

1. In the Old Testament it answers to מָשָׁל, mashal, usually rendered "proverb," which denotes