Selected Essays And Book Reviews
OBST 590 - Old Testament Introduction
Lesson 7. Figures of Speech {820 words}
1. What is a figure of speech? A figure of speech is a subset of word studies and part of grammatical interpretation (level of words in a sentence). All of us use figures of speech (sometimes called hyperbole). A figure of speech is: (a) paying attention to normal rules of grammar and sentence (figures of speech do not fit - "exams are killing me"), (b) the emotional effect on the receptor (the one who listens or reads it), and (c) overuse of figures of speech result in "frozen form" (when one hears it over and over, it loses its impact.
2. Give some examples of some figures of speech. Some figures of speech are (1) in baseball (paint the plate, cellar, or upstairs/downstairs), (2) in relationships (he took her for a ride, he is playing games with me, or he is walking all over me), and (3) in finance (blue chip stocks have nothing to do with stocks that are blue).
3. Discuss some of the types of figures of speech in the Bible. Figures of speech come in various forms:
(a) suppression (a decrease of one thing in order to emphasize another by which it is contrasted è Genesis 18:27 ("I am nothing but dust and ashes" - Abraham is comparing himself to God)),
(b) amplification (hyperbole; an increase of something for emphasis but this is not for the purpose of deception. The receptor recognizes the amplification as something for shock value è Deuteronomy 1:28 ("great and walled up to heaven" - the report on Canaan was meant to change people's behavior. Literal language often does not have the desired effect.). Genesis 22:17 (at the end of the sacrifice situation with Abraham and Isaac, God promised that Abraham's descendants would be "as the sand which is on the seashore."). One kind of amplification is absolutism (wording is extreme without qualification). Prophets do this all the time by saying to someone like a king that he "will die" in two weeks without saying "unless you repent." Genesis 29:31 says that Leah was hated, but the previous verse says that Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah.),
(c) substitution (one thing is put in the place of another to which it is closely related è Genesis 22:17 ("the gate of his enemies" where gate means cities.)),
(d) simile (as, like) and metaphor (a=b) (one thing is compared to another but they are not closely related. "The Lord is my Shepherd." è Psalm 1:3 ("he shall be like a tree"). An implied metaphor (the equation is "b" without the a=b part) is used in something like Psalm 23:1 if you just refer to God as your Shepherd. Nicknames are implied metaphors. Prophets use implied metaphors for Jesus (Psalm 22:16 - "for dogs have surrounded me", "the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me" - "dogs" is an implied metaphor. This is also parallelism.), and
(e) miscellaneous è personification (make an object or thing into a person).
4. What are the rules for figures of speech? The rules for figures of speech are that: (a) if it does not make common sense, then seek another sense, such as a figurative sense (almost always) and (b) if it makes common sense, then seek no other sense.
5. State three purposes for figures of speech and the application. Figures of speech can be: (1) a tool for teaching (can tell someone that a zebra is a horse with stripes. Redemption is really a figure of speech), (2) used for emphasis (shock or amplification - Hitler is coming to power), and (3) used as an enhancement for making speeches more interesting. Figures of speech will affect how someone applies things from the Bible. Most of our disagreements with others are over figures of speech. One person will interpret a passage literally and another figuratively. Almost every chapter of the Bible has to be looked at in light of the rules for figures of speech.
6. Name some related books. A good, first reading book for this subject is Understanding and Applying the Bible, by Robert McQuilken.
7. Discuss the case study for this lesson. In Psalm 18:2, the metaphors are rock, fortress, deliverer, buckler, and high tower. In Lamentations 1:1, "city compared to a widow" is an extended metaphor and also the use of personification.
8. What is the case study for Lesson 8? For the next lesson, know what a cistern is and why it was important.
Tom of Bethany
"He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." (I John 5:12)
"And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13)
Index to Selected Essays And Book Reviews
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