Rabbinic Parables
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I recently read a fascinating book entitled They Also Taught in Parables: Rabbinic Parables from the First Centuries of the Christian Era by Harvey K. McArthur and Robert M. Johnston. The first part is a collection of selected parables of the תנאים (tannaim – the Rabbinic sages in the Mishnah from approximately 70-200 CE) and the second part comprised of essays on the nature of their parables and some comparisons with the parables of Jesus.
The rabbinic word for parable(s) is mashal/meshalim, and, to mark a literary item as a narrative mashal, the authors chose the following elements:
Explicit label. Often the introductory formulas to the items explicitly label them as meshalim. Some typical introductions are: “A parable”; “A parable: It is like unto . . .”; and “They parable a parable. Unto what is the matter like? It is like unto. . . .”
Abbreviated label. Frequently the introductory formulas are abbreviated in such a way that the word mashal itself is omitted: “It is like unto. . . .”
Structural characteristics. The immediate environment and internal structure of the typical narrative mashal in its fullest form include these five parts:
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1. Illustrand, or the point to be illustrated.
2. Introductory formula, such as noted above. 3. The parable proper (the so-called picture half, or story part, of the whole unit). 4. Application, usually introduced by the Hebrew word kak (even so; likewise) or another linking word. 5. Scriptural quotation, often introduced by the formula “as it is said” or “as it is written.” (The quotation is often followed by a second application, which itself may become an illustrand, thus producing a chain of parables.) |
Here is an example:
The King’s Twin Who Was Executed
R. Meir says: What does the Scripture mean: “For that which is hanged is a curse of God” (Deut. 21:23)?
It is like two twin brothers, each resembling the other. One became king over the whole world, and the other went out into robbery. After a time the one who went out into robbery was captured and they crucified (hanged) him on a cross (gallows). And all the passers-by were saying: It is as though the king were crucified.
Therefore it is said: “For that which is hanged is a curse of God.”
(R. Meir; ca. 140; Tos. Sanhedrin 9:7 [cf. B. Sanhedrin 46b])
This was pretty much a survey of the attitude of the Jews towards the Sabbath at the beginning of the Christian era. Rowland talks about the book of Jubilees, the Damascus Document, the Rabbinic tradition and Philo. What I am going to do is just include a few excerpts and let them speak for themselves.