How to Study the Bible III - Figures of Speech I
Vern Peterman · Apr 10, 2016
How to Study Bible (2016), No. 15
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926531504299

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

So we have two weeks where we're going to be talking about figures of speech. And so I have here is trying these sentences that have various kinds of figures of speech. I have insomnia, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. I would give my right arm to be ambidextrous. I call myself an ambidextrous lefty. I'm inclined to lefty, give me left-handed scissors, I can't use them. You learn on a left-handed pattern to kind of adjust and getting back to straight left-handed just doesn't work.

So I see, said the blind carpenter as he picked up his hammer and saw. We just struck oil, Tom gushed. So if I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong. Now, that's a figure of speech, yes it is. War does not determine who is right, only who is left. And we'll have to rehearse that, said the undertaker, as the coffin fell out of the car. Alright, so those are all groaners.

So figures of speech in the Bible, this is an important distinction. Figures of speech in the Bible are sometimes culturally specific. And sometimes we look at them and say, well, we do that too, right, in English.

And so it's helpful to know the difference because when you read something, okay, is this a cultural thing and I need to understand it from that standpoint, or have I got something that I look at and maybe I don't even see the figure of speech because I'm, you know, reading it in English, and to me it just, oh, I didn't know that was a figure of speech. So, and oddly enough, there are lots and lots and lots of figures of speech, and they all have names that we've never heard of, almost, almost never heard of. Most of us have heard of things like a simile or a metaphor, and we've heard those kind of words, but there's all kinds of Greek and Latin words that are applied to other Figures of speech and I've seen printouts of just listings of those and they're like seven and eight pages long Okay Okay So some of the figures of speech in the Bible even the words of Christ can be pretty intense So here's one in Matthew 5 29 and 30 if your right eye makes you stumble tear it out and throw it from you For it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you. For it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."

That's pretty intense. So do you interpret literally? Actually, literal interpretation includes an understanding of figures of speech. So I say, yes, I I don't interpret it literally, but I don't interpret it with wooden literalism, right? So what kind of a figure of speech is that where Jesus says that? If I don't do that, does that mean I'm disobeying Christ's words? You're saying no. Okay, and why not? Why am I not required to literally carry that out?

The term is called hyperbole, that is, it's overstatement for the sake of making the point. There's one other reason Jesus used overstatement, and that is, it's memorable. It's like, whoa, that's kind of intense. And the idea is that it's memorable that you read that and it's not like just words, you know, and they pass through your head and they're gone. You could likely remember that.

Here's another one. That was that Matthew 5 passage is the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. This is Matthew 7 at the end. Why do you look at that speck in your brother's eye and do you not notice the log that is in your own eye? So here's another very intense one. What does he mean by specks and logs? Ultimately, he's looking at sin issues.

What's the use of the eye? Why the eye? This has to do with how we perceive things, how we look at things. Another reason for using the eye is that it's a very sensitive part of our body and a lot of sensitivity there. And so by talking about specks and logs and things like that, that also just kind of, ooh, you know. So it isn't like you're carrying a log around or carrying a speck around. It's in the eye, right? So that's something that's going to get your attention. A lot of us, a little tiny speck is all it takes for us to have, you know, problems and it's bothering us and our eye is watering and, you know, they even have people that go to the doctor to go get things pulled out if something actually gets jammed in there. So then, how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye and behold the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

So here's again another one, it's stated in very intense terms, and he's really not talking about logs and specks, is he? That's not what it's about. But it gets the point across, and it's memorable. Picture that, and it's woo, I've got this log in my own eye. Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before a swine, or they will trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces. Alright? Is he talking about dogs and pearls and swine? Yeah?

So, Vern, were they cultural? I mean, we're talking about dogs and pigs and all that kind of stuff. That's a culture. Yeah, let's think about what did the Jews think of pigs? Yeah. They couldn't eat them. Yeah. It's like, what? Pigs? You know, disgusting animal to the Jew of that day. And so that's one thing, he would pick those because these would be animals that people would look down on, you know, the Jews would look down on. So yes, it's very definitely cultural.

And what does he mean by, you know, pearls and swine and all that? What's his intent? Yeah? Well, pearls is the opposite side of the continuum. I mean, it's used in Revelations, there's a pearl on So here's something that's valuable, don't put it before swine. What does he mean by pearls and swine? What does he mean by dogs? First of all, it's very memorable, right? But his point here is to talk about, you know, here you have something valuable. cast it in front of someone who's just going to throw it away and turn and, you know, tear you up.

Alright, so here's Luke 14, 25, and 27. Now, large crowds were going along with him and he turned and said to them, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father, mother, wife, and children, and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. That's a pretty intense thing. And it's specifically cultural because that kind of expression would be, you must love me to such a degree that your love, appropriate love for your mother and father and brothers and sisters and that kind of thing, is hate by comparison.

So that's a cultural figure of speech. Yeah. So is that similar to the Old Testament where they said that God loved Jacob and hated Esau? Yes. Right. And it is by comparison. It's that. So it's a very Jewish expression and it has a long history. Right. Again, those kind of references go way back into Genesis.

Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. So did all the disciples go out and get a cross and haul it along with them wherever they went? That's not the point, is it? So what is he trying to get across? You must follow me sacrificially, would be a quick way to put it. You must follow me sacrificially.

So anyway, these are examples of figures of speech, certainly not all of them. Now we have on the flip side, this is a Song of Solomon illustrated for our literalist friends, right? And so all these are things out of the Song of Solomon that are figures of speech that are again very cultural.

And so if you take it literally and then try to draw that, that's what you end up with, something like this. And I found one that was also colored. Somebody went in and colored the thing up, but anyway, enough is enough. But this gets the point across. Your nose is like the Tower of Lebanon, which faces toward Damascus. Wow. A towering nose. Yeah, if you take it all literally, it doesn't look pretty.

And this also goes along with the studies of the symbols in the book of Revelation. One of the things that we pointed out, and we'll actually sometime down the road take a look at this, one of the things we point out as we begin studying Revelation is that the symbols are not to be understood in terms of what does it look like, like this, But what does it mean? What does it mean? And so in the Hebrew symbolism, it's not what does it look like, what does it mean? When the Hebrews do poetry, they don't ask what does it sound like, but what does it mean? And they'll rhyme not sounds, but meanings. They'll rhyme meanings. We'll go over that in a few weeks here. So, at any rate, as you look through here, these figures of speech, there are a great many of them in the Bible. So let's take a look at the top of page 3.

So, I'm going to refer you to the world's best resource on figures of speech in the Bible. It's free, if you want to download it. There's the link, I'll upload this on the website and then you can just click on the link instead of entering all that in. But at any rate, the book Figures of Speech used in the Bible by E. W. Bollinger, first published in 1899, which is why it's public domain and downloadable for free. It is almost a thousand pages long and if you were to boil down just the listing of different kinds of figures of speech because he gives the official name and probably most of them we've never heard of and you'll be okay if you don't know them all, right?

But at least you know where to look things up and that's the key. So he's got just a listing that I would say is very close to exhaustive that is everything in the Bible. It's an amazing volume. It's probably the best study of figures of speech ever done in the Bible.

And so anyway, that's available for free. You can download it. It's also available in print if somebody prefers that approach. But here you can just download it and it's also searchable so that you can search through it. Where it has things listed, it's listed in the King James Version, so that's something to look at. But you can search through it and find things quickly if you use it online or in your iPhone or whatever you happen to use.

So that's a really great resource for studying figures of speech. And you will be surprised what is called a figure of speech. That's one question. When we say figures of speech, what kinds of things does that include? Okay, metaphor and simile are a couple of them. And while you've got that, let's talk about that. A simile uses like or as, right?

And so, for example, the very first chapter of the book of Revelation, here is, oh, there it is right there, in the middle of page three. So, Revelation 1, 12 through 16, And I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. Now, to see the voice, how do you do that? How do you see a voice? So essentially he's using a contracted language. I turned to see where the voice was coming from or who was the originator of the voice.

So it's contracted language. that was speaking with me, and having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across his chest with a golden sash. His head and his hair were white like wool, like snow, and his eyes were like a flame of fire, and his feet were like burnished bronze when it has been made to glow in the furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in its strength." So this is a simile, whether we have like or as. A metaphor, how is a metaphor different from a simile? It doesn't use like or as. So a simile, this is similar, similar to.

A metaphor is equivalence. So, just to give an example, if somebody said, well, Vern eats like an elephant, you know, just huge quantities, right? And that would be one thing. If someone were to turn around and say it instead, when Vern eats, he's like an elephant, excuse me, he's an elephant. And without like in there, that would be a direct metaphor, right? So it's equivalence. So a symbol used like or as, similar with a metaphor, but like or as is absent. Just a direct statement.

So we can also see there are figures of speech within a symbol. Notice this Revelation 1, 12 through 16 has symbolism. So there are multiple symbols and they use figures of speech to describe the symbols. You see that? So we have symbols and then figures of speech within the symbol.

Other figures of speech will require insights into the original language and or the culture to properly recognize them or interpret them. Sometimes what happens is there's a figure of speech and the translators take it out. Isn't that strange? Or sometimes it's the character or nature of translation that it comes out, you know, it's taken out anyway.

So here's Philippians 3, 1 and 2. Paul is about ready to describe what are known as the Judaizers, the Jews who come in and try to push the law over on everyone. And so he says in Philippians 3, 1 and 2, Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble for me, and it is a safeguard for you. So beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision." So is he telling people to watch out for these yippy dogs or barking dogs? That's not what he's talking about, is he? So he's using, and is that a similar metaphor? It's a metaphor because you don't have like or as, so you use direct equivalence, not this is similar to.

What's the difference between an idiom and a figure of speech? Okay, idiom is typically culturally based. It's a culturally based figure of speech. And I haven't used that term here, but that's part of the distinction we've been making. Some figures of speech are easily understood because it goes between languages, like like or as. But others are specifically culturally based. Yes?

I wonder if it would be helpful to understand figures of speech as a broad heading. literary terms and within that you have a whole mess of them so you have metaphor you have, simile you have, overstatement you have, understatement. And within that, then you get even more technical on what the subtleties are.

So an idiom is a figure of speech. Symbolism is a figure of speech. It's all a way of constructing language such that people can understand conceptually what the idea is. So I don't know if that's useful, but. And so we've got a range of terms. We're talking about idiom, symbolism, figure of speech. A lot of those have definitions that are a little bit broader and more connected than we typically think of.

Well, and you use puns. That's a figure of speech. Yes, puns are a figure of speech. That's one of my favorite figures of speech. In a pedagogical way, if you can get a pun out there, often people can understand. key terms or definitions that otherwise your brain wouldn't catch. So you'd use them quite a bit. Yes, and so pun is my favorite figure of speech, right?

You've got to be careful when you go into other cultures and languages, however. Puns sort of work, and at least we've grown about them, in our own culture and language. But when you go into another culture and language where they don't necessarily make the same equivalence, you can't just look it up in the dictionary and think you've got it. It doesn't necessarily apply. Yeah? So then in essence, what you're saying is it's just a method of clarity to improve upon the understanding of what you're trying to describe. Yes, right.

And what we want to do, because we're learning how to study the Bible, is to say, oh, well we've got these figures of speech, and sometimes the figures of speech can be layers deep. You know, as Crystal pointed out, I use the word symbol, and a symbol is actually a figure of speech in itself, and then like or as is a figure of speech within that symbol, and it's culturally based symbols in much of the New Testament. For example, we say here's Revelation, and the symbols are Jewish, they're being understood in Jewish terms, so it's culturally based, right? And an idiom is based within a particular language and culture. So, for example, like or as is something that's more transferable. Idiom is something where you have to be familiar with the language and culture in order for it to make sense.

That's true of humor also. Humor in one culture is not even funny in another. Yes, yeah. we look at and we say, that's really funny, it's only because we're looking at it from the outside. Well, and it's because it relates to things that have happened to us. You know, English humor just goes straight over our heads, and most of us. English humor is specifically based on things that they've experienced and we haven't.

Now when he says English, he's talking about, you know, British. Yes. And I think that's a really good point, that humor heavily draws on figurative speech. And culturally. Yes, yes it does. Yes it does. They are very woven together. And in fact, as you teach, the Lord has a tremendous sense of humor.

That doesn't come across if you don't understand. If you don't understand the culture. Figurative speech. So figures of speech and understanding them are a very big thing, and understanding the Bible more specifically and deeply. Because just like our own language, in the Bible there are lots and lots of figures of speech, and especially where they are more culturally based, it's very important for us to get into the culture. Once we do, we will find much more richness and color coming out of the pages of Scripture.

So let's go back to there, beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision. There's a pattern here, beware is the same word in each case, and each of those has the definite article of the three in the English translation here and in the Greek, One of the other things that comes out that's not seen obviously is that each of the nouns, each of the things beware of the, and then the noun, starts with a K. Real sharp sound. So I would make some rough equivalence this way. Beware the killing canines. Beware the cruel craftsmen. Beware the clandestine clumsy cutters. So he's got that hard K sound from the kappa at the front of each one of those nouns there. And that doesn't come out because that's also another figure of speech, putting together all these hard sounds.

In other instances, the figure of speech may be unique to the culture in or to which it is written. One figure of speech pattern is used in both the Old and New Testaments is this. The work of God in the physical realm, such as creation, is often spoken of as being done by God's hands or is called the work of his hands. So isn't that interesting? Does God have hands? No, but what God does in the physical realm is called the work of His hands. It's done by God's hands. So Job 10.8a, your hands fashioned and made me all together.

Psalm 19.1, the heavens are telling the glory of God, their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. So now, and I give other examples, the Psalms and Hebrews there, But when God does something in the spiritual realm, it is spoken of as not made with hands or made without hands. Isn't that interesting?

Not made with hands or made without hands. So God's hand, which doesn't actually exist, does things in the physical realm. If it's without hands or made without hands, not made with hands, something of that sort, then it has a different meaning, and that's in the spiritual realm. So for example, when God put you in Christ, did He do that with hands or without hands? He did it without hands. When God put you in Christ, He did it without hands. When He created the heavens and the earth, He did that with hands.

So that's a Hebrew figure of speech. It's in the Old Testament, it's in the New. All the way through. So it's a Jewish manner of speaking. that unless you recognize that, oh, you won't know what it's talking about. With hands, without hands, what's the deal? And in the end, God doesn't have hands anyway, except for Christ as He was born of Mary.

So here's Hebrews 9.11, But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands.

That is to say, not of this creation. It actually even explains it, doesn't it? Not of this creation. And Daniel 2, 2 Corinthians 5, and Colossians 2 also use that same figure of speech. In both cases, it's both Old and New Testaments. So it's a long-standing figure of speech. You asked the question about the word idiom, this is definitely idiom, right? It is culturally based figure of speech. Once we understand it, then we have better insight into what's being said in each of those passages. Can you think of any other culturally based figures of speech in the Bible? Any other culturally based figures of speech in the Bible? The eye of the needle, whatever? The needle's eye?

Yeah. I don't know for sure. Okay. Yeah, Stan? Isn't the word bulls also used culturally to describe a group of people? Bulls, B-U-L-L-S, bulls. A group of people? Yeah, I think there was a comment about when Jesus was on the cross. I don't remember. Bulls are bashing. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, that would be culturally based. Another one that's based on region is like the cedars of Lebanon. Those are looked at as really beautiful, glorious trees. Another one we'll look at in more detail later is a lot of figures of speech are centered around the word gates. Many in the Old and New Testament passages, gates.

For example, if someone is sitting at the city gates, what does that mean? That means he's an elder in the city and has a place of authority, right? If the gates are lifted up, what does that mean? It means a city has an optimistic outlook. So gates are lifted up. If gates are kind of hanging down, what does that mean? It actually means kind of sad. There's a certain sadness or depression because of the gate. So anyway, that's something that there's a whole page of it that we'll go over farther down the road here.

And so you've got that kind of thing. And both the Old and New Testaments use gates as a figure of speech in multiple ways. It's just quite a bit. Yes, Dan? Enter through the narrow gate, right? And so, yeah, you have that picture. Don't enter the gate that's wide, enter the gate that's narrow. So there's another, again, figure of speech. The focus isn't really on the gates, is it? But it's using the gates as a figure of speech.

Another one that you'll find that's specifically Jewish, used in both the Old and New Testaments, is the word walk. Enoch walked with God. What does that mean? Does that mean God came down and he walked, and Enoch walked, and they walked together? No, it doesn't mean that. And it says similarly in Genesis, Noah walked with God.

So the idea of walking is step-by-step living out of life according to a spiritual principle. And it can be either positive, Enoch walked with God, Noah walked with God, or negative. We were dead in our trespasses and sins in Ephesians 2 verse 1 and 3, and we walked according to the course of this world. So there's a negative principle guiding the walk, and then the positive principle.

So both of those are used, and whether you're Old or New Testament, that word walk is a Hebrew figure of speech. The Gentiles understood it, but the Jews are the ones who originated it. And we'll be taking a look later on at what's a Gentile phrase and what's a Jewish phrase, because it's fascinating when you start taking a look at that. So there are a great number of figures of speech, and many of them are culturally based.

Without understanding the cultural meaning, we will misread what it says. We'll misread what it says. And Jesus is not, as we read earlier, He's not instructing people to hate their mother and father and sister and brother, right? He's not instructing people to do that.

He's making a comparison as to, you know, love me more and be devoted to me more. And so that such that the relationship, and he would say, yes, you should love your mother and father and sister and brother, right? But devotion to me and love for me needs to be far exceed that. And you may be one who dearly loves your brother and sister and mother and all those, and Jesus would say, that's good. Love me far, far more.

So let's take a look. Ah, Dr. Luke. And here's something that's interesting. You will find figures of speech that only a particular author or most often a particular author uses. And one of them, here's Dr. Luke, when he wants to say something is big, he says, no small or no little.

So that's the bottom of page four. On page 5, we see Acts 12, 18. Now, when day came, there was no small disturbance. So what does it mean by no small? It's large. So you say the no and then the opposite thing. And so you got that. In chapter 19, similar. No small disturbance in chapter 12 among the soldiers. And then, Acts 19, about that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning the way. For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing no small, excuse me, no little business to the craftsman. So what does that mean? A lot of business, right? A lot of business.

And then, at the end of Acts 27.20, since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm was assailing us, from then on all hope of our being saved was gradually abandoned.

And interestingly enough, only Luke uses this figure of speech in the Bible. So you use no, and then the opposite of what you're intending to say. What's interesting is there's not only cultural figures of speech, but there are also personal figures of speech. Just like Crystal recognized that Vern uses puns a lot. That was the favorite figurative speech when my kids were growing up. So Randy catches on to it too. So yeah, you can have a personal figure of speech.

Let's figure this. Overcomer and overcame. And he overcomes, who's the author that uses those words? John. And he uses them in the Gospel of John, he uses them in 1 John, and he uses them in Revelation. So he'll be one who will favor the use of that word. And it was a term, by the way, that was used in the courts of those days for the person who was victorious in a court battle. And so that gets pulled over into John's writings having a spiritual meaning.

Here's another one. Paul often wrote with a figure of speech that is known as ellipsis, though many of our English translations do not reveal this figure of speech. He often wrote with ellipsis, and what do the translators do? They take it out. They take it out. They go ahead and insert the words that they think Paul should have included. And so our translations mask the figure of speech because they want to smooth out the English.

So here's an example of ellipsis, and it's by no means the only case. Philippians 4, 8 and 9, it says here, and I've put it in poetic form so it's easier to see. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, Whatever honorable, whatever right, whatever pure, whatever lovely, whatever of good repute, if there is any excellence, if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. This is an example of ellipsis, where Paul used it essentially five times in a row there, and the translators take it out. But why did Paul put it in there in the first place?

It's much more powerfully poetic if you take all of those phrases out, because it emphasizes the excellence. It has you anticipating the word. focused on the quality, not the doing of it. There's a quality that is brought out of the things that you are to focus in on. So it shifts. If you throw a verb in there... Yeah, if you just throw the verb in. So I think it's helpful in Bible study to look at, okay, what's there in the original language?

And even the ones who took the complete Word Study New Testament, you can say, hey, wait a minute, that article isn't there five times in a row, right? And so if you look at that, you can look at it and say, oh, that's the way Paul intended to write it. And he didn't just leave it out accidentally. He left it out five times in a row on purpose.

And there's something else. Words translated dwell on these things. The Greek word is logitsimae. It's the same word used in Romans 6.11. You must reckon yourselves dead to the sin nature. And so it's a figure and count and draw a conclusion. So it isn't just kind of meditate on it with no particular end point, but draw a conclusion based on these things. And it was an accounting term.

Carried over into the spiritual realm. Just like here's Jesus when he's on the cross and he says it's all paid. It's all paid. Perfect tense. That's an accounting term. Carried over into the spiritual realm. So that in itself is a figure of speech. Because it's actual application was in accounting. He's saying draw a specific particular conclusion in the spiritual realm.

So there are many other figures of speech in scripture. Recognizing those will provide a great number of insights, perhaps sometimes profound in our understanding of God's intended message through His written word. So going through and looking at these figures of speech is going to be helpful. We'll do some more of that this next week just to kind of get an idea. Like I mentioned, that book by Bollinger, You can get it for free if you want, or if you prefer print, that's available too. But it's got almost a thousand pages of listings. And so part of what I'm saying is with these figures of speech, look at them, try to figure out what the author is trying to communicate.

What often happens is, you know, somebody will tell me, oh, I read through the Bible this last year or something like that. And I just wonder, you know, without studying it, just kind of reading over it. And if someone wishes to read, that's fine. But I'm just saying, without studying it, reading over it, what might they be missing in terms of what's actually being said? And so I would encourage looking for and looking at these figures of speech and try to look at what did the author intend, what did the people who received this letter, this book, what did they understand when they saw this.

We mentioned Ego Emi is written with seven metaphors. Jesus says, I am the door, I am the bread of life, I am the way, the truth, the life. So he uses a powerful Ego Emi combination of words with a metaphor. And understanding as well as we can what that meant to people. I am the bread of life. What was bread culturally in that New Testament culture?

Sustenance. Pardon? Sustenance. It was the staple, right? It's like, of course you're going to have bread with every meal. Why? Why are you going to have bread with every meal? Yeah, that's your eating utensil, right? And so it's basic to every time you're going to eat. You're going to have this kind of sauce, and you're going to have this other little pâté, and you're going to spread something on it, but you're going to have bread with every meal. And that's going to be not only your staple, but your eating utensil. And so to say, I am the bread of life, Jesus is not just optional. You know, I never eat bread. I can't, right? And I don't try for the alternates either.

But in that culture, that would have been, you know, bread is, yeah, you're going to have that every meal. That's what's going to happen. And it's your eating utensil, it's the staple. Anything else you eat is simply going to be, what am I putting on the bread? With the exception of maybe pieces of fruit or something of that sort, right? Yeah.

Jesus said, you know, I am the resurrection and the life. He didn't say I am like the resurrection and like the life. I am the resurrection and the life. He put it in terms of a metaphor. And so how would they have understood each of those terms? By the way, why did he choose a metaphor there instead of a simile? Okay, why is a simile, I mean we think of them as sort of, I could use one or the other, but why is a simile not the right thing to say?

Because it's two steps away from the real. Ah. Or it's actually pretty close, closely united to the reality. And that's one of the things when you write, is that there are levels of connection to the real. you wouldn't use something that is not as close to the real if you were speaking of something literal. That's a key thing to look at when a metaphor is used. This is stating this is equivalence, this is reality. If I throw in a simile, it's a step away from reality, at least one, and then What if you use what's called the optative?

I would like to be the resurrection and the light. Is that appropriate? No. So he used the metaphor because that was the strongest, most direct way that he could say, this is who I am. This is who I am. And he could use those metaphors and not have people think, well, you know, he'd kind of like to be there, or he, you know, he's sort of like, but he actually is. He's the reality there. Okay, any other thoughts, questions? Yeah, Stan?

I think it's interesting that when people try to speak against Scripture or twist it, a lot of times they go directly to the metaphors. They use that to justify their negativity towards Scripture. Like an eye for an eye is used all the time. Yes. You make a good point. A lot of those who write skeptically or speak skeptically of Scripture do not understand its figures of speech. regularly. Do not understand the figures of speech. Yes? Cultural relevance, because the I for I, that was just standard. That wasn't just biblical authors. That was just the way people spoke. And culturally, the culture, everyone would have understood the idea.

So skeptics, to that level, they're just They're exposing themselves and there's poor scholarship. And here's something that people misunderstand. They'll oftentimes look at eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth as some extremely severe principle of criminal justice. But actually, think about it, much of the Middle East has a one-upmanship principle.

For example, in the book of Genesis, one of the things that began to be looked at is only evil continually by God. Here's Lamech who said, I killed the boy for bumping me. So what is Lamech doing is he's got a one-upmanship retaliation instead of the law of Moses, which says you don't get into this escalating punishment and revenge. So that's actually something to control evil instead of having things escalate where, you know, you did that and I'm going to do one better and I'm going to, you know, get farther up.

And so, yeah, that's one where it's a figure of speech that is misunderstood and especially in view of the surrounding cultures, many of which have this escalating revenge principle. You must take revenge as a case of honor in many of the Middle Eastern cultures and ancient cultures. You must take revenge as a matter of honor and that revenge must be greater than the original impact in order to make sure that they are really stung for what happened. So it's again, not understanding the idiom within the culture and understanding particularly what's it in contrast to, people will misunderstand what's being said. Yeah, so good point. Other thoughts, questions? Is it Psalm 91 that says that you're under God's wings? Yes. Does that mean he's a chicken? Yeah, so God's a chicken, right? Under the wing, yeah. Morgan? Well, you understand what I'm saying?

The skeptics view the figures of speech as ways to encourage their viewpoint. However, I have experienced in current modern Christendom, Christians still use those figure of speeches to encourage their way of wanting to live and wanting to just encourage their own simple path by just doing what they think is best and not really viewing scripture as it is, and diving in and doing the understanding of the cultural relevance of it. It is important to understand what was originally intended and how was that originally understood. Because if you go into the Bible, which has many figures of speech, many of which are not similar to our own, you will end up with a very distorted understanding, and of course you'll find lots of things that appear contradictory. And it's simply a matter of not understanding figures of speech, not understanding the culture. Other thoughts, questions?

Okay. All right. So we'll continue on with figures of speech. We're not going to be exhaustive about it, but I want to give you that one good resource, Bollinger, which many of you can just download for free and use it on your computers, tablets, iPhones, etc. And so that's a good general reference. The guy was very thorough. He did things systematically.

So it's good. but also just to be exposed to them so that when you encounter something, because one of the questions we would have is, how do I know it's a figure of speech? Aside from looking everything up, right? If a figure of speech, particularly if it's cultural, it's sometimes going to come across as odd. You know, here's Jesus who teaches you must love, saying you've got to hate your parents, right? Hmm, I wonder if that's a figure of speech. He's saying, tear your eye out or cut your hand off. I wonder if that's a figure of speech, right? So anytime something looks odd, that's a flag. That doesn't seem like something Jesus would say, or that's awfully extreme. I don't see that many pastors going around without their hands and eyes. So I wonder what's all about with that, right? Okay, well, let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you that with an understanding of these figures of speech, we can have much better insight into your word. And so we do thank you for this as a resource, a tool, and an understanding. And in the end, you want us to know you better and to know you more. And we thank you that this helps us to do exactly that. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.