The Hebrew word for a proverb (mashal) denotes a similitude, this being one of its most common forms.  Examples occur in abundance in the book of Proverbs.  We have them in the form of direct comparison:  “As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man” (chap. 27:19); “A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike” (chap. 27:15); “Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith” (chap. 15:17).  We have them also in the form of metaphor:  “The contentions of a wife are a continual dropping” (chap. 19:13); “The lips of knowledge are a precious jewel” (chap. 20:15).  But most frequently the comparison appears in the form of contrast, thus:  “A wise son heareth his father’s instruction; but a scorner heareth not rebuke” (chap. 13:1); “A faithful witness will not lie; but a false witness will utter lies” (chap. 14:5).  The signification of the word proverb is then extended to short sententious maxims of every form, even where comparison is excluded, thus:  “A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment” (chap. 17:23).

(7.) The word myth (Greek muthos) was applied by the Greeks to a legend or story of early times, then to a fable, like those of AEsop.  In modern usage it is defined to be a story in which “there is an unconscious blending of the deeper meaning with the outward symbol, the two being separate and separable in the parable.”  “The mythic narrative presents itself not merely as the vehicle of the truth, but as itself being the truth; while in the parable there is a perfect consciousness in all minds of the distinctness between form and essence, shell and kernel, the precious vessel and yet more precious wine that it contains.”  Trench, Notes on the Parables, chap. 1.  A good illustration of this we have in the tales of Grecian mythology, once received by the masses of the people as literally true; but which “a later and more reflective age than that in which the mythus had birth” learned to regard as only the vehicle of certain ideas respecting deity.  The myth, as thus defined, does not come within the sphere of biblical interpretation.  The historic events recorded in the Old Testament may, and often do, shadow forth something higher.  In that case they are not myths, but typical history.  Chap. 37, No. 4.  All the scriptural narratives, on the contrary, which are true, not in their literal meaning, but in a higher sense, come under the head of allegories, parables, or symbolic representations.

4.  In the interpretation of figurative language we must be guided, in general, by the principles considered in the preceding chapter.  To lay down special rules for the interpretation of the rich and endlessly varied figures which adorn the pages of Holy Writ would be as impracticable as useless.  The history of Biblical exegesis, however, shows that some general cautions are much needed.