turned away his confidence from Nebuchadnezzar to Pharaoh], and shot forth her branches towards him, that he might water it by the furrows of her plantation.  It was planted [had been planted by Nebuchadnezzar] in a good soil by great waters, that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly vine [fidelity to Nebuchadnezzar would have made Zedekiah prosperous].  Say thou, Thus saith the Lord God:  Shall it prosper? [now that it bends towards the second eagle] shall he [Nebuchadnezzar] not pull up the roots thereof, that it wither?  It shall wither in all the leaves of her spring, even without great power or many people to pluck it up by the roots thereof [the work of plucking it up will be easy, not requiring a numerous force].  Yea, behold, being planted shall it prosper? shall it not utterly wither when the east wind toucheth it? [a new figure to represent its destruction] it shall wither in the furrows where it grew.”

There is a class of allegories in the Old Testament which represent the relation of God to his people under the figure of husband and wife.  Such are the Song of Solomon, and the two remarkable allegories in Ezekiel (chapters 16 and 23).  The luxuriant fulness of imagery in these allegories does not admit of interpretation in detail.  The general scope only of the images is to be taken into account, since this contains the essential idea.

In the free style of the scriptural writers the allegory admits of the introduction of literal clauses ("Thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it,” Psa. 80:8), and also of explanatory clauses, though not so readily as the parable.  See examples in Isa. 5:7; John 10:9, 11, 14.

7.  The scriptural parables have a rich variety of form, sometimes approaching to that of the allegory, when the interpretation must be upon the same general principle.  In its pure form, however, the parable does not, like the allegory, represent directly the higher spiritual truth, but is simply a narrative to illustrate it.  It may be introduced in the absolute form, like the parable of the barren fig-tree (Luke 13:6-9); or, more commonly, in the shape of a similitude, thus:  “The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field” (Matt. 13:24); “Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it?” Mark 4:30.  It may be left without explanation, but more commonly an explanatory remark is added.  So to the parable of the two sons whom the father asked to work in his vineyard is added the application:  “Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you” (Matt. 21:28-31); and the parable of the Pharisee and publican is both introduced and followed by an explanatory clause (Luke 18:9-14).  All such clauses are of the highest importance for the interpretation of the parables to which they are annexed.  In the interpretation of a parable, the first and most important thing is to ascertain the spiritual truth which it is intended to inculcate.  How far a spiritual significance is to be sought for the particular incidents of parables is a question to be determined separately for each, according to its nature.