Figures of Speech in the Bible

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.
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No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the
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Apostle Paul said, But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.
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In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.
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By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her
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King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. Mike Abendroth here.
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Sometimes people refer to me as Abendroth, Abendroth. You can just call me
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Mike if you'd like, that's fine by me. Although, if you want my autograph, you have to pay five dollars.
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Today on No Compromise Radio Ministry, I want to talk to you about something that will help you interpret the
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Bible. When you read the Bible, you're trying to find what God meant when he originally wrote it, what he meant through that author.
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We believe in dual authorship of the Bible, where we have the human author and the divine author, and they are both authors.
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And so if I say authorial intent, whether I mean Peter or the Holy Spirit, basically at the end of the day it's the same thing.
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But when you study the Bible, you've got to ask yourself a lot of questions. When we say we believe the
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Bible is literal, we believe the Bible should be translated literally, sometimes people think wrongly.
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Some evangelicals and maybe some outside the church, certainly some outside the church, would say to us, well, it's a wooden literalism, meaning there's no time, no place at the table, no discussion when it comes to genre and types of literature and poetry and prose, and do you interpret both of those the same?
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What about some kind of metered psalm versus apocalyptic literature, and you just read everything the same?
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No, that's not what we're trying to do. We don't do that at all. If we say literal, we just mean not allegorical.
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We say according to the principles of grammar and the principles of history, grammatical historical, according to determining what authorial intent would be, let's try to read this poetry as poetry.
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Let's try to read this figure of speech as a figure of speech, which brings me to the topic at hand today, interpreting figures of speech.
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You need to be a better student of the English language, of language in general, and then you'll be a better student of the
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Bible. I wish I had not slept through English class at junior high, high school, college, whenever I took
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English classes. I don't think I must have remembered them very well, because I have trouble with whoms and hymns, not hymns, contemporary songs.
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We need to be better students of our own language, participles and phrases and gerunds, and when we understand language properly, since God reveals himself today in written word, we would do ourselves a lot of good if we would study language.
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So if you're a junior high student, high school student, college student, I want you to pay attention in your
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English classes. If you want to take Greek classes or Hebrew or Latin or German, that would be great.
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Those also help grammar classes. I don't know the exact number now, but I do know that according to master's seminary folks, you try to get into Greek class, but you've got to pass the
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English class first, and not many people do. So they need to take an English refresher course.
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What's a participle? What's a compound, I don't know, phrase and all these things,
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I don't have all those notes in front of me. But trying to understand a figure of speech will help you understand the
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Bible. Listen to what Terry said about figures of speech.
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The natural operations of the human mind prompt men to trace analogies and make comparisons.
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Pleasing emotions are excited and the imagination is gratified by the use of metaphors and similes.
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Were we to suppose a language sufficiently copious in words to express all possible conceptions, the human mind would still require us to compare and contrast our concepts, and such a procedure would soon necessitate a variety of figures of speech.
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So much of our knowledge is acquired through the senses that all our abstract ideas and our spiritual language have a material base.
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Now, that's a big, old concept, but we have these thoughts that are abstract, but the way they're presented to us in the human mind and in the
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Bible necessitate this kind of speech.
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Max Mueller said, it is not too much to say that the whole dictionary of ancient religion is made up of metaphors.
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With us, these metaphors are all forgotten. We speak of the Spirit without of the breadth, of heaven without thinking of the sky, of pardon without thinking of a release, of revelation without thinking of a veil.
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But in ancient language, every one of these words, nay, every word that does not refer to sensuous objects, is still in a chrysalis stage, half material and half spiritual, and rising and falling in its character according to the capacities of its speakers and hearers.
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Well, I want you to be better at understanding figures of speech in the
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Bible because that will save you from all kinds of pain when it comes to the subject of Bible study,
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Bible knowledge, understanding what God said when he wrote these things.
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There are laws of grammar that talk about how words are used and how they function.
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Mike Flock said, in some cases, however, the speaker or writer purposely sets aside those laws to use new forms, forms we call figures of speech.
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And so, figures of speech is a word or phrase that's used to communicate something other than its literal, natural meaning.
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That's Sturet, How to Understand Your Bible, page 93. When you have figures of speech, they help you understand better.
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They help you to remember better. And so, let me give you some figures of speech that will stimulate your thinking.
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If I say to you, get off your high horse. What does that mean?
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I'm not on a horse. What if you are a gardener and you've got a green thumb?
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Why is it raining cats and dogs? Somebody just snuck some money and deceived you and they are really a snake.
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Well, those are all figures of speech. And it's a way of saying something. It's conveying a literal truth.
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In a very picturesque way. And so, you have to recognize those figures of speech in the
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Bible or you're going to not understand the Bible properly. And you will understand the
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Bible improperly, but more than that, you will not understand the Bible with all its color and vividness.
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When you say the Lord is my rock, what are you saying? You're saying He is dependable.
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He is sturdy. He is a fortress. He is strong. And there's a way to say that, that you could say, you know,
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God is immovable. But when you say He's my rock, boy, that's a lot different from Psalm 18. It lends itself to help us realize who
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God is. It also makes you stop and take a look. When you're reading figures of speech in the
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Bible, when you read in Philippians 3 -2, watch out for those dogs, or in James 3, the tongue is a fire.
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You will say to yourself, okay, I'm paying attention. You've got my attention.
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As I said before, if you've got an abstract thought and you'd like to make it more concrete, what do you do? Well, if you're teaching kids about abstract concepts, you need to figure out a way to use language to make that thought more concrete or understandable.
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In Deuteronomy 33, underneath are the everlasting arms.
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To think that God has everlasting arms underneath us. Now, they're not literal arms, and He's got forearms and elbow and bicep, tricep, and everything else.
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No, but this is a way for God to say He's there to protect you, to provide for you, to be your defense, to support you.
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And when you hear language like that, you will just remember it more often. You could say in Hosea 4,
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Israel's pretty stubborn. But you could say the Israelites are like a stubborn heifer.
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Well, then you get the idea. I think it's in Jeremiah 4 or 5. If memory serves me, the text is something like this, they were well -fed, lusty horses, each one naying after their neighbor's wife.
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Now, that kind of figure of speech will get your attention. And just because we use figures of speech, it doesn't mean we're abandoning the normal, plain, literal style or method of interpretation.
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These figures of speech convey real truths, literal truths, and therefore they're not against literal interpretation.
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They're not for mystical, kind of allegorical spiritualization.
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That's not what is going on. Earl Rodmacher said, "...behind every figure of speech is a literal meaning, and by means of the historical, grammatical exegesis of the text, these literal meanings are to be sought out."
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When Jesus called Herod a fox, that is in the
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Bible, and we are to interpret that literally. Now, I should say we should interpret that with a literal method, and the literal method is
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Jesus uses a figure of speech. He could say Herod is cunning,
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Herod is ruthless, Herod walks around at night scheming things and trying to be sly, but he said fox, and it's just vivid.
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It's just striking, isn't it? Herod is a fox. So, when you interpret the
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Bible, you can interpret figures of speech and still be a person who believes in literal translation or interpretation of the
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Bible. Now, let's come up with some figures of speech. Mike Abendroth, No Compromise Radio Ministry. Maybe you've been bored so far.
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Not every show can be flamethrowing, but I think you're going to be helped when you can see some of these in the
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Bible, and then there's more meaning, and then you don't have to say, well, do I interpret literally, figuratively, what do I do?
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Simile is one of the first things I want to talk about as a figure of speech in the Bible. A simile.
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A simile, Roy Zook says, is a comparison in which one thing explicitly resembles another.
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And when you see the word like or as, you are often going to see a simile.
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A simile. If there's a resemblance, and so in 1 Peter 1, all men are like grass.
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That is a figure of speech. And as grass is temporal, so are men.
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In Psalm 1, and he will be like a tree. You know, here's this tree that's solid and sturdy.
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When you see like or as, I want you to think of simile. When you don't see like or as, but there's a comparison between one thing and another, when one thing acts like something else or represents something else, but like and as are not used, that's called a what?
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A metaphor. And so, Jesus says in John 6, 35,
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I am the bread of life. He didn't say, I'm like the bread of life. I'm as the bread of life.
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He says, I am the bread of life. Matthew 5, Jesus said to the disciples, you are the light of the world.
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So, whereas similes have like and as, metaphors don't have that. You are the light of the world.
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All flesh is grass. Isaiah chapter 40. How about this one?
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Metaphor or simile? The Lord is my shepherd. Psalm 23. That is a metaphor.
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The Lord is my shepherd. A simile would say, the Lord is like a shepherd to me. And so, both convey the same meaning, but they do it in different ways.
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I am the bread of life. Well, let's talk about other figures of speech. Today, I'm just trying to help you understand your
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Bible a little bit more. Let's talk about personification.
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That's another figure of speech. Ascribing human characteristics to things or actions or ideas or something that's inanimate.
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How about this? And all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Isaiah 55.
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A wisdom being personified. Proverbs 8. Does not wisdom call and understanding lift up her voice?
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Now, you can just talk about how wisdom searches out people. Wisdom desires to be heard.
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But even then, when I say wisdom desires to be heard, is that a person? She desires to be heard. And so, you get personification.
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It's a great figure of speech. Now, here's a big one. If you don't like anything I've said so far, and you think it's all boring, then how about anthropomorphism?
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Anthro for man. Morph, form, the form of a man. Attributing a human feature or action to God.
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Did you know Psalm 8 talks about God's fingers? Psalm 31, God's ear. 2
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Chronicles 16, God's eyes. Exodus 32, the Lord changed his mind.
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Those are anthropomorphic. And we realize that the only way we could try to describe an infinite
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God is through the lens of something that a human would do.
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And then we think, okay, that's the way we should talk about God that way. It's a figure of speech called an anthropomorphism.
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Let me give you another one. You'll like this. Use this with your friends. I dare you to use this word today sometime in your daily activity.
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Anthro, I got that part down, man. Anthropopathism. Empathetic, sympathetic, apathy, ascribing human emotions to God.
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When in Zechariah, God says he's exceedingly zealous or jealous. And it's a way to try to understand
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God using a figure of speech. Another one is hyperbole.
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That's a deliberate exaggeration. And we know when you do that, you are trying to add emphasis.
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And if I've told my kids once, I've told my kids a thousand times to push their chairs in after dinner.
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Well, I'm trying to emphasize something. In the Bible, the same thing happens. Deuteronomy 1, the cities are large and fortified to heaven.
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And we're not talking about a bunch of cities, all Tower of Babel up into heaven or all the way up to heaven. Which heaven? First heaven, second heaven, third heavens.
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It's emphatic. Psalm 6, every night I make my bed swim. I dissolve my couch with my tears.
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You can feel the force of that. That's a lot different than saying in Psalm 6, I'm sad. I'm sad at night.
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Well, he is sad at night. He dissolves his couch with his tears. How about in 2
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Samuel 1, David said of Saul and Jonathan after their deaths, they were swifter than eagles.
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They were stronger than lions. How about this? As numerous as the locusts and these
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Midianites and Amalekites and their camels were without number, as numerous as the sand on the seashore,
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Judges 7. So, hyperbole, the deliberate exaggeration is going to be found in the
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Bible. Maybe my all -time favorite figure of speech is Eliotes, L -I -T -O -T -E -S.
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And this one is where people get in more trouble than almost anything else. They kind of got it figured out. God doesn't have wings.
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God doesn't have hands. God doesn't have fingers. God doesn't have a nose where it says he's long -nostriled.
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It takes a long time for the heat of God's anger to get all the way down out of his nose. They can kind of get those things.
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But when it comes to Leviticus, they miss it and therefore you become wrong in your thinking.
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Let me give you Leviticus. Eliotes is found in Revelation 3, 5.
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He who overcomes, I will not blot them out. I will not blot them out, blot out their names from the book of life.
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So, it looks like you could be blotted out because if he says he won't be blotted out, maybe you could be. That is
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Eliotes. You say, well, what is Eliotes? It is the use of an understatement or negative statement to express something positively.
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It is the opposite of a hyperbole, is what Lewis says. The use of an understatement to express an affirmation.
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The one who comes to me, I will by no means cast out. I am a citizen,
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Acts 21, of no significant city, no insignificant city. First Thessalonians 2, the
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Jews who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets are not pleasing to God. We have lots of laudities in the
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Bible. Ephesians 4 .20 comes to mind. You did not learn Christ in this way.
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A negative statement meant to express something positively.
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All right. How about euphemisms? Euphemisms. Substituting some kind of mild word for something that's offensive.
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Substituting something inoffensive for something that is very personal. And so, when we say somebody has passed on or went home, we're basically saying, you know, they're dead.
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So, in the Bible, when you see in Acts 7, for instance, or First Thessalonians 4, people described as fallen asleep, that is a euphemism.
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We're not going to try to get soul sleep and all kinds of other things out of that. They're not really dead. That was a euphemism of the day.
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They've fallen asleep. And it was a euphemism in our day, too, up until, you know, recent times, fallen asleep.
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Well, what else do we have? I have all kinds of things here. Okay, how about irony?
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Irony. Saying the opposite of what is meant. And it came about at noon that Elijah mocked them, 1
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Kings 18. Call out with a loud voice, for he is a god. Either he's occupied or gone aside.
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That is irony. Job 12. With you, wisdom will die.
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Amos 4. Enter Bethel and transgress. In Gilgal, multiply transgression.
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You say the opposite of what is meant. Closer related, another figure of speech is sarcasm.
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1 Corinthians 4 .10. Sarcasm is used in the Bible. We are fools. It doesn't mean you ought to be sarcastic.
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We could talk about that another time. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are prudent. We are weak, but you are strong.
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You are distinguished, but we are without honor. And talking to these false apostles, and they've come in, and Paul is using sarcasm to make a point.
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It's easier, I mean, it's better said than saying, you know, you're right and I'm wrong. You're wrong and I'm right.
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If you could read your Bible with the Hebrew and the Greek, you would see another figure of speech.
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Sometimes it's even found with our English words. Onomatopoeia is a good figure of speech.
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That the sound of the word suggests its meaning. So like an eagle that swoops on its prey.
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That word swoops in Job 9 is T -O -O -S would be a good way to think about it. Two's.
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That's what it sounds like. Zooming down. Swooping. Two's down. I can't believe
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I just do this. If I had my dog in the studio, she'd think I'm, I'm, something's wrong. How about gossip?
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Pissaristes. Pissaristes is the word for gossip. It sounds like what it is. Murmuring.
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Philippians chapter 2. Gungusmus. Gungusmus. Gungusmus. Grumbling gungusmus.
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So we've learned all kinds of things today, haven't we class? We have learned all kinds of things. How do you interpret figures of speech?
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Well, I think maybe a good way to go about it is to say, you know, let's use the literal sense unless there's a good reason not to.
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That would be helpful. Secondly, use the figurative sense when the passage indicates you doing so.
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If you're looking at dream language or vision language or symbolic kind of apocalyptic language, you might say to yourself, hmm, look for figures of speech.
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Use a figurative sense if a literal meaning is impossible or absurd. You know, the
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Lord has wings. The Lord doesn't have wings. And you would have to say to yourself, I think I have to look for a figure of speech here.
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If you say to yourself, I better think about figures of speech if the literal meaning involves something sinful or immoral.
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For instance, when Jesus said, unless you eat his flesh and drink of his blood, you don't have any part of the kingdom in John chapter 6.
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Well, if he really meant that, if it wasn't a figure of speech and he really meant that, and you think about the Jews and blood and what they were supposed to do with blood and prohibitions of drinking blood, it would be immoral.
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It would be immoral to kill an innocent man, too. And also, use a figurative sense if the expression is an obvious figure of speech.
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Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion,
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Proverbs 11 .22. Like or as. And so then you say, well, I better study the
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Bible. And if the Spirit of God at Jesus' baptism descends in the form of a dove or like a dove or as a dove,
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I need to think about those things to properly interpret what the text says and what it means.
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There are all kinds of figures of speech in the Bible, and you ought to try to find those figures of speech.
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You ought to take an English class. You ought to say, you know, sometimes the Bible substitutes a part for the whole.
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And so you say the senses are taken of all the world. When you say something like Jeremiah 25 .29,
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I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth. Really? Each and every person?
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So see, there's different kinds of language, figurative speech, that will still fit into literal method of interpretation.
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Well, Mike Abendroth here, No Compromise Radio Ministry. When you read the Bible, you need to read the
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Bible according to proper genre, according to proper, if you have an English Bible, English.
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And you can say to yourself, even though you know no Greek or no Hebrew, that there are certain figures of speech in the
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Bible that I should probably be aware of so I can properly understand what God has said. Even if you think of all the wonderful Psalms, there's a different way to say things.
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It probably could have been shorter and more doctrinal. But the Psalms were delivered in a way that expressed the nature and character of God and sin and man, but in a way that's memorable and lovely.
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And I would imagine that if you're like me, the Psalms is a book that you go to regularly because you so identify with the person as he expresses himself within a literal method, but using figures of speech.
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If you need to more study for this, I suggest you get Roy Zook's hermeneutics book, or Richard Mayhew's hermeneutics book, that will help you with figures of speech.
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Mike Abendroth here, No Compromise Radio Ministry. See, we didn't critique anybody today. We learned how to talk about the