Figure It Out

I will open my mouth in a parable; I will tell riddles of old, which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.  Psalm 78:2-3  NASB Parable/ riddle – māšāl and ḥîdâ (parable and riddle).  How are these two terms connected? First, we need to know what the Hebrew idea of “parable” really is.  “A….

One-Liners

The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: Proverbs 1:1 NASB Proverbs – māšāl. The Hebrew word translated “proverb.” But it’s much more that. TWOT notes that while we think of proverb as something like a catchy by-line or intriguing “gotcha” popularized on religious billboards, māšāl really includes parables, discourses and even people as…

Dark Sayings

Then Samson said to them, “Let me now propound a riddle to you; if you will indeed tell it to me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen wraps and thirty changes of clothes.” Judges 14:12 NASB Riddle – Not everything in the Scripture…

Verbal Symphony

The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: Proverbs 1:1 NASB Proverbs – The Hebrew word translated “proverbs” is mishle, plural of māšāl. What is a mashal? “To translate māšāl simply as ‘proverb’ misses the wide sweep of the word, suggested by the many suggested translations. We are accustomed to think of…