Fable
“Myth or legend, later denoting fictitious stories”
Summary
A fictional narrative using plants or animals with human characteristics to teach moral lessons, appearing twice in the Old Testament and condemned in the New Testament when referring to false religious speculations.
☩Nature of the Fable
The fable differs from the parable in that qualities of higher beings may be attributed to lower ones, such as men to brutes, while the parable keeps the lower sphere distinct from the higher it illustrates. The parable deals with higher spiritual truths between man and God, while the fable addresses earthly moralities and prudential lessons about human defects like pride, indolence, and cunning. Both are distinct from myth, which is the spontaneous symbolic expression of natural religion.
☩Old Testament Examples
Only two fables appear in Scripture: Jotham's fable of the trees choosing their king, addressed to the men of Shechem as a rebuke for choosing Abimelech, and Jehoash's fable of the cedar of Lebanon and the thistle, mocking Amaziah's presumptuous challenge. Jotham's fable (c. 1209 BC) is the oldest known fable in existence, predating Greek fables and demonstrating the Hebrew mind's early power of perceiving analogies between the lower and higher worlds.
☩New Testament Warning
In the New Testament, 'fable' translates the Greek muthos, meaning myths, false stories, or legends. Paul warns against 'Jewish fables' and 'profane and old wives' fables' that represented early Gnostic speculations with endless genealogies. Peter contrasts 'cunningly devised fables' with eyewitness testimony of Christ's majesty. These fables were not literary forms but religious falsehoods distorting the truth of the gospel.
Related Verses5 mentions
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Fable," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. III (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Fable," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).
- 3.James Orr (ed.), "Fable," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. II (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 4.George Morrish, "Fable," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).
- 5.James Hastings (ed.), "Fable," in Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, vol. I (T. & T. Clark, 1915–1918).