Metaphors and God
A metaphor is a figure of speech. As soon as you
know what it is you can spot it easily, yet the use of metaphors in ordinary
English is so deep-rooted that it is difficult to avoid them.
Deep-rooted is a metaphor. The metaphor I used was based on the picture of a
plant with long, tough, deep roots, gripping a quantity of soil tightly. An
idea can be deep-rooted. So can prejudice.
Another metaphor is “The evening of life”. As people grow older and approach the final years, for some of them at least the idea of a quiet, ambient sunset somehow helps to describe those final years.
There was a time when the world was not aware of
such a thing as “clockwork devices”. The mechanism, which is now common to most
people in the Western world anyway, comprises a number of spindles, or wheels,
cogged disks, axles and so on, all working together precisely. Each wheel
regulates the turning of other wheels, and the whole machine (sometimes as small as a lady’s
wristwatch) may be constructed to fit inside a toy, a wall, or a building.
But what would people, who had never heard of a
clockwork mechanism, think of you if you told them the solar system worked
“like clockwork”? The metaphor would be wasted on them. They would have nothing
to hang the metaphor on, and the whole analogy would fall to the ground. Just
for a moment, pause to consider what sort of analogy you might use to describe
the solar system. You see how difficult it is to convey something like this
accurately by comparing the orbiting of planets around the sun non-technical
language?
A metaphor therefore needs a common
understanding before it can convey anything useful. If you have never seen a
deep-rooted plant you would not understand how certain parts of speech could be
anything like plants with long roots. If you have never seen an evening, you
would have to guess at how old age compares to it.
The dictionary says a metaphor is “A figure of
speech in which a term is transferred from the object it ordinarily designates
to an object it may designate only by implicit comparison, or analogy.” The
Greek word means “transference”. We transfer something we already know into
something else, and if the metaphor is applicable, the ‘something else’
suddenly sprouts wings and soars into our imagination, showering gifts of understanding
onto the fertile earth of our mind.
The Bible is full of many different parts of
speech. Just like any good author, God has availed himself of a wide range of
devices which all languages contain, in order to express Himself as clearly as
possible. The Bible is not a dry, technical historical narration, like a
machine catalogue. It is bursting with expression and deep with layers of
meaning. This makes it enjoyable to read, as well as the many other things
which Bible students will gladly talk about. It is a very ‘full’ book.
But God designed His Book with a multitude of
plans. Some of these plans include history, geography, sociology, psychology
and so on. Thread after thread can be followed through the Bible, each
interweaving with the other threads, to produce a multi-layered, multi-threaded
rope of wisdom, and while all the parts of speech used are very important, the
metaphor takes center stage.
But just as we need to have an understanding of
a clockwork mechanism before we can grasp the motions of the planets, we need
to know about many other real things before God can use them as metaphors for
other real things. This article does not pretend to be anything more than a
simple introduction to the Bible metaphors. I encourage readers to do their own
studies to further explore this wonderful line of enquiry.
Genesis.
In the book of Genesis, the book of beginnings,
we find many solid and real things. Genesis is an historical account, a
narrative of history. There is nothing imaginary or mythical about it, although
there are a few expressions used which are there to underline the literal
nature of the account. We learn about light, and an Earth which emerges from
the darkness. We learn about waters being divided, and evenings and mornings.
We hear of the first herbs with seeds, and seeds producing new herbs. Great lights and
small lights, stars and a moon, sea creatures and birds.
We also find Adam and Eve, formed from the ground, and a Satan, who acts like a
serpent in that he is crafty and devious, beguiling and furtive, and from whose
mouth comes the poisonous venom of rebellion.
The most important aspect of this Genesis
account is the fact that God is laying the groundwork for later applications.
He tells us about literal darkness and literal light, so that later on, when he
talks about spiritual darkness and light, we have something to use to help us
understand the second meaning. By describing material things first, God
prepares is for the metaphors.
For example, look at Genesis 1:3
“And God said, Let there be light: and there
was light”.
By this simple statement
we learn that *light comes from God, *light must be created, *God is the source
of light, *God speaks light into existence. Now moving from the literal to the
spiritual, we find that the messiah is described this way: 2 Samuel 23:4 And he shall be as the light of the
morning, when the sun rises, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass
springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain”
Notice the use of the words “as the light” and
“as the tender grass”. As means like, or similar to, but we wouldn’t
understand the metaphor if we did not already know about cloudless mornings,
tender grass and a morning after rain.
Psalms 27:1 Expresses the dual meaning by
simply stating “The LORD is my light”
Isaiah 5:20
Explains the dual meaning but setting one thing against another: “Woe
unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light,
and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
And when the Messiah comes, we are told that: “In him
was life; and the life was the light of men”. John 1:4. We understand
some of the properties of light: it always streams from a source, it
illuminates, it exposes, it penetrates by reflection, it can be amplified into
laser power . . . so now we can transfer some of this knowledge to the Lord
Jesus and interpret the metaphor in other terms.
Other metaphors.
The Bible is packed with variations of the metaphor.
Allusions, similes, analogies and so on, abound everywhere, the reason being
that God wants to express Himself as well as possible within the confines of
the language He uses to communicate with. Apart from visions (rare) and direct
speaking (also very rare), God has limited Himself to the language of humans.
This alone ought to make us wonder at the enormous condescension and love of
God toward us. He has not spoken to us in a technical or ‘scientific’ way, or
in a way suitable for glorious heavenly beings, but in the words and
expressions which we are familiar with – just as an adult might use ‘baby
language’ to communicate with a two-year old.
But while we may understand this metaphorical usage,
we usually work with it without even noticing how saturated our language is.
Take for example, this passage from “The Horse and His Boy” by C.S.Lewis,
page 103 “Then suddenly the sun arose and everything changed in a moment. The
grey sand turned yellow and twinkled as if it was strewn with diamonds. On
their left the shadows of Shasta and Hwin and Bree and Aravis,
enormously long, raced beside them. The double
If we were not already familiar with certain concepts,
we would not understand this passage. To get the most out of it, we need to
know something of such things as “the sun arose”, “a moment”, “grey sand”,
“yellow”, “twinkled”, “strewn with diamonds”, “enormous”, “raced”, “far ahead”,
“flashed”. If we cannot attach meanings to these words and expressions, we
cannot understand what the writer is trying to convey.
When we come to the Bible, just as a simple example,
let us look at these passages from the Old and New Testaments on the subject of
the thorn and thorns:
Job 41:2 “Canst thou put an hook
into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?” – this
shows us an ancient use for some thorns, and suggests the hardness or size of
the jaw bone of the creature. We need to understand something of the sharpness
and hardness of the thorn, and perhaps a little of the drilling process. If we
did not know what a thorn was we would not know what God meant.
Proverbs 26:9 “As a thorn goes up
into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools.” A
drunkard stumbles about and plunges his or her hand into a thorn bush. The
drunkard injures himself and cannot speak clearly – an analogy of the person
who does not understand God’s wisdom. If we knew nothing about drunkenness, or
stumbling, or slurred speech, we would wonder why God used these things to
illustrate a person with a parable. A drunken person doesn’t feel pain (alcohol
is still used sometimes as a painkiller) so the wisdom of the parable is wasted
on him. He really misses the ‘point’.
Isaiah 55:13 “Instead of the thorn
shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle
tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that
shall not be cut off.” Thorns and thistles are a sign of the fallen creation.
By describing a change in Nature, God is indicating a spiritual renewal. If we
did not know about the beautiful fir tree, or myrtle tree with its lovely
smell, we would not fully appreciate the meaning of this verse.
Ezekiel 28:24 “And there shall be no more a pricking brier
unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that
are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am
the Lord GOD.” By describing the wicked
nations bordering on
Hosea 10:8 “The high places also of Aven,
the sin of
Micah 7:4
“The best of them is as a brier: the most
upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and
thy visitation comes; now shall be their perplexity.” Here God describes the
character and attitudes of certain people. They are so difficult to live with
they are like thorn hedges.
2 Corinthians 12:7 “And lest I should be exalted above measure
through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn
in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted
above measure.” Apparently a demonic attack was permitted by God, to help keep
Paul humble. This would be a very unusual thing to happen to anyone, but Paul
was a unique messenger for God, so he probably needed something special like
this to keep him in line. But we understand the “thorn in the flesh” better
when we have real thorns and their effects on people, to base our understanding
on.
Conclusion.
The reader may like to pursue this subject
from here if they wish. Many hundreds of metaphors could be found and
described, and the search would be lengthy but edifying. I hope this little
article has been a useful sample, turning some soil and opening the ground for
the diligent spadework of other gardeners.