Reference: Fable
American
An idle, groundless, and worthless story, like the mythological legends of the heathen and the vain traditions of the Jews. These were often not only false and weak, but also pernicious, 1Ti 4:7; Tit 1:14; 2Pe 1:16.
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But reject those {worthless myths told by elderly women}, and train yourself for godliness.
not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of people who turn away from the truth.
Easton
applied in the New Testament to the traditions and speculations, "cunningly devised fables", of the Jews on religious questions (1Ti 1:4; 4:7; 2Ti 4:4; Tit 1:14; 2Pe 1:16). In such passages the word means anything false and unreal. But the word is used as almost equivalent to parable. Thus we have (1) the fable of Jotham, in which the trees are spoken of as choosing a king (Jg 9:8-15); and (2) that of the cedars of Lebanon and the thistle as Jehoash's answer to Amaziah (2Ki 14:9).
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"The trees went certainly, to anoint a king over themselves. And they said to the olive tree, 'Rule over us.' And the olive tree replied, 'Should I stop [producing] my oil, which by me gods and men are honored, to go sway over the trees?' read more. Then the trees said to the fig tree, 'You, come rule over us.' But the fig tree said to them, 'Should I stop [producing] my sweetness, and my good crop, to go sway over the trees?' And the trees said to the vine, 'You, come rule over us.' But the vine said to them, 'Should I stop [producing] my wine that makes the gods and men happy, to go sway over the trees?' So all the trees said to the thornbush, 'You, come rule over us.' And the thornbush said to the trees, 'If in good faith you [are] anointing me as king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; if not, may fire go out from the thornbush and devour the cedars of Lebanon.'
So Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah, saying, "The thornbush which is in Lebanon sent to the cedar which is in Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son as wife,' but an animal of the field which [is] in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thornbush.
and not to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which cause useless speculations rather than God's plan [that is] by faith.
But reject those {worthless myths told by elderly women}, and train yourself for godliness.
not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of people who turn away from the truth.
Fausets
It represents man's relations to his fellow man; but the PARABLE rises higher, it represents the relations between man and God. The parable's framework is drawn from the dealings of men with one another; or if from the natural world, not a grotesque parody of it, but real analogies. The fable rests on what man has in common with the lower creatures; the parable on the fact that man is made in the image of God, and that the natural world reflects outwardly the unseen realities of the spiritual world. The MYTH is distinct from both in being the spontaneous symbolic expression of some religious notion of the apostate natural mind. In the fable qualities of men are attributed to brutes. In the parable the lower sphere is kept distinct from the higher which it illustrates; the lower beings follow the law of their nature, but herein represent the acts of the higher beings; the relations of brutes to each other are not used, as these would be inappropriate to represent man's relation to God.
Two fables occur in Scripture: (1) Jotham's sarcastic fable to the men of Shechem, the trees choosing their king (Jg 9:8-15). (2) Joash's sarcastic answer to Amaziah's challenge, by a fable, the sarcasm being the sharper for the covert form it assumes, namely, the cedar of Lebanon and the thistle (2Ki 14:9). Eze 17:1-10 differs from the fable in not attributing human attributes to lower creatures, and in symbolizing allegorically prophetical truths concerning the world monarchies; it is called chidah, "a riddle," from chaadad "to be sharp", as requiring acumen to solve the continued enigmatical allegory.
The fable of Jotham (1209 B.C.) is the oldest in existence; the Hebrew mind had a special power of perceiving analogies to man in the lower world; this power is a relic of the primeval intuition given to Adam by God who "brought every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, unto Adam to see what he would call them." Other nations were much later in this style of thought, the earliest prose fables in Greece being those of the legendary Aesop, about 550 B.C. Many of the proverbs are "condensed fables" (Pr 26:11; 30:15,25,28).
The analogies in the lower creatures are to man's lower virtues or defects, his worldly prudence, or his pride, indolence, cunning (compare Mt 10:16). "Fables" mean falsehoods in 1Ti 1:4; 4:7, "old wives' fables"; Tit 1:14, "Jewish fables," the transition stage to gnosticism; 2Pe 1:16, "cunningly devised (Greek text: sophisticated) fables," devised by man's wisdom, not what the Holy Spirit teacheth (1Co 2:13); incipient gnostic legends about the genealogies, origin, and propagation of angels (Col 2:18-23).
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"The trees went certainly, to anoint a king over themselves. And they said to the olive tree, 'Rule over us.' And the olive tree replied, 'Should I stop [producing] my oil, which by me gods and men are honored, to go sway over the trees?' read more. Then the trees said to the fig tree, 'You, come rule over us.' But the fig tree said to them, 'Should I stop [producing] my sweetness, and my good crop, to go sway over the trees?' And the trees said to the vine, 'You, come rule over us.' But the vine said to them, 'Should I stop [producing] my wine that makes the gods and men happy, to go sway over the trees?' So all the trees said to the thornbush, 'You, come rule over us.' And the thornbush said to the trees, 'If in good faith you [are] anointing me as king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; if not, may fire go out from the thornbush and devour the cedars of Lebanon.'
So Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah, saying, "The thornbush which is in Lebanon sent to the cedar which is in Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son as wife,' but an animal of the field which [is] in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thornbush.
Like a dog returning to his vomit [is] a fool reverting to his folly.
For the leech, [there are] two daughters; "Give, give!" [they cry]. As for three of these, they are not satisfied; as for four, they do not say enough.
The ants [are] a people [who are] not strong, yet they prepare their food in the summer;
a lizard you [can] seize with hands, yet it is in palaces of kings.
And the word of Yahweh {came} to me, {saying}, "Son of man, tell a riddle and quote a proverb to the house of Israel, read more. and you must say, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "{The great eagle with great wings and long feathers} [and] {full of variegated plumage} came to Lebanon and he took the treetop of the cedar. He plucked the top of its new plant shoot, and he brought it to the land of Canaan [and] put it in a city of merchants, and he took from the seed of the land and placed it in {fertile soil} on many waters; [like] a willow he planted it. And it sprouted, and {it became a vine spreading out}, low of height, turning its branches to him, and its roots were under it, and {it became a vine}, and it made branches, and it sent out foliage. " '"And there was another great eagle, great of wings and [with] abundant plumage, and look! This vine stretched out its roots toward him and extended its branches to him to water it from the garden bed {where it was planted}. It was planted in good field by many waters to produce branches and to bear fruit to become {a beautiful vine}." ' Say, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Will it prosper? Will he not tear out its roots, and will he not make its fruit scaly, and it will wither, and all of the freshness of its vegetation will dry up? And to lift it from its roots {will not require great strength or many people}. And look! [Though] it is planted, will it prosper? {When the east wind strikes it}, will it not dry up completely? On the garden bed of its vegetation it will dry up!" '"
"Behold, I am sending you out like sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
[things] which we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in [words] taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual [things] to spiritual [people].
Let no one condemn you, taking pleasure in humility and the worship of angels, going into detail [about] [the things] which he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by the ligaments and sinews, grows with the growth of God. read more. If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, why do you submit [to them] as [if] living in the world? "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch," which [things] are all [meant] for destruction by consuming according to human commandments and teachings, which [things] {although they have}, to be sure, an appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and humility and unsparing treatment of the body, {do not have any value} against the indulgence of the flesh.
and not to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which cause useless speculations rather than God's plan [that is] by faith.
But reject those {worthless myths told by elderly women}, and train yourself for godliness.
not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of people who turn away from the truth.
For we did not make known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ [by] following ingeniously concocted myths, but [by] being eyewitnesses of that one's majesty.
Hastings
For the definition of a fable, as distinct from parable, allegory, etc., see Trench, Parables, p. 2 ff. Its main feature is the introduction of beasts or plants as speaking and reasoning, and its object is moral instruction. As it moves on ground common to man and lower creatures, its teaching can never rise to a high spiritual level. Worldly prudence in some form is its usual note, or it attacks human folly and frailty, sometimes in a spirit of bitter cynicism. Hence it has only a small place in the Bible. See Parable.
1. In OT.
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"The trees went certainly, to anoint a king over themselves. And they said to the olive tree, 'Rule over us.'
So Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah, saying, "The thornbush which is in Lebanon sent to the cedar which is in Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son as wife,' but an animal of the field which [is] in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thornbush.
and you must say, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "{The great eagle with great wings and long feathers} [and] {full of variegated plumage} came to Lebanon and he took the treetop of the cedar. He plucked the top of its new plant shoot, and he brought it to the land of Canaan [and] put it in a city of merchants, read more. and he took from the seed of the land and placed it in {fertile soil} on many waters; [like] a willow he planted it. And it sprouted, and {it became a vine spreading out}, low of height, turning its branches to him, and its roots were under it, and {it became a vine}, and it made branches, and it sent out foliage. " '"And there was another great eagle, great of wings and [with] abundant plumage, and look! This vine stretched out its roots toward him and extended its branches to him to water it from the garden bed {where it was planted}. It was planted in good field by many waters to produce branches and to bear fruit to become {a beautiful vine}." ' Say, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Will it prosper? Will he not tear out its roots, and will he not make its fruit scaly, and it will wither, and all of the freshness of its vegetation will dry up? And to lift it from its roots {will not require great strength or many people}. And look! [Though] it is planted, will it prosper? {When the east wind strikes it}, will it not dry up completely? On the garden bed of its vegetation it will dry up!" '"
"Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inside are ravenous wolves.
and not to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which cause useless speculations rather than God's plan [that is] by faith.
who forbid marrying [and insist on] abstaining from foods that God created for sharing in with thankfulness by those who believe and who know the truth,
But reject those {worthless myths told by elderly women}, and train yourself for godliness.
and they will turn away from the hearing of the truth, but will turn to myths.
not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of people who turn away from the truth. To the pure all [things] [are] pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing [is] pure, but both their mind and conscience are defiled. read more. They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny [him], [because they] are detestable and disobedient, and unfit for every good deed.
But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and contentions and quarrels about the law, for they are useless and fruitless.
For we did not make known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ [by] following ingeniously concocted myths, but [by] being eyewitnesses of that one's majesty.
Morish
?????, lit. 'a word, a speech.' The English word is not used in the N.T. in the sense in which it is now often employed, signifying a supposed incident to teach some moral truth; but has the sense rather of myths, false stories (as the Greek word was used by later writers), which in one passage are called "profane and old wives' fables." 1Ti 1:4; 4:7; 2Ti 4:4; Tit 1:14; 2Pe 1:16.
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and not to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which cause useless speculations rather than God's plan [that is] by faith.
But reject those {worthless myths told by elderly women}, and train yourself for godliness.
not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of people who turn away from the truth.
Smith
Fable.
A fable is a narrative in which being irrational, and sometimes inanimate, are, for the purpose of moral instruction, feigned to act and speak with human interests and passions. --Encyc. Brit. The fable differs from the parable in that --
1. The parable always relates what actually takes place, and is true to fact, which the fable is not; and
2. The parable teaches the higher heavenly and spiritual truths, but the fable only earthly moralities. Of the fable, as distinguished from the parable [PARABLE], we have but two examples in the Bible:
See Parable
1. That of the trees choosing their king, addressed by Jotham to the men of Shechem,
2. That of the cedar of Lebanon and the thistle, as the answer of Jehoash to the challenge of Amaziah.
The fables of false teachers claiming to belong to the Christian Church, alluded to by writers of the New Testament,
1Ti 1:4; 4:7; Tit 1:14; 2Pe 1:16
do not appear to have had the character of fables, properly so called.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
"The trees went certainly, to anoint a king over themselves. And they said to the olive tree, 'Rule over us.' And the olive tree replied, 'Should I stop [producing] my oil, which by me gods and men are honored, to go sway over the trees?' read more. Then the trees said to the fig tree, 'You, come rule over us.' But the fig tree said to them, 'Should I stop [producing] my sweetness, and my good crop, to go sway over the trees?' And the trees said to the vine, 'You, come rule over us.' But the vine said to them, 'Should I stop [producing] my wine that makes the gods and men happy, to go sway over the trees?' So all the trees said to the thornbush, 'You, come rule over us.' And the thornbush said to the trees, 'If in good faith you [are] anointing me as king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; if not, may fire go out from the thornbush and devour the cedars of Lebanon.'
So Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah, saying, "The thornbush which is in Lebanon sent to the cedar which is in Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son as wife,' but an animal of the field which [is] in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thornbush.
and not to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which cause useless speculations rather than God's plan [that is] by faith.
But reject those {worthless myths told by elderly women}, and train yourself for godliness.
not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of people who turn away from the truth.
Watsons
FABLE, a fiction destitute of truth. St. Paul exhorts Timothy and Titus to shun profane and Jewish fables, 1Ti 4:7; Tit 1:14; as having a tendency to seduce men from the truth. By these fables some understand the reveries of the Gnostics; but the fathers generally, and after them most of the modern commentators, interpret them of the vain traditions of the Jews; especially concerning meats, and other things, to be abstained from as unclean, which our Lord also styles "the doctrines of men," Mt 15:9. This sense of the passages is confirmed by their contexts. In another sense, the word is taken to signify an apologue, or instructive tale, intended to convey truth under the concealment of fiction; as Jotham's fable of the trees, Jg 9:7-15, no doubt by far the oldest fable extant.
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And they told Jotham, and he went up and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim, and {he cried out loud} and said to them, "Listen to me, lords of Shechem, so that God may listen to you. "The trees went certainly, to anoint a king over themselves. And they said to the olive tree, 'Rule over us.' read more. And the olive tree replied, 'Should I stop [producing] my oil, which by me gods and men are honored, to go sway over the trees?' Then the trees said to the fig tree, 'You, come rule over us.' But the fig tree said to them, 'Should I stop [producing] my sweetness, and my good crop, to go sway over the trees?' And the trees said to the vine, 'You, come rule over us.' But the vine said to them, 'Should I stop [producing] my wine that makes the gods and men happy, to go sway over the trees?' So all the trees said to the thornbush, 'You, come rule over us.' And the thornbush said to the trees, 'If in good faith you [are] anointing me as king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; if not, may fire go out from the thornbush and devour the cedars of Lebanon.'
and they worship me in vain, teaching [as] doctrines the commandments of men.'"
But reject those {worthless myths told by elderly women}, and train yourself for godliness.
not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of people who turn away from the truth.