“Historical Parables” in the Bible
What Are “Historical Parables”?
Historical parables are accounts of factual historical events that are found in the Bible, which were also precisely crafted and recorded/inscribed by God in the Bible, via God The Holy Spirit, in allegorical manners that convey important Spiritual Truth. And that Spiritual Truth is that Eternal Salvation is only a gift of grace by God, paid for in full for the sins of God’s Elect by Jesus’ eternal Sacrifice and obtainable through the hearing of, and responding repentant faith in, the Gospel of Jesus Christ; which is the true purpose and lasting substance of the Bible.
In Psalm 78:1&2, God calls upon all believers to, “Give ear, O my people, [to] my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings* of old:” and yet immediately thereafter, only a straightforward Biblical historical account is provided!
Why is that?…It is because the historical account itself is a parable (or “riddle” or “allegory”), and it is therefore also an “Historical Parable“…It points to the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ throughout time and space! And it was most certainly not written to be “plainly” understood.
In Proverbs 1:5&6, we read, “A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.” And in Psalm 49:3&4 we read, “My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart [shall be] of understanding. I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp.”
The majority of the Bible (both the Old and New Testaments) contains these “historical parables”, which, in one way or another, all point to the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Moreover, that Truth is not always readily apparent, and can even be deliberately hidden/concealed by God to an unbeliever. It will also be hidden even to a professing “Christian”, if that person reads the Bible in a careless manner and/or if such persons are basing their understanding on the wisdom of men rather than the Wisdom of God. IF that is the case, it also suggests that such persons are actually NOT indwelt by God the Holy Spirit to guide them into all truth, and hence they are still unsaved. Only a true believer will have been Gifted by God the “ears to hear and the eyes to see“.
Historical Parables are Like Hid Treasures
In Proverbs 25:2 (KJV) we find this extraordinary verse, “[It is] the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings [is] to search out a matter.” If we look carefully at the text as it reads in the original Hebrew using an Interlinear Bible or Online cross-reference like this one in Bible Hub, from which we find that the verse can also read like this…”[It is] the glory of God to conceal a “word” (because it is from the Hebrew דָּבָר (dāḇār)H1697, a masculine noun): but the honour of kings[is] to search out a “word” (because the word that was translated into English as “matter” is also the same word found in the original Hebrew to be דָּבָר (dāḇār) H1697, which is translated more than eight hundred times in the Old Testament as “word.”)*. It appears, therefore, that God is telling us that He is glorified by the concealing of The Word (Jesus Christ) in the Bible, and the believers are “honored” by being made able to search out The Word (Who is Jesus Christ) when reading the Bible. For more on this please see: Hid Treasures
Some Examples of “Historical Parables”
There are many “historical parables” in the Bible, found in both the Old and New Testaments, which can be easily missed through only casual reading. This is because the majority of them are veiled in “allegory”. Some of them are more intrinsically obvious than others. Here are four fairly obvious examples, and they essentially are just three small “historical” vignettes, but which profound spiritual meanings, which all point to the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ:
- Abraham when he was about to sacrifice Isaac, his only son from Sarah, said in Genesis 22:8, “… My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering:…” The specific phraseology tells us that God would “provide Himself” (in the Form of Jesus) as the Lamb as the Only Acceptable Sacrifice for sin.
- Joseph (who was raised from a pit and prison and servitude up to the right hand of Pharaoh) provided bread to his unworthy brethren who had thrown him in a pit and sold him into slavery in Egypt in Genesis 50:20 “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; [but] God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as [it is] this day, to save much people alive.” Those sad events served to create an historical parable for the purpose of pointing to Jesus’ Atoning Sacrifice in Hell, and Jesus’s Resurrection to the Right Hand of God the Father, to provide Salvation for His erstwhile enemies.
- 1 Sa 17:31-58, (David and Goliath) provides another amazing allegory. In the literal historical account of the little shepherd boy, David, from Bethlehem in Judah, slaying the Philistines’ military giant, Goliath of Gath, on behalf of the people of God, to bring about their earthly, temporal salvation. (The first death blow to Goliath was by a stone, and the second with a sword that cut off Goliath’s head). This is clearly yet another “Historical Parable”, in that we are given a picture of how the Humble Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, also born in Bethlehem in Judah (and Descendent of David through Nathan), slays the devil at the cross with the first death blow (figuratively also by stoning, because Jesus is the lain Chief Cornerstone) and then in finality on Judgment Day, when Jesus comes with a sword on the clouds of Glory from Heaven to send the devil (and all of the enemies of God) into the lake of fire, while also providing the people of God, in Jesus, their eternal, spiritual salvation to be with Him in Heaven forevermore.
- The Bible student should particularly note of what we read in Isaiah 14:4, where God instructs Isaiah, “That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar), and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!” and then in Isaiah 14:12-15, where the king of Babylon is likened by God to the devil, because of what we read, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” The devil in his pride sought to be like God, yet we know from Proverbs 16:18 that, “Pride [goeth] before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”
God specifically states that this pronouncement against the earthly king of Babylon (a real historical figure) is a “proverb“, which in the original Hebrew is מָשָׁל (māšāl)H4912 which has been translated variously as proverb (19x), parable (18x), byword (1x), like (1x). So then, Isaiah 14 is teaching us that God was using them as allegorical lessons, “Historical Proverbs/Parables“, to show us what God Will Do to the devil (a spiritual figure), leading up to and ending on Judgment Day. This is the comfort and consolation to the saints of God. There is mercy to God’s chosen people, and also judgment and justice brought upon God’s (and the believers’) enemies on Judgment Day.
There are many much more lengthy and involved “historical parables” that can be found in entire chapters, like Judges Chapter 4&5, or even whole books in the Bible like Ruth, Esther, Jonah. It is even fair to say that even the entire Bible is just one whole comprehensive and cohesive “historical parable” because from God’s vantage point, being outside of time and space, the entire Bible is an Historical Account pointing spiritually to the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who was foreordained to save the people of God for His Glory and Honor and Majesty for Eternity.
Some of the historical parables in the Old Testament have the benefit of New Testament exposition. The Brass (Brazen) Serpent is one such example. And Galatians 4:21-31 not only points us back to Sarah and Haggar, but specifically states that those two women were used of God to serve as an “allegory”, “Which Things Are an Allegory“. Nonetheless, the majority of historical parables require diligent, prayerful, searching through comparison of scripture with scripture in order to be more fully understood, in accordance with 1 Corinthians 2:12-16, “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. ¶Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.“
We must also be mindful of the fact that spiritual discernment is necessary to understand a parable. The anointing of God The Holy Spirit is required to have Jesus clearly revealed to us as is clearly stated in 1 John 2:27, “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.“ The anointing is of the Holy Spirit Who God the Father sent to the believers to lead them into all truth, and that Truth Is Jesus. John 16:13, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth*, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that]shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” Note the consistency with John 14:26, “But the Comforter, [which is] the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” and 1 John 2:20, “¶But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.” (“unction” means “anointing”)
What About the Parables of Jesus? And Why Did Jesus Only Speak in Parables?
It should also be noted that the parables spoken by Jesus are not quite the same as “historical” parables, and this is because Jesus’ parables cannot be related to a specific factual “historical account” as is recorded in the Bible, but rather were “earthly stories” intended to be illustrative to teach “Heavenly/spiritual” lessons. See for example The Good Samaritan, the Talents, the Sower. Nonetheless, all parables, whether truly historical or not, ultimately lead to the same exact understanding and conclusion. They all lead us to the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ and the role of His saints in honoring and serving Him.
We know from Proverbs 1:5 that, “A wise [man] will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of knowledge: [but] fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
And Jesus deliberately spoke in parables, so that those who only had carnal ears and eyes, would hear and not understand and see and not perceive. In Mark 4:11+12 we read, “And he (Jesus Christ speaking to His disciples) said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without (none of the elect), all [these] things are done in parables: That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and [their] sins should be forgiven them.”
Moreover, in John 3:12, “If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you [of] heavenly things?“
The Bible student must understand that, in all cases, a “True” understanding of Biblical “parables”, whether historical or illustrative, is entirely dependent on God Alone, through His Holy Spirit.
And be forewarned, just because someone is familiar with the scriptures, does not mean they understand what the scriptures are really saying. When someone tells you that when reading the scriptures… “If the plain sense makes sense, then do not seek any other sense”, then they might just be like the ones described in Proverbs 26:7, “The legs of the lame are not equal: so [is] a parable in the mouth of fools.” and Proverbs 26:9, “[As] a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard, so [is] a parable in the mouth of fools.”
May the reader be blessed with hearing ears and seeing eyes.
For more on Biblical understanding, please see the The Key of Knowledge for Unlocking the Mystery of the Bible.
*The Spirit of Truth
John 14:16&17, “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; [Even] the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
John 15:26, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, [even] the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
1 John 4:6, “We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.”
1 John 5:6, “This is he that came by water and blood, [even] Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.“
1 Corinthians 10:6, “¶ Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.“
1 Corinthians 10:11, “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”
Romans 15:4, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.”
1 Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” When Jesus returns on the Clouds of Glory, parables in the Bible will no longer be needed to show us Jesus because He will be present in Person!
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