A riddle and a parable.
In the present instance the riddle and the parable are one, the riddle being expressed in the form of a parable. Both of these oblique forms of expression are characteristic of Oriental literature, and appear frequently in the pages of the Bible. Let us consider their advantages.
I. THE RIDDLE. This is not a mere puzzle to amuse; nor is it propounded to vex and perplex the listener. Unlike our idle conundrum, it has a grave purpose.
1. To arrest attention. Ezekiel was required to prophesy to people with blind eyes and deaf ears (Ezekiel 12:2). The methods of direct instruction had failed to impress his somnolent hearers. Called upon to try more rousing means, the prophet now launches into parables and riddles. Novelty of method may be desirable in the expression of old familiar truths. It is useless to preach if we have not the ears of the audience. Yet it is dangerous to shock reverence by frivolous eccentricity. There was nothing frivolous in Ezekiel's riddle,—it was grave, and even sublime; neither was there anything eccentric about it,—it followed a recognized method.
2. To provoke thought. While a direct statement may not be strongly grasped just because it is intelligible in a moment, an oblique phrase, which demands thought for the understanding of it, may sink the deeper into the mind. It is not only requisite that we should see the truth; we need also to take bold of it. An easy comprehension of it does not satisfy all its demands, and we should not only think about it, but think our way into it, using our own minds. Truth that is thus held is most truly our own possession.
3. To endure. The riddle will be easily remembered and readily transmitted. Truth is not the private property of its discoverer nor of his first hearer. It is the heritage of all; it claims eternal remembrance. We want to make the teaching of it tell and stay.
II. THE PARABLE. Ezekiel's riddle was thrown into the form of a parable. Usually the riddle appears to have been of the character of a parable, though perhaps, as a rule, more brief and less easily interpreted than an ordinary parable; e.g. compare Samson's riddle with Jotham's parable ( 14:12 and 9:7-15). The one is curt and enigmatical; the other fuller and more easily understood. The parabolic form of speech has its own peculiar advantages. Sharing the three advantages of the riddle already discussed—i.e. arresting attention, provoking thought, and enduring—though in a milder form when the parable is simpler and less concise than the riddle, it is compensated for any apparent inferiority to the riddle in these respects by the possession of certain good points of its own. Let us consider its special mission.
1. To take possession of the imagination. The parable appeals to the pictorial faculty. It handles truth on its poetic rather than on its philosophical side. It is therefore realistic, for nothing is so realistic as poetry, nothing so paints upon our inward eye the things it is describing in words. Now, it is not enough that we should understand the truth in word and naked idea. We want to see it, to handle it, to feel the glow and power of its presence.
2. To connect truth with present facts. The parable brings heaven down to earth. When dealing with earthly things it draws them into relation with nearer objects. Thus it shows that the subjects it treats of are closely connected with us. Theology is too much discussed as though it belonged to the star Sirius. Parables remind us that it belongs to our earth. Following analogies with nature and life, they indicate links of connection between the material and the spiritual, between nature and God, and also between nature and man.