79. IX. FIGURES OF SPEECH

All these are Figures, and they all have names. These names were mostly given by the Greeks, centuries before Christ; and their number runs into hundreds, many of them having several varieties.

In our own work of over 1,000 pages we have classified 217 Figures; and have given some 8,000 passages of Scripture illustrated by them. When we state that these are only given by way of example, it will be seen that another vast field of study lies open before the Bible student.

It will also be seen that it is impossible here to do more than thus call attention to it; otherwise we should like to give a few examples of Ellipsis, Metonymy, Metalepsis, Asyndeton, Polysyndeton, Hypocatastasis, and Metaphor, which last is a special Figure by itself and not a general name for any Figure, as modern writers seem to think.

We said that errors are built up on ignorance of Figures.

These errors are therefore to be refuted not by argument merely, but by Scientific, Literary, and Grammatical facts. Thus:

"This is my body" can be proved to be Metaphor, meaning "this represents my body" (Matt. xxvi. 26).

"We have an altar" can be proved to be Metonymy, meaning "we have a sacrifice" (Heb. xiii. 10).

"The caperberry shall fail" (Eccles. xii. 5, R.V.) can be proved to be Metalepsis, meaning, as beautifully rendered by the A.V., "desire shall fail."

And so with many passages which have created confusion to readers, difficulties to commentators, and divisions among brethren.

We earnestly commend, therefore, close attention to "Figures of Speech," without which no study of the Bible can be complete.

X. INTERPRETATION AND APPLICATION.

It is of the utmost importance that we should clearly and constantly discriminate between these two.

The Interpretation of a passage is one thing, but the Application of that passage is quite a different thing.

The Interpretation of a passage belongs to the occasion when, and the persons to whom, or of whom, the words were originally intended. When that has been settled, then it is open to us to make an application of those words to ourselves or others, so far as we can do so without coming into conflict with any other passages.

We have already seen something of this, and of its importance in connection with Dispensational Truth and Teaching; but the principle extends far beyond this, and affects all kinds of Truth.

It is this that makes the precept to rightly divide the Word of truth so weighty and so indispensable.

It may even be, when the application is made in full accord with Scripture teaching given elsewhere, that it is not only true, but may have a far deeper and more real meaning than the interpretation itself; and may convey truths and lessons far beyond it.

This is very different from the common practice called spiritualizing. This too often ignores or denies all that may be learnt from the interpretation of a passage, and robs those to whom it belongs of a precious treasure; while it appropriates to itself or other parties the property which has thus been stolen.

Such a practice cannot be too strongly deprecated; not only because of the injury done to the Word itself, and the mistakes involved, but because it is so wholly unnecessary.

All the sweetness, all the blessing, all the truth can be obtained by a wise application, without in the slightest degree impairing the true interpretation. This may be left and preserved in all its integrity, and yet something really spiritual may be appropriated by application; all, in fact, that can be desired, without doing any violence

1 Part I., Sect. IV., pp. 155-157, above; and in several other parts of this work.

X. INTERPRETATION AND APPLICATION to the Divine Word, as is done when its interpretation is not only ignored, but often when the application is actually substituted for the interpretation.

This Canon is very far-reaching as governing our study of the Word and the words of God. Its importance cannot be over-estimated, if we would not only understand but really enjoy our Bible studies.

It will come into operation on nearly every page of Scripture; and on this account it is impossible to give more than examples.

We content ourselves with a few as a guide to the way in which other passages may be treated.

Take, for instance:

1. The Account of Creation (Gen. i.).—Instead of troubling our heads with Babylonian “creation-tablets,” which were the incoherent babblings of people who had forgotten and corrupted, or knew little of, primitive truth, we turn to the inspired record and endorse the Divine assertion, “The beginning of Thy word is true” (Ps. cxix. 160, marg.).

We have already dealt with this interpretation of Gen. i.,¹ and shown how the first chapter of Genesis, when compared with other Scriptures, is far in advance of the inferences drawn from the ever-shifting and changing hypotheses of Geologists, which are foisted upon us under the name of “science falsely so-called” (1 Tim. vi. 20).

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”—This is “the world that then was” of 2 Pet. iii. 6.

And the earth became tohū and bohū.—The verb “was” means, and is translated “became” in Gen. ii. 7; iv. 14; ix. 15; xix. 26, etc.

It became הָיָה (tohū). Whatever may be the meaning of the word rendered “without form,” it is distinctly stated in Isa. xliv. 18 that God “created it not tohu.” It must therefore have “become” so, as stated in Gen. i. 2.

The combination of the two words tohū and bohū occurs in Isa. xlv. 19; xxxiv. 11, and Jer. iv. 23, where it may be seen that it denotes ruin, emptiness, waste, desolation.

¹ See above, under Canon VIII., p. 351.