Entertainment / Literature / Mashal: (plural meshalim) In the Hebrew tradition, a mashal is a broad, general term including almost any type of figurative language from short riddles to long, extended allegories. It denotes 'mysterious speech.' Some of the Psalms, for instance, are designated as meshalim. The New Testament Greek often translates the term as parabole or 'parable.' This translation, however, causes some problem. In Greek, parabole are always allegorical and open to point-by-point interpretation. Parabole were often used as a simple method of teaching by example or analogy. The meshalim in Hebrew, however, was often intentionally confusing or deliberately obfuscating in nature--much more like the Greek enigma (riddle). We can see this confusion in the New Testament, where Mark interprets the purpose of the parables as Hebrew meshalim. In Mark, Jesus tell shis disciples: The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that, 'they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding, otherwise, they might turn and be forgiven' (Mark 4:11-12). The common, modern idea that Christ uses parables for simple pedagogic purposes (i.e., 'so that even a child could understand the secrets of heaven') is a creation of the medieval period, much later.
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