connection we are not concerned with figures of syntax or figures of
the connection here seems to point to a different meaning. And this is confirmed by the parallel passages, Mark 4:37 and Luke 8:25, where the word lailaps is used, meaning a whirlwind, or a tempestuous wind. Again, in Heb. 1:3 we read: "… when He had by himself (di' heautou) purged our sins." The pregnant expression di' heautou is explained by the parallel passage in Heb. 9:26, which says: "… to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself."
EXERCISE: Determine the meaning of the following words in the connection in which they are found by means of the internal helps that were described "house" (oikia), 2 Cor. 5:1 "faith" (pistis), Heb. 11:1; "the veil" (katapetasma), Heb. 10:20; "shall overshadow thee," Luke 1:35; "the foundations of the world," Ps. 19:15; "a Jew," Rom. 2:28, 29; "were made" (egeneto), John 1:3, comp. Col. 1:16; "bring … into a snare," Prov. 29:8; "the elements of the world" (stoicheia tou kosmou), Gal. 4:3, comp. verse 9; "the hidden things of darkness" (ta krupta tou skopou), 1 Cor. 4:5; "flesh and blood" (sarks kai haima), 1 Cor. 15:50; comp. Matt. 16:17 and Gal. 1:16.
LITERATURE: TERRY, Bib. Herm., pp. 79–88; 119–128; Immer. Hermeneutics, pp. 159–183; Muenscher, Manual, pp. 107–128; Davidson, Sacred Herm., pp. 225–252; Elliott, Bib. Herm. pp. 101– 116; Fairbairn, Herm., pp. 79–106; Lutz, Bib. Herm., pp. 186–226.
D. The Figurative Use of Words
1. PRINCIPAL TROPES USED IN SCRIPTURE. In the present connection we are not concerned with figures of syntax or figures of thought, but rather with those figures of speech that are commonly called tropes, in which a word or expression is used in a different sense from that which properly belongs to it. They are founded on resemblance or on certain definite relations. The principal tropes are the metaphor, the metonymy, and the synecdoche.
a. The metaphor might be called an unexpressed comparison. It is a figure of speech in which one object is likened to another by
asserting it to be that other, or by speaking of it as if it were that other. It differs from the simile in that it does not express the word of likeness. Metaphors are of frequent occurrence in the Bible. In Ps. 18:2, six of them are found in a single verse. Jesus employs this figure of speech when He says to the Pharisees: "Go ye, and tell that fox," Luke 13:32. There are two kinds of metaphors in the Bible that have reference to the Divine Being and deserve special attention: (1) anthropopathisms and (2) anthropomorphisms. In the former, human emotions, passions and desires are ascribed to God. Cf. Gen. 6:6; Deut. 13:17; Eph. 4:30. In the latter, bodily members and physical activities are attributed to Him. Cf. Ex. 15:16; Ps. 34:16; Lam. 3:56; Zech. 14:4; Jas. 5:4. Undoubtedly there is also a great deal that is metaphorical in the description of heaven as a city with golden streets and pearly gates, in which the tree of life yields its fruits from month to month; and in the representation of the eternal torments as a worm that dieth not, a fire that is not quenched, and a smoke of torment ascending forever and ever.
b. The metonymies are also numerous in the Bible. This figure, as well as the synecdoche, is founded on a relation rather than on a resemblance. In the case of the metonymy, this relation is a mental rather than a physical one. It indicates such relations as cause and effect, progenitor and posterity, subject and attribute, sign and thing signified. Paul says in 1 Thess. 5:19, "Quench not the Spirit," when he refers to the special manifestations of the Spirit. And when, in the parable of Dives and Lazarus, Abraham says, "They have Moses and the Prophets," Luke 16:29, he naturally means their writings. In Isa. 22:22, "the key of the house of David," conveys the idea of control over the royal house. Circumcision is called a covenant in Acts 7:8, because it was a sign of the covenant.
c. The synecdoche resembles the metonymy somewhat, but the relation on which it is founded is physical rather than mental. In this figure there is a certain identity of what is expressed and what is meant. A part is put for a whole, or a whole for a part; a genus for a species, or a species for a genus; an individual for a class, or a class