FIGURATIVE OR LITERAL SENSE IS INTENDED. It is of the
for an individual; a plural for a singular, or a singular for a plural. Jephthah is said to have been buried "in the cities of Gilead" (Judg. 12:7), when, of course, only one city was meant. When the prophet says in Dan. 12:2: "And many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake," he certainly did not intend to teach a partial resurrection. And when Luke informs us in Acts 27:37 that there were in all in the ship "two hundred, threescore and sixteen souls," he does not mean to intimate that there were only disembodied spirits aboard.
2. INTERNAL HELPS FOR DETERMINING WHETHER THE FIGURATIVE OR LITERAL SENSE IS INTENDED. It is of the greatest importance for the interpreter to know whether a word is used in a literal or in a figurative sense. The Jews, and even the disciples, often made serious mistakes by interpreting literally what Jesus meant figuratively. Cf. John 4:11, 32; 6:52; Matt: 16:6–12. Failure to understand that the Lord spoke figuratively when he said, "This (is) my body," even became a fruitful source of division in the Churches of the Reformation. Therefore, it is of paramount importance that the interpreter have certainty on this point. The following considerations may aid him materially in settling this question.
a. There are certain writings in which the use of figurative language is a priori impossible. Among those are laws and all kinds of legal instruments, historical writings, philosophical and strictly scientific works, and Confessions. These aim primarily at clearness and precision, and make beauty a secondary consideration. Yet it is well to bear in mind that the prose of Orientals is far more figurative than that of Western people.
b. There is an old and oft-repeated Hermeneutical rule, that the words should be understood in their literal sense, unless such literal interpretation involves a manifest contradiction or absurdity. It should be observed, however, that in practice this becomes merely an appeal to every man's rational judgment. What seems absurd or