Sayings, Riddles, Fables, and Allegories in the Biblical World

Various types of short sayings, maxims, proverbs, and longer literary forms, like fables and allegories, are known throughout the world. They are both pedagogical and entertaining. Many are ambiguous and may have meant different things in different contexts. In the Bible, they are often associated with wisdom literature (see Living a Good Life according to Biblical Wisdom Literature), and indeed the book of Proverbs opens with the idea of “understanding a proverb and epigram, / The words of the wise and their riddles” (Proverbs 1:6). This book is, as its name suggests, full of proverbs and sayings. Ecclesiastes also employs them often. But these forms are not limited to didactic texts. They are found throughout the Bible: in narrative, poetry, prayers, and classical prophetic literature. The prophets often use them ironically or to contradict or overturn them, or to convey their own message in a rhetorically powerful manner. In fact, sayings, fables, and allegories add rhetorical impact wherever they are used. The selections in this section are drawn from narrative, prophetic, and poetic books throughout the Bible and from one extrabiblical book, The Words of Ahiqar.