IDIOMS IN SCRIPTURE

Neal Pollard

Most languages and cultures have them.  Idioms, “A group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words” (Mac dictionary), are commonly used but rarely analyzed.  Think about some you have heard and used all your life:

• Water seeks its own level
• It is raining cats and dogs
• A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
• A picture paints a thousand words
• Back to the drawing board
• Beat a dead horse
• Can’t cut the mustard
• Don’t count your chickens before they hatch
• Everything but the kitchen sink
• Hit the nail on the head

Obviously, you could come up with hundreds more.  To take the words literally and at face value is absurd, yet they picture and illustrate concepts and ideas.  This is a literary device you will find many times in scripture:

• “A house divided against itself falls” (Luke 11:17).  Today, that means that without unity there will be failure.
• “Can…the leopard (change) his spots?” (Jer. 13:23).  Today, we use that idiom to express the idea of how difficult it is for a person to change.
• “Keep me as the apple of the eye” (Psa. 17:8).  We take this to mean one who is most cherished.
• “Hide me in the shadow of Your wings” (Psa. 17:8).  Today, this is used to depict one helping and protecting someone less strong or capable.
• “Go the extra mile” (cf. Mat. 5:41). Today, we say this to express doing more than is expected.
• “Do not cast your pearls before swine” (Mat. 7:6).  Do not give what is valuable to one who does not appreciate its value.
• “Break bread” (Acts 20:7).  That means “partake of food” or “eating of a meal.”

The study of idioms in the Hebrew and Greek is a rich, broad study.  They are found repeatedly throughout Scripture.  The presence of idioms there is but one example that shows the necessity of the student being ready and able to attempt to interpret what is read.  Some people do not like the word “hermeneutics,” and not just the people who think it sounds like an obscure branch of science or math.  Many who know what it means (and it means the “science or method of Bible interpretation) disdain the idea that the Bible must be interpreted, preferring instead to believe that each person approaches the same text but may draw any number of valid conclusions.  This boils down to the belief that there is no objective standard of truth, no pattern to be found.  They see the whole Bible as little more than a collection of quaint wisdom, idiomatic expressions, and inspirational material.  While it is wisdom (never quaint!), inspirational, and rich with literary devices, it is infinitely more.  It is a God-breathed volume (2 Tim. 3:16-17) that guides the obedient to heaven while condemning the rebellious to hell.  We should be “in the Book” every day, not as critics but as disciples, drinking up its truths and demonstrating them in our daily lives!

(with thanks to http://www.idiomsite.com and “Bullinger’s Figures of Speech Used in the Bible,” p. 837ff).

Author: preacherpollard

preacher,Cumberland Trace church of Christ, Bowling Green, Kentucky View all posts by preacherpollard