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A Mashal (Hebrew: משל) is a short parable with a moral lesson or religious allegory, called a ''nimshal''. "Mashal" is used also to designate other forms in rhetoric, such as the fable and apothegm. Talmudist Daniel Boyarin has recently defined משל as a process of "exemplification," seeing it as the ''sine qua non'' of Talmudic hermeneutics (Boyarin 2003: 93). He quotes ''Song of Songs Rabba'': "until Solomon invented the משל, no one could understand Torah at all." The phenomenon has been compared to the more recent phenomenon of sampling in modern popular music, especially hip-hop ((Levy 2010 )). ==Biblical parables== The Tanakh contains many parables (and also a few symbolic stories, such as Ezek. iii. 24-26, iv. 1-4, and xxiv. 3-5). Some of these parables are: *Of the trees who wished to crown themselves a king, the fruitful trees not wishing to abandon their functions except for the bramble (Jud. ix 7-20); intended to illustrate the futility of crowning kings. *Of the poor man who had raised a single lamb which a wealthy neighbor took to set before a guest (II Sam. xii. 1-4); intended to illustrate the sin which David had committed with Bathsheba, Uriah's wife. *Of the wise woman of Tekoah, who induced David to make peace with his son Absalom (ib. xiv. 6-8). *Of the prophet's disciple, showing Ahab the wrong course which he had adopted toward Ben-hadad (I Kings xx. 39-40). *Of the vineyard which does not thrive despite the care bestowed upon it (Isa. v. 1-6), illustrating Israel's degeneracy. *Of the farmer who does not plow continually, but prepares the field and sows his seed, arranging all his work in due order (Isa. xxviii. 24-28); intended to show the methodical activity of God. All these parables were based on conditions familiar at the time; and even the event described in II Sam. xiv. 6-8 was probably no rare occurrence, in view of the custom which then prevailed of avenging bloodshed. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mashal (allegory)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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