Juridical Parable

Biblical Texts and Content

A juridical parable is a narrative form in which a case that the hearer would regard as someone else's affair is presented as a lawsuit seeking a verdict. Once the hearer renders judgment, it becomes clear that the verdict applies to the hearer himself. The designation is not a biblical term but one given by scholars. It is generally understood to have come into wide use after the Israeli biblical scholar Uriel Simon employed it in a 1967 article. The texts commonly cited are the following:

• The parable of Nathan (2 Samuel 12:1-7): A rich man with many flocks and herds, wishing to entertain a guest, takes and slaughters the one little ewe lamb that a poor man had raised like a daughter. David rules that the man deserves to die and must restore the lamb fourfold. Nathan then says, "Thou art the man" (2 Samuel 12:7).
• The wise woman of Tekoa (2 Samuel 14:1-20): A woman sent by Joab appeals to the king. One of her sons has killed the other, and her family is demanding that she hand over the surviving son so that they may put him to death as well. When David swears to protect the son, the woman points out the king's own conduct in failing to bring back the banished Absalom.
• A prophet's parable to Ahab (1 Kings 20:35-43): A prophet disguises himself as a wounded soldier and reports that he has let a prisoner escape who had been entrusted to him on pain of his own life. Ahab replies that he must bear the sentence he has pronounced on himself. The prophet then turns that verdict back on Ahab, who had released Ben-hadad, the king of Aram.
• The Song of the Vineyard (Isaiah 5:1-7): A carefully tended vineyard yields wild grapes. The speaker asks, "Judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard" (Isaiah 5:3), and then reveals that the vineyard is Israel and Judah.

Background

In ancient Israel the king served as a judge who heard the people's cases and rendered verdicts (2 Samuel 15:2-4). The juridical parable makes use of this practice. Sitting as an impartial judge, the king pronounces a verdict and by that verdict condemns himself. The fourfold restitution David names corresponds to the law requiring one who stole a sheep and killed or sold it to repay four sheep (Exodus 22:1). The Hebrew word mashal is a broad term covering proverbs, maxims, and parables alike; the original text has no distinct word corresponding to "juridical parable."

Significance within Scripture as a Whole

In these narratives the prophet leads the king to acknowledge, with his own mouth, that even the king stands under the law of God. The superscription of Psalm 51 connects that psalm with Nathan's coming to David. A similar structure, in which the hearers are made to pass judgment first, also appears in the New Testament. In the Parable of the Two Sons (Matthew 21:28-32) and the Parable of the Wicked Tenants (Matthew 21:33-45), the hearers answer first. The chief priests and Pharisees who heard the Parable of the Wicked Tenants perceived that it was spoken about them (Matthew 21:45). The parable of the two debtors, addressed to a Pharisee named Simon (Luke 7:40-43), is also read as having the same structure.

Interpretation and Points of Discussion

• Scope: Scholars differ on which texts should be classified as juridical parables. Some limit the category narrowly to the texts listed above, while others extend it to include narratives such as Jotham's fable (Judges 9).
• Correspondence of details: The rich man is commonly read as David, the poor man as Uriah, and the ewe lamb as Bathsheba. The text, however, does not spell out these correspondences one by one. For example, it offers no explanation of what the traveler who came to the rich man represents. Some strands of Jewish tradition read this traveler as the evil inclination within a person. Other interpreters, by contrast, hold that one should not assign meaning to every detail but should focus on the structure by which the verdict turns back upon the hearer.

In the Korean Church

Nathan's words "Thou art the man" are frequently quoted in sermons on repentance and self-examination before the Word, and they are often presented together with Psalm 51.