📖 Biblical Definition
Mashal (מָשָׁל) is the Hebrew literary category encompassing proverbs, parables, riddles, taunt-songs, and didactic poetry. The book of Proverbs is in Hebrew Mishlei — the plural of mashal. The Greek parabolē ("parable") translates the same Hebrew term in the Septuagint. Christ’s parables therefore operate in the rabbinic-mashal tradition — short, vivid, often allusive narratives designed to teach truth and simultaneously test the hearer’s heart: "that seeing they may see, and not perceive" (Mark 4:12). Reading the Lord’s parables as meshalim (plural) helps recognize their didactic, layered, and sometimes deliberately puzzling character. The teacher reveals to disciples and conceals from scoffers in the same sentence.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
(Hebrew.) Literary category encompassing proverb, parable, riddle, and didactic poetry; behind Greek parabolē (parable).
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The book of Proverbs is named Mishlei Shlomo (Proverbs of Solomon). Numbers 23-24 calls Balaam's oracles meshalim. Job 27:1 and 29:1 describes Job's speech as mashal. Ezekiel's parables are meshalim.
Christ's parables, taught in Aramaic, fit the mashal genre: brief, vivid, sometimes obscure, sometimes scandalous, often demanding the hearer's active interpretation.
📖 Key Scripture
Proverbs 1:1 — "The proverbs [meshalim] of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel."
Numbers 23:7 — "And he took up his parable [mashal], and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram."
Ezekiel 17:2 — "Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable [mashal] unto the house of Israel."
Mark 4:11 — "Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern Christianity often reads Christ's parables flat-footedly; reading them as meshalim recovers their allusive, layered, demanding character.
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A mashal does not give itself up to the casual reader. Christ's parables, like rabbinic meshalim, reward the hearer who returns to them, asks questions of them, sees their canonical context, and inhabits their puzzles.
Mark 4:11 explicitly says the parables veil and reveal at once. Insiders are given the mystery; outsiders see and do not perceive. The mashal genre is not naive storytelling; it is calibrated revelation.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew mashal; Greek translation parabolē.
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Hebrew mashal — proverb, parable, comparison.
Greek parabolē — placing alongside; comparison.
Usage
"A mashal does not give itself up to the casual reader."
"Calibrated revelation, not naive storytelling."
"Insiders given the mystery; outsiders see and do not perceive."