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Author Topic:   Hyperbole in the Bible
GDR
Member
Posts: 6223
From: Sidney, BC, Canada
Joined: 05-22-2005
Member Rating: 4.0


Message 25 of 124 (639821)
11-04-2011 10:16 AM
Reply to: Message 24 by purpledawn
11-04-2011 9:58 AM


Re: I'm Clueless
Hi PD
Let me try and explain what I think Paul means. Here is a quote from your OP.
quote:
2 Kings 23:25 - Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did--with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.
You used this as an example of hyperbole. It is hyperbole if Josiah really was an actual king. (I'm not disputing that by the way.) If however Josiah never existed then it isn't hyperbole but fiction.
In looking at the flood strory, it would seem to me that that the Biblical account in order to be hyperbole would mean that it had to be based on an actual flood of some kind, even if it was just a local flood. If there was no flood at all then the story isn't an example of hyperbole but simply fiction or allegory.
Cheers

Everybody is entitled to my opinion.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 24 by purpledawn, posted 11-04-2011 9:58 AM purpledawn has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 26 by purpledawn, posted 11-04-2011 12:39 PM GDR has replied
 Message 27 by NoNukes, posted 11-04-2011 12:48 PM GDR has replied

  
GDR
Member
Posts: 6223
From: Sidney, BC, Canada
Joined: 05-22-2005
Member Rating: 4.0


Message 29 of 124 (639872)
11-04-2011 2:34 PM
Reply to: Message 26 by purpledawn
11-04-2011 12:39 PM


Re: I'm Clueless
purpledawn writes:
I don't see that fiction negates the use of hyperbole.
So these are non-Biblical examples.
It is all about exaggeration! I can give you a trillion examples...
It is going to take a b'zillion years to get through Medical School.
I ate the whole cow.
He's 900 years old.
I'm as hungry as a horse.
I'm so hungry, I can eat a horse.
My backpack weighs a ton.
It took forever to get to the beach.
That dog is so ugly, it fell off the ugly tree and hit every branch.
Definition
quote:
hyperbole/hˈpərbəl/
Noun: Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.
Synonyms: exaggeration - hyperbola - overstatement
I don't understand how you can exaggerate fiction. In all of your examples you have taken a truth and exaggerated them.
For example when you say your backpack weighs a ton you are taken a non-fictional situation, which is that the back pack is heavy and exaggerating it.
Fiction is just what it is; it can't be exaggerated or minimized.

Everybody is entitled to my opinion.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 26 by purpledawn, posted 11-04-2011 12:39 PM purpledawn has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 32 by purpledawn, posted 11-04-2011 5:51 PM GDR has not replied

  
GDR
Member
Posts: 6223
From: Sidney, BC, Canada
Joined: 05-22-2005
Member Rating: 4.0


Message 30 of 124 (639875)
11-04-2011 2:37 PM
Reply to: Message 27 by NoNukes
11-04-2011 12:48 PM


Re: I'm Clueless
NoNukes writes:
Your example may miss the mark. We might still recognize the verse as exaggeration if within the story we can see that Josiah was not quite as committed to the Lord as the verse indicates.
That was the point that I was trying to make although obviously not that effectively.
NoNukes writes:
On the other hand, with Noah's age, I don't see any indication in the story that Noah failed to live to 600. Unless an appropriate Noah existed and had a lengthy lifespan that was significantly less than 600 years, then I don't see any basis for calling his age hyperbole.
Exactly

Everybody is entitled to my opinion.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 27 by NoNukes, posted 11-04-2011 12:48 PM NoNukes has seen this message but not replied

  
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