{"id":829,"date":"2009-06-24T21:12:37","date_gmt":"2009-06-25T02:12:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/2009\/06\/24\/an-example-of-hyperbole-in-the-bible\/"},"modified":"2009-06-24T21:12:37","modified_gmt":"2009-06-25T02:12:37","slug":"an-example-of-hyperbole-in-the-bible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/2009\/06\/24\/an-example-of-hyperbole-in-the-bible\/","title":{"rendered":"An Example of Hyperbole in the Bible"},"content":{"rendered":"

In some churches, they find a demon under every bush and in every sickness.  In some circles of Christianity, they find hyperbole in every prophecy.  I am not convinced, but I did find one that will put those stupid “literalists” [fn1] to shame:<\/p>\n

\n

1 Kings 20:10 (NIV) “Then Ben-Hadad sent another message to Ahab: “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if enough dust remains in Samaria to give each of my men a handful.””<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Can you find a better one?<\/p>\n

BTW, this verse is a good example of the value of translating<\/em> the text.  Compare the BESV: <\/p>\n

\n

1 Kings 20:10 (ESV) “Ben-hadad sent to him and said, “The gods do so to me and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people who follow me.””<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The NASB does the same thing.<\/p>\n

While I’m rambling, I might as well mention Ahab’s awesome comeback:<\/p>\n

\n

1 Kings 20:11 (NIV) “The king of Israel answered, “Tell him: ‘One who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off. ‘””<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"Samaria<\/a>
Herod the Great’s stadium at Samaria<\/em><\/p>\n

fn1: These literalists exist only in the minds of those who see figurative language wherever it’s convenient.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In some churches, they find a demon under every bush and in every sickness.  In some circles of Christianity, they find hyperbole in every prophecy.  I am not convinced, but I did find one that will put those stupid “literalists” [fn1] to shame: 1 Kings 20:10 (NIV) “Then Ben-Hadad sent another message to Ahab: “May\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ancient-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}