Are there any fables in the Bible?

This text is from an article written by David Gooding sometime during 1987–1990.

Well, first of all we ought to ask what we mean by the term 'fable'.

To some people, a fable is something that is not true; it is a made-up story that is false and unreliable. Believe a fable and you would be deceived.

Now let us be very clear about it: in that sense of a fable, there are no fables in the Bible. There are of course certain lies recorded in the Bible, notably the fundamental lie which Satan told Eve when he said 'You shall not surely die' (see Genesis 3:4). If we were to believe that lie, we would indeed be deceived. But two things should be noticed about that lie. Since it is recorded in inspired Scripture, we may be certain that the record is true. Satan did actually tell that lie. And secondly, the Holy Spirit has recorded that lie and the consequences that followed when Eve believed it, in order to expose it as a lie and to warn us not to believe it or any other of Satan's lies.

But in the strict literary sense of the term, fables are not lies. Far from it. In this sense the term 'fable' denotes a story in which the details of the story line are obviously not literally true; but the message conveyed by the story is true.

Take an example from outside the Bible:

The sun and the wind, so the story goes, had a competition one day. Said the wind to the sun: 'Do you see that man walking along the road with his heavy raincoat on? Let's see which of us can make him take it off the quicker.'

'All right', said the sun, 'you go first'.

So the wind started; and it blew and it tore at the man's coat. But the more it blew and the icier were its blasts, the more the man pulled his coat round him and the tighter he buttoned it up.

Then it was the sun's turn. Coming out from behind the clouds it began to shine, gently warming the man's frozen limbs and making him feel good. And the man relaxed and unbuttoned the coat. Presently, growing warmer still, he took it off altogether and slung it over his shoulder.

Now we can see at once that this story is a fable because it depicts the sun and the wind talking to each other; and in real life, as everybody knows, the sun and the wind cannot and do not talk with each other or agree to have competitions. But, of course, when we read this fable, we do not for a moment imagine that its author is trying to deceive us into thinking that the sun and the wind did in fact actually talk to each other one day.

The story is a fable then; but it is not telling lies. It conveys a very real truth. Its message is that if you want someone to do something, there are two ways of going about it. You can be aggressive and domineering and use threats and taunts and all kinds of tyrannical pressure to try to compel a person to do what you want them to. But you will not necessarily succeed; you may in fact put the person's back up and make them all the more determined to resist you. On the other hand, if you are gracious and kind and warm-hearted, your very kindness may well melt all their resistance and lead them to do willingly whatever you want them to do.

The details of the story, then, are obviously not literally true. But the message of the story is true; and we recognize it to be true because we have all experienced its truth in real life.

There is a fable of this kind in the Bible. It comes in Judges 9:7–20, and it is told by Jotham to the men of Shechem to bring home to them their folly in allowing Abimelech to get control of everything by slaughtering his brethren, and then imposing himself as a tyrant over God's people.

The trees, says Jotham, once decided to appoint a king over themselves. So they approached the olive, the fig and the vine. All three in turn replied that they had better things to do than to reign over their fellow trees. Their job was to produce food and fruit and drink for men to enjoy and also for them to use in God's service. They had no time to waste in lording it over other trees.

Then the trees approached the thornbush, which of course provides no fruit, oil or wine for anybody. All it can do is wound, tear and scratch. But the thornbush jumped at the opportunity to rule over others and issued dire threats of destruction to anyone who refused to submit to its domination.

Now we can see at once that this story is a fable because in real life, as everybody knows, trees cannot and do not go around talking to each other and appointing kings over themselves. The details of the story line, then, are not meant to be taken as literally true. But the message conveyed by the fable is true—all too true, in fact, as all of us know from bitter experience. All too often, even in churches, it has been men, who have contributed little or no spiritual food or strength to the church, that have insisted in acting like Diotrephes (see 3 John 9–11), domineering over their fellow-believers, and causing nothing but heartache and trouble.

Fables are very rare in the Bible; but here at least is one and its message is as relevant, as true and as practical today as ever before.