so it
became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth twigs. There
was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers
[Pharaoh, king of Egypt]: and behold this vine did bend her roots
towards him [Zedekiah turned away his confidence from Nebuchadnezzar to
Pharaoh], and shot forth her branches towards him, that he might water
it by the furrows of her plantation. It was planted [had been planted by
Nebuchadnezzar] in a good soil by great waters, that it might bring
forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly
vine [fidelity to Nebuchadnezzar would have made Zedekiah prosperous].
Say thou, Thus saith the Lord God: Shall it prosper? [now that it bends
towards the second eagle] shall he [Nebuchadnezzar] not pull up the
roots thereof, that it wither? It shall wither in all the leaves of her
spring, even without great power or many people to pluck it up by the
roots thereof [the work of plucking it up will be easy, not requiring a
numerous force]. Yea, behold, being planted shall it prosper? shall it
not utterly wither when the east wind toucheth it? [a new figure to
represent its destruction] it shall wither in the furrows where it
grew."

There is a class of allegories in the Old Testament which represent the
relation of God to his people under the figure of husband and wife. Such
are the Song of Solomon, and the two remarkable allegories in Ezekiel
(chapters 16 and 23). The luxuriant fulness of imagery in these
allegories does not admit of interpretation in detail. The general scope
only of the images is to be taken into account, since this contains the
essential idea.

In the free style of the scriptural writers the allegory admits of the
introduction of _literal_ clauses ("_Thou hast cast out the heathen_,
and planted it," Psa. 80:8), and also of _explanatory_ clauses, though
not so readily as the parable. See examples in Isa. 5:7; John 10:9, 11,
14.

7. The scriptural _parables_ have a rich variety of form, sometimes
approaching to that of the allegory, when the interpretation must be
upon the same general principle. In its pure form, however, the parable
does not, like the allegory, represent directly the higher spiritual
truth, but is simply a narrative to illustrate it. It may be introduced
in the absolute form, like the parable of the barren fig-tree (Luke
13:6-9); or, more commonly, in the shape of a similitude, thus: "The
kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man