How many parables are in the Bible?

The number of parables is put by Trench as thirty; Bruce finds thirty-three; others, many more.

There is a suggestive paper on the Lucan parables by Swete in Expositor, Aug, 1903. These come under the following heads:-

(i.) Salvation: The Two Debtors (Luke 7:41 ff.); the Great Supper (14:22 ff.) the Lost Coin (Luke 15:8 ff.); and the Lost Son (Luke 15:11 ff.). (ii.) Prayer: the Midnight Visitor (Luke 15:5 ff.); the Importunate Widow (Luke 18:1 ff.); and the Pharisee and Publican (Luke 18:9-14). (iii.) Service: the Barren Fig Tree (Luke 13:6 ff.); the Ploughing Slave (Luke 17:7 ff.); and the Pounds (Luke 19:12 ff.). (iv.) Social Relations; the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30 ff.); the Rich Fool (Luke 12:16 ff.); the Dishonest Steward (Luke 16:1 ff.); and the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19 ff.). All but one, it will be seen, belong to the section Luke 9:51 - 18:14.

The parables are six in number: The New Cloth and Old garment. The New Wine in Old Bottles. The Sower. The Mustard Seed. The Wicked Husband-men. The “Fig Tree and all Trees.”

The word “parable” signifies the act of placing together; hence, a comparison or similitude. A parable is to the subject what a likeness is to the person; it is a resemblance presented enigmatically, but sufficiently clearly to indicate to the attentive mind that which is signified. It can therefore be used without giving offence, and may convey truth both gently and effectively. To be understood, it is necessary that the senses should be alive and exercised, otherwise it would fall on ears unappreciative and deaf.

The parabolic form of communication was frequently used of the Lord. There are, in fact, nearly forty parables in His ministry, extending from the brief adage, “Physician, heal thyself,” to the long and deeply interesting account of the “Sower” who sowed the seed—the Word of God.

The Bible abounds in parables. Jotham’s fine parable of the trees electing a king to rule over them (Jud. 9), our Lord’s three-fold parable in Luke 15, and many others, delight the mind with their vividness and simplicity, whilst their spiritual meaning instructs us in many ways.

It will be seen by the annexed list that some of the parables are recorded only by Matthew; two 'similes' are found in Mark only; several parables are given only by Luke; and none are recorded by the evangelist John. There must be divine reasons for this, and wisdom is needed to discern and profit by it. All is doubtless in harmony with the character of each of the Gospels. The word 'parable' occurs in John 10:6 in the A.V., but it is not the same word, and signifies 'allegory.' The teaching is not in the form of a parable: the Lord is speaking of Himself as the good Shepherd.

Some of the parables are grouped together. Thus in Matthew 13 there are seven parables, four of which were delivered in the hearing of the multitude, and three in private. The first was introductory, namely, the SOWER. The Lord came seeking fruit, but finding none He revealed that He had really been sowing 'the word of the kingdom,' and explained why much of the seed did not produce fruit. The next three parables give the outward aspect of the kingdom during Christ's absence, that which man has made of it. The second is the WHEAT AND THE TARES. The Lord sowed the good seed, but Satan at once sowed his seed, and both grew up together until the harvest at the end of the age. The third is the MUSTARD SEED. This grows up into a tree large enough for the birds (which caught away the good seed in the parable of the sower) to lodge in its branches. The fourth is the LEAVEN. A woman hid leaven (always a type of what is human, arid hence of evil, because sin is in the flesh) which diffused itself unseen amid the three measures of meal until all was leavened.

The seven parables of the Kingdom, given in the 13th of Matthew, are united together, as has been pointed out in the analysis of the first Evangelist. We therefore will not here speak of them as thus grouped, nor of any other of the parables, but pursue a different method of arrangement, giving first those parables recorded in but one Gospel; then, in two; then in all three Synoptists. There is no parable recorded in all the four Gospels.

The Saviour, in His ministry, spoke so frequently in an illustrative manner that it is sometimes difficult to determine whether a formal parable was intended, or whether He merely used parabolic language. The new wine and new garments, and the lighted candle, for example, while parabolic in character, have been left aside for the purposes of this book.

A large number of these parables are given quite elaborately and with much attention to detail. A number of them are briefer, and some are only a simile or comparison; but they are all parabolic in the sense that they are meant to teach some special truth by a physical simile. The parables in the Gospel of John are different from those in the Synoptists, as we might suppose. We might almost say the entire Gospel is a parable. Everything in it has an unmistakable spiritual significance. We have no doubt that this would apply to all the Gospels, as we shall note in a moment. Some of the parables were no doubt given more than once; indeed, the simile of the candlestick is twice recorded in Luke. It is probable that the parable of the lost sheep, in the same way, was given at different times. We may note in passing that this parable is the only one of which there is a semblance in John as well as in Matthew and Luke.

Then of parables, which formed so large a part of the Lord's teaching, John has really none. The word "parable" never occurs in his writings. For, what has been translated by parable (10:6), should be more properly rendered by allegory.*

In the book of Judges we read an interesting story told by Jotham, Gideon's son. As far as I know it is the first “parable” in the Bible. He spoke of the trees choosing a king and in his story four trees in succession were asked to become king; the olive, fig tree, vine and bramble (Judges 9:8-15). It was the bramble who accepted the position, but on his terms. It was a picture of the wilful Abimelech, who seized the power and came to a bad end.

1894 85 The fact that the series of parables in Matt. 13 consists of seven in number is sufficiently obvious to arrest the attention of a very ordinary reader of the chapter. But it is further to be noted that Mark is commissioned to record an additional parable (that of the secret growth of the seed, Mark 4:26-29), spoken, (it should seem) on the same occasion but omitted by Matthew, while on the other hand, Mark does not give more than two out of the seven in the first evangelist, but adds that "with many such parables spake he the word unto them as they were able to hear it" (Mark 5:33). This consideration justifies the thought, if indeed justification of such a thought be in any wise necessary, that the seven parables before us were selected by the Holy Ghost, and so arranged for some specific purpose.