Arguably the most frequent figure of speech in the Bible is simile. The dictionary definition is simple— “a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid.” It is often introduced by like or as, occasionally by as if or than. In a sense the words ‘childlike’ and ‘lifelike’ are similes, and even the words ‘cowardly’ and ‘saintly’.
If you look up like and as in a concordance, there are hundreds of occurrences. A few examples are “manna…was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey,” Ex.16:31. Goliath’s “spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod,” 1 Sam.17:7 and the king “will be like rain falling on a mown field.” Psa.72:6. Sometimes the challenge is to find exactly what the comparison is— How do wafers made with honey taste? How big was a weaver’s rod? How is the king like rain?
An Old Testament example using than would be “wash me, and I will be whiter than snow,” Psa.51:7.
Of course, there are countless beautiful similes in the New Testament too: “He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove.” Mat.3:16. “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter.” Acts 8:32. “Our lowly bodies…will be like his glorious body.” Php 3:21, and “the builder of a house has greater honour than the house itself.” Heb.3:3.
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