What is it? Does the Bible use hyperbole in prophecy?
“These are the best cinnamon rolls ever!” Have you ever eaten dessert at a friend’s house and said something like that? That type of speaking is a common form of “hyperbole”. Hyperbole is a standard part of everyday speech, where “exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect”, according to the American Heritage Dictionary.
Much of the Bible was written in normal, everyday language used by common people of that culture and time. And just as we normally use hyperbole in everyday language, so did they. Just like we exaggerate and say things like, “this is the worst day of my life”, so did they. Let’s take a look at an example of hyperbole used in the Bible:
Note that both verses use “universal negative” statements, something along the lines of, “there was never before . . . and there will never be again”. Now if we take these 2 verses in a completely wooden, literal sense, and if we do not accept the fact that the Bible uses hyperbolic language, then we would have to say that the Bible contradicts itself. But of course that is not the case. King Hezekiah was not absolutely the best king of all time, but he was a very, very good king. And King Josiah was not absolutely the best king of all time, but he also was a very, very good king. The apparent contradiction becomes no problem at all once we realize that such “universal positive” and “universal negative” language is usually hyperbole.
Let’s take a look at some more cases where hyperbole is used in the Bible:
In Ezekiel, God speaks judgment upon Israel before He has them carried off into captivity to Babylon. And God says, “because of all your abominations, I will do among you what I have not done, and the like of which I will never do again” (Ezekiel 5:9). The book of Daniel was written after the Babylonian captivity, and confirmed Ezekiel’s prophecy. “Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem.” Of course, the Babylonian captivity of Israel happened hundreds of years before the Great Tribulation. Nevertheless, even in the light of Ezekiel 5:9 and Daniel 9:12, Jesus says in Matthew that the Great Tribulation is to be unequaled: “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:21). These sayings by Ezekiel, Daniel, and Jesus do not contradict each other any more than 2 Kings 18 and 2 Kings 23 contradict each other. They are simply using hyperbole to say that what’s happening is really, really bad.
There are many more examples of hyperbole in Scripture. Look at the “universal negative” used in Isaiah 13:20. Speaking of Babylon’s judgment in the Old Testament, it says, “It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation; nor will the Arab pitch his tent there, nor will shepherds make their flocks lie down there.” Yet we know that long since the Old Testament judgment upon Babylon, people have in fact lived there. We also see hyperbole used regarding the judgement of Tyre. Ezekiel 26:14 says, “And I will make you a bare rock; you will be a place for the spreading of the nets. You will be built no more, for I the Lord have spoken.” Yet long afterwards, Jesus ministered there, as did the apostles (Matt. 15:21-28, Mark 3:8, Luke 6:17, Acts 21:3). This is not error; this is hyperbolic, poetic talk regarding powerful judgment. Such language is for dramatic effect, and is not meant to be taken in a wooden, literal sense.
So there is no need to compare all calamities throughout history with the tribulation in 70 A.D. to see what the “worst tribulation of all time” is. If we simply compare Scripture with Scripture, and if we understand that the Bible often uses hyperbole, then it becomes quite clear that Jesus was using hyperbole in Matthew 24:21. The language used there is virtually identical to the language used in Ezekiel 5:9, Daniel 9:12, 2 Kings 18:5, 2 Kings 23:25, etc. So the intention of Matthew 24:21 is not to compare the Great Tribulation with every other calamity of all time. Jesus was simply saying that it was going to be really, really bad.
--- article by Joseph M. Gleason
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