"... A parabolic expression is easy to recognize when it follows upon an introductory “like” or “as.” To give some examples: “Like water I am poured out and all my bones are scattered”; or “I have become to them like a dead abomination.” There are many instances which follow this pattern. Often, however, Scripture speaks parabolically even without this introduction. It says, for instance: “You made my arms a bronze bow,” instead of “like a brazen bow”; or: “And when Abraham looked up with his eyes, he saw three men,” instead of “something resembling three men.” In these cases, Scripture formulates parables by way of ellipsis, omitting the word “like.” Frequently, Scripture also calls a narrative or a teaching “parable,” for instance, when we read: “I will open my mouth in a parable, I will utter problems from the beginning.” (Psalm 78:2 ... Where the Hebrew has ḥīdōt, “riddles” or “dark sayings,” the Septuagint has problēmata, “problems”) Here the author’s teaching, or at least the narrative, is called a parable. Actually, the parable itself may sometimes be called a “problem.” Thus, it is even possible to speak of a problem as an “enigma”: Samson proposed such a “problem” to the Philistines, or rather to the Palestinians—the Philistines are in fact the Palestinians—by saying: “Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet.” ..."