Jesus called Herod Antipas a fox (Lk. 13:32), and English speakers and Europeans assume the point is obvious. Foxes are proverbially associated with cleverness and craftiness. Therefore, Jesus must be calling Herod a crafty person. However, it turns out that Jesus was saying something very different to his Hebrew-speaking audience.
The metaphor “fox” has proven deceptive to speakers of European languages. Many New Testament specialists have followed the clear, widely known sense of the Greek word and idiom without first asking an important question: “How was ‘fox’ used by Hebrew speakers?” The answer reveals a difference in Hebrew and Greek usage, and it should serve as a reminder that one must always interpret metaphors within the proper cultural setting.[1]
The Context
The context of Jesus’ characterization of Herod as a fox is a story that appears in Luke 13:31-33:
At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.”
He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!” (New International Version)
Reading the passage in Greek will not help if one is l
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