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(1) Human.
"When the ear heard me, then it blessed me" (Job 29: 11).
Here the ear not only exercises its natural function of hearing, but is personified, and
"blesses".
"Their tongue walketh through the earth" (Psa. 78: 9).
(2) Animal.
"At the hand of every beast will I require it" (Gen. 9: 5).
If beasts are personified because of responsibility, how much more must man be held
accountable.
"Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee" (Job 12: 7).
(3) Products of the earth.
"Ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised" (Lev. 19: 23).
"The land mourneth . . . . . the oil languisheth" (Joel 1: 10).
(4) Inanimate things.
"The nakedness of the land" (Gen. 42: 9, 12).
"I will make mine arrows drunk with blood" (Deut. 32: 42).
(5) Kingdoms, etc.
"The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint" (Isa. 1: 5, 6).
"Daughter of Zion . . . . . Daughter of Jerusalem" (Zech. 9: 9).
(6) Human Actions.
"Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other"
(Psa. 85: 10).
"When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin" (James 1: 15).
Antiprosopopoeia.--Persons who are living are represented by inanimate things.
"Then said Abishai the son of Zeruiah unto the king, Why should this dead dog curse
my lord the king? Let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head" (II Sam. 16: 9).
The figure here has a vivid intensity, although when looked at in the cold light of
reason it may appear absurd to speak of a dead dog cursing at all.
Anthropopatheia is made up of the Greek words anthropos, "man", and pathos,
"affection" or "feeling". The Latin name for this figure, Condescensio, is very
expressive. It is indeed a condescension for the Most High God, Who is Spirit, to speak
in terms of such intimacy that we can in our small measure understand Him, Whose
fulness is beyond all mortal apprehension. In one sense it might be said that the Lord