What is a reverse analogy?

Answer 1

It means a backwords analogy.

BrothersAgainstPaul says:

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I would like to offer a second (2nd) possible answer, but in order to express it, I need to use an example to demonstrate:

The Bible Old Testament Book of Judges, Chapters 19-21, has a story that is hard to see the meaning of it except in an UGLY WAY. Sort of like the picture of the ugly old hag that is obvious to everyone but hard to see the picture of the beautiful young woman in the same picture. Hope everyone has seen that picture floating around?

Take the UGLY story in the Old Testament (Judges chp 19-21) about the concubine from Bethlehem who ran away from her Levite owner. The man catches up with her on her way back home to live with her father. As the man and his concubine are returning home, they, and their donkies, finally find a place to spend the night at a stranger's home in a Benjamite town. There was no place to spend the night at the town square there, but a stranger, with a virgin daughter, takes them in.

During the night, local Benjamite perverts try to get in the door to have sex with the man who owns the concubine (like the Sodom & Gomorrah story in a way). Fearing rape himself, he opens the door and pushes his concubine outside with the rapists and locks the door all night. The rapists have their way with the concubine all night and ravage her to death.

Next morning, the owner of the concubine is not that concerned his concubine wife was killed, but wants the death avenged anyway. So he cuts her up into 12 pieces and sends a piece to each of the 12 different tribes of Israel.

Israel collectively demands that the Benjamites hand over the rapists, but they refuse. So Israel collectively kills all Benjamite men, women, and children except for a remnant of men.

Israel does not wish to see the tribe of Benjamin become extinct, so they tell the remnant of men left alive to go kidnap wives for themselves, which they do.

But wait. Perhaps this story is a triple or quadruple reverse analogy.

Yes, it is very much like a very difficult platform dive in Olympic competition.

The concubine is a reverse analogy of Christ Jesus the Messiah.

A concubine is an earthly woman who belongs to a man and has no inheritance whereas, conversely, Jesus was a heavenly man who belonged to God and inherited everything from God.

The unconcerned master of the dead concubine is a reverse analogy of our very concerned Heavenly Father God. God is very concerned for our Salvation.

The reason it appears that the master of the concubine is unconcerned over her death at the hands of evil men is because, according to Isaiah Ch. 53, It pleased God for Jesus to die. God sort of threw Jesus (so to speak) out of Heaven to Earth and locked the door so that Jesus would die at the hands of evil men.

The cutting up of the concubine (Jesus) into 12 pieces represents the 12 Disciples (branches) cut off from the main vine Jesus after his death. The 12 pieces (Disciples) are sent to the House of Israel. The Jews don't like what they see and hear in this story, nor did they like hearing the Gospel and seeing the Miracles being performed by the Disciples centuries later.

The change of heart of the Jews (House of Israel) desiring the remnant of Benjamites left alive to be perpetuated through the kidnapping of wives represents the Ruthless Pharisee Saul turned Apostle Paul becoming a Christian himself and starting Gentile churches which become the surrogate Brides of Christ.

The Apostle Paul was a Benjamite. He says it himself in his letters.

This story is interesting because it mentions a virgin, and donkeys, and straw, and Bethlehem, the town where Christ Jesus the Messiah was born. And the husband and his concubine wife have trouble finding lodging in the town square. Kind of reminiscent of the virgin birth of Jesus. No room at the Inn.

One other thought worth mentioning about this story was why would 65,000 Israelites have to die to avenge for the death of a single concubine wife? Perhaps God is trying to tell the Jews that Salvation was paid for them at a very high price. Not that the many died for Christ, but rather, Christ died for the many. Another reverse analogy.