Aligned sentence by sentence
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IT is undoubtedly clear and evident that most prophecies are given in images, for this is the characteristic of the imaginative faculty.
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What Scripture says about Og is not of this kind: Behold, his bedstead was an iron bedstead. For the word eres denotes a bed; and a bed is not the exact measure of the person who sleeps in it but is usually larger. There is therefore no exaggeration in the description, which is simply a true statement.
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As regards the Scriptural statement about the length of man's life in those days, I say that only the persons named lived so long, and the nature of others differed according to the variations in climate, food, and other circumstances. This question need not be investigated further.
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We must further discuss the figurative language employed in Scripture. In some cases this figurative character is obvious to every one; in others it requires careful examination. Some instances are so manifest that no one needs to mention them; e.g., the expression, The rocks were moved at him, and all the inhabitants of the sea wept. Every one perceives that this is a figure.
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And these figures are very frequent in the books of the prophets. Some are easily recognised by all as figures; others are not so. When the reader does not understand them as figures, they will confuse him greatly.
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They are all of the same kind. You must explain passages not quoted by me by those which I have mentioned, and employ your intellect in distinguishing between them.