Flatbusher: My words were NOT directed at you. Actually I didn’t even see your post before starting to write mine.
In the case where Chazal do use metaphors, it’s (as I heard and learned) because Chazal chose to hide the real deeper meaning and disclose it to worthy students, ?? ??????, as a chain. The inner secrets of Torah was not meant for the common-folk. For them the base text should be studied. I think it’s a ????”? somewhere.
Sorry for the notion I was attacking you.