Getting to grips with the Bible

General - The Bible as different types of literature

 

Introduction -

• Read a technical manual like a love story
• Read a story like a reference book. (no index!? No ToC!?)
• Read a telephone directory like a novel (lots of characters, not much of a plot)

Narrative

At least 40% of the Bible is narrative - historical stories.

• What it tells us about God (who is the hero of the old testament stories)
• What it tells us about Gods plan of salvation
• What it tells us about Gods people

Case Study: David and Goliath

• not just as history
• not just as allegory ('the stones represent faith/hope/love/etc. do you have giants in your life and you need to select one of those stones?')
• Gods people are helpless in the face of a terrible threat (Goliath). God has prepared a champion who is going to fight on his behalf and rescue his people (David). His champion goes forth alone and apparently helpless, unaided by anyone else - yet scores a tremendous victory, defeating the foe and rescuing Gods people. Gods champion is actually the anointed king, although nobody recognises him yet.
• People are helpless in the face of sin. God has sent Jesus to rescue us. Alone on the cross he scores a tremendous victory, defeating sin. The true Messiah (anointed one), he rises from the dead and will one day return to be king over the whole world, although many do not recognise him yet.
• It is tempting to place ourselves in David's position, but it is probably much more realistic to see ourselves amongst the crowd, needing the Lords help to overcome our problems.

Poetry & Wisdom

Humpty Dumpty - easy to remember, eh?

Our poetry uses rhyme and rhythm to be memorable. Hebrew uses word-play and parallelism to achieve the same effect.

Poetry like the psalms is meant to be evocative, stirring the heart with images, disturbing us with graphic intensity.

The psalms are the best known examples and include praise, as proclamation of the Lord as King, about Jerusalem , personal thanksgiving, laments, messianic and cursing psalms. Much prophecy is also couched in poetic language, as is the wisdom literature. All designed to be striking, all designed to be memorable.

Case Study: Lamentations 4

Let's look at the first few verses, to see how the writer uses Hebrew poetry to bring home the depths to which they are fallen:

• Verse 1 (synthetic parallelism). The gold has lost its lustre/has become dull, the sacred gems are scattered // precious sons of Zion , once "gold" are now "clay".
• Verses 3 & 4 (contrasts: antithetic parallelism) Jackals nurse their young, BUT my people have become heartless. Extended in v4 by showing how they had ignored the pleas of their children.
• Verses 9 & 10 (amplifies: climactic parallelism) Death from famine is worse than death by the sword/you waste away, racked with hunger // even mothers cook and eat their children

Prophecy

Not foretelling, forth-telling. 'Watch out, a car is coming! You'll get hit!"

The role of the prophet was to warn Israel that they were breaking their covenant with YHWH, and they had better get their act together or there would be trouble! It's as if you saw someone standing in the road and said "watch out, there's a car coming! Get out the way or you'll be killed!". The aim of shouting the warning is to save them.

Now it's also worth remembering that many of the Old Testament prophecies had three levels of fulfilment. It is a shame that we have lost some of the language of Shakespeare, otherwise I could describe it as "here, there and yonder". The prophecy normally had an immediate meaning, a meaning that was many years in the future, fulfilled in Jesus and the cross, and a meaning for the end times. Joel is a particularly good example of this for us, as his words are taken up in the Acts 2 (where Peter says that the it is being fulfilled at the birth of the church) and in Matt 24 (where Jesus applies it to the end times) and it is portrayed in Johns vision of the end times in the Revelation 6

Letters

What did it mean to them, before we think what does it mean to us.

We always interpret - the instructions Paul gives to Timothy about bringing his cloak. nobody believes that is for us today. The instructions about xxx on the other hand clearly seem to be.

Think context.

Any verse sits in a particular paragraph, amidst other paragraphs. Normally a paragraph in the NT encapsulates a particular thought, and it is set in a particular place amongst other thoughts.

Why to this audience? Why in this letter?

Why here in this letter?

Case Study: Eph 5

• Take Eph 5v22 on its own. "wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord". How about that then?
• But when we see the paragraph it sits in, and next to, it is clearly part of a larger section about relationships between husbands and wives; moreover it sees those relationships in relation to Jesus (v21 "submit to one another out of reverence for Christ"). The paragraph the verse is in (and the neighbouring paragraphs) give us huge help in understanding
• Then consider the whole scope of the letter to the Ephesians. the one-ness in Christ enjoyed by Jew and Gentile alike, the wonderful dimensions of Gods eternal plans and the high plans he has for the church.

Conclusion

How about having a go at putting this into practice? The next time you read part of your Bible, ask yourself whether this is narrative, poetry, prophecy, a letter. or something else (I know I haven't touched on the gospels!) - and try using these methods as you think about the passage you are reading. Tell me next week how it worked for you!

We want to see the word of God and the works of our lives come together, hand in hand, empowered by the Spirit who inspired these words, and speaks to us today through them. Let's listen to Him well!

 

Alex White

 

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