How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth, Session V
Old Testament Narratives: Their Proper Use
A teaching by
based
upon the book by the same title,
written
by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart
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INTRO:
A. REVIEW of 1st week’s class
1. the need to
interpret:
whenever we read anything:
we are interpreting as we go
2. Goal of interpretation:
NOT: originality
RATHER: to get to the plain meaning of the text
…so
we can hear what God wants us to hear in it
3. Working definition of scripture:
“The Bible is the Word of God, expressed in
human words in history.”
4. 2 essential tasks of interpretation
a. exegesis: deciphering what it meant there and then
“What
was the intended meaning of the original writers to their original audiences?”
b. hermeneutics: bridging from the there and then to the here
and now
“How
does the original meaning apply to us?”
B. Review of 2nd week’s class:
1. the need for a good
translation
Basic, unavoidable reality: every translation is an interpretation
2. approaches of translators:
a. formal equivalence
–
b. functional equivalence –
c. free translation –
3. My vote:
Functional Equivalence
C. Review of
3rd week’s class:
The Epistles: Learning to Think Contextually
1, “occasional
documents”
2. OUR problem in interpreting the epistles:
primary task: to reconstruct whatever it was the
situation
à intent of writer
D. Review of 4th week’s class: the hermeneutical questions
“What
do these texts mean to us?”
i.e.,
how to bridge the “there and then” with the “here and now”
Keys:
1. use common sense
“Whenever
we share comparable particulars (i.e., similar life situations)
with the 1st century hearers, God’s word to us is the same as his Word to them” (p. 75)
BUT: realize that what appears
to be common particulars isn’t always
2. Beyond that:
a. Distinguish
between central core of message of Bible and what is dependent on or peripheral to it.
b. Distinguish
between what the NT itself sees and inherently moral and what is not.
c. Take note of items
where the NT has a uniform witness and of items in which it sends mixed signals.
d. Distinguish
between principle and application
e. Note circumstances
that offered the NT writers only one option vs. multiple options à and note how they responded
f. Exercise charity
when walking in this area.
E. TODAY:
Old Testament Narratives
1. The most common type
of lit in the Bible = narratives
in OT: 40%
OT
in Bible = 75%
2. books that are
totally or mostly narrative:
Gen,
Josh, Judg, Ruth, 1-2 Sam, 1-2 Ki,
1-2Chron, Ezra, Neh, Dan, Jonah,
Hag
3. books that have lots
of narrative:
Exo, Num, Jer, Eze, Isa, Job
4. Much of NT has narrative (Gospels, Acts) but
that will be discussed later
5. The narratives are OUR story, OUR spiritual
odyssey, OUR spiritual roots
BUT: narratives are so often misinterpreted and mis-applied
Too
often people read into not OUT OF the texts.
I. The Nature of
Narratives
A. What Narratives are
1. p. 90:
“Narratives are
stories—purposeful stories retelling the historical
events of the past that are intended to give meaning and direction for
a given people in the present.”
this is true
for all narratives of all peoples at all times
BUT: in case of scripture: unique:
GOD’s Story
…inspired
by HS
…in
the process: becomes OUR story
2. Narratives:
tell about things that happened in the past
3. include:
a. characters
b. plot
c. plot resolution
4. i.e., usually include a conflict or tension
that needs resolving
5. often include:
a. protagonist
b. antagonist
c. and sometimes
“agonists”
=others
who get involved in the struggle
B.
Three levels of narrative
1.
the top (3rd) level: the overall biblical story:
God
= protagonist
Devil
= antagonist
people = agonists
plot = separation …redemption …reconciliation
à hence: redemption history
heilsgeschicte
JHH
book: Living the Presence of the Spirit
2.
middle (2nd) level: Story of God redeeming a people for his name
constituted twice:
by first covenant:
Abraham …Moses …
by 2nd covenant:
Jesus …apostles
3.
bottom (1st) level: hundreds of individual stories that accumulate to
make up 2nd and 3rd levels
e.g.,
all those stories in the lives of Abraham, Isaac, etc., Moses, David, Daniel, etc.
C.
What narratives are not (p. 92)
1. OT
narratives are not allegories filled with hidden meanings.
ALWAYS
assume that any meanings there should have been obvious to the original, mostly uneducated hearers.
examples on p. 92
2. Individual
OT narratives are not intended to teach moral lessons.
Unless
the biblical narrator states a particular point of application, there likely is none
NOTE: I love expository preaching, but here is
where expository preachers often go wrong: “What we can learn from this story is
that we are not to do …”
WE
may see in stories some examples or illustrations of points made elsewhere in Scripture (such as
Jacob’s favoritism of Joseph
as an illustration of problems resulting from parental favoritism)
…BUT
those points are seldom the original intention of their writing.
3. Nevertheless,
the illustrative part of the stories has value
--if
used to illustrate teachings clearly stated elsewhere
e.g.,
David’s adultery w/ Bathsheba à murder
à murderous behavior among his
children
à denial of the dream to build
God’s temple
II. The Characteristics
of Hebrew Narrative
we will use Joseph’s story (Gen. 37-50) to illustrate our
points
A. The narrator
1. the one who chooses
to say what s/he will: is omniscient
2. provides the “point of view”
sometimes explicitly God’s point of view, e.g., “The Lord
was with Joseph” (Gen. 39:2, 3, 21, 33)
sometimes a character’s point of view, e.g., Joseph: “You intended to
harm me, but God intended ti for good to accomplish
what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
(Ge. 50:20)
B. The Scene(s)
Stories
in the OT usually are built not around the single character but around scenes, as in a play or movie
“Each
scene has its own integrity, yet it is the progressive combination of scenes that makes up the story as a whole.” (p.
94) e.g., scenes: at home:
Joseph’s brothers complaining about favoritism
then: Joseph searches
for brothers but can’t find them
then: in the
wilderness …captured …sold to Midianites
…ultimately
…in
C. The Characters
Within
context of scenes, this is THE central element
NOTE: Physical element of characters is seldom
mentioned in scripture
…except
when a particular point is being made,
e.g.,
People wanted Saul to be king because of his height, pointing
out to the fact that they looked on the outward parts whereas, God looks at the heart
(ill. by calling on David)
1. The characters usually appear in contrast or
in parallel
in contrast the differences help illustrate points to be
made
e.g.,
Joseph in contrast to 10 brothers
in parallel
e.g.,
Joseph and Benjamin (the newer, favored youngest child)
à most often in second level
narratives,
e.g.,
John the Baptist as a reenactment of Elijah
and Mary as an echo of Hannah
2. The predominant mode of characterization
occurs in the characters’ words and actions, not in the
narrator’s descriptions
e.g.,
Joseph grows from being mostly negative to being mostly positive…
…starting
out as a spoiled brat …developing character by resisting Potiphar’s
wife …being gifted with dream interpretation and using it for
others’ benefits …being redeemed from prison …successful prime
minister …merciful to brothers
D. Dialogue
3
things to look for:
1. The 1st point of dialogue is often
a significant clue both to the story plot and to the character of the speaker.
e.g.,
Gen. 37:6-7 – Joseph’s bros: “
…Gen.
50:18 = He does rule them
e.g.,
37:11 – Father “kept the matter in mind” –
…telling
the reader to do the same
2. Contrastive dialogue often functions as a way
of characterization as well
Joseph’s reply to Potiphar’s
wife well illustrates his character
3. Very often the narrator will emphasize the
crucial parts of the narrative by having one of the characters
repeat or summarize the narrative
in a speech.
Don’t rush through the reading of
repeated phrases!
E. Plot
Plot
and resolution are crucial
has a beginning, a middle and an end
usually a build-up of tension that is eventually released
Sometimes
simple plots …sometimes complex
NOTE: Hebrew plots usually move very quickly
…much
faster than our soap operas, novels, or even short stories
F. Features of Structure
Remember
that these stories were mostly HEARD not READ
…by
people not literate, and not possessing writing instruments
Hence
some devices are used that are very oral:
1. repetition
of key words
of interrupting and then resuming
2. inclusion
ending by using similar expressions as used in the beginning
…a
common preaching device I use (today’s sermon)
G. A final Word about Narratives
Keep in
mind the invisible protagonist:
The
Presence of God in the narrative
God is
the ULTIMATE character, the supreme hero
III. On
Things to
avoid:
1. allegorizing: treating the text as pathway to a subtext:
2. decontextualizing:
i.e., taking out of context
Ignoring the full historical & literary
contexts
3. selectivity: Picking & choosing specific words &
phrases to concentrate on while ignoring the others
and ignoring the overall sweep of the narrative being studied.
4. moralizing: assuming that principles for living can be
derived from all
passages.
5. personalizing:
supposing that any or all parts apply to you or your group in a way that they don’t apply to others.
6. misappropriation:
using a text to do something it originally was not intending to recommend
e.g.,
casting fleeces before the Lord
7. false appropriation: to read into the narrative today’s issues
e.g.,
to read into David’s love for Jonathan a homosexual relationship
8. false combination: tying two texts from different books together
as if they are speaking of the same thing
9. redefinition: changing meanings, e.g., using language of
IV. Principles for
Interpreting Narratives
10 principles (p. 106):
A. An OT narrative usually does not directly
teach a doctrine
B. An OT narrative
usually illustrates a doctrine or doctrines taught propositionally
elsewhere.
C. Narratives record what happened—not
necessarily what should have happened
or what ought to happen every time.
Therefore, not every narrative
has an individual identifiable moral application.
D. What people do in narratives is not
necessarily a good example for us. Frequently,
it is just the opposite.
E. Most of the characters in OT narratives are
far from perfect—as are their
actions as well.
F. We are not always told at the end of a narrative
whether what happened
was good or bad. We are expected to be
able to judge this on
the basis of what God has taught us directly and categorically elsewhere in Scripture.
G. All narratives are selective and
incomplete. Not all the relevant details are always given
(c.f., John
H. Narratives are not written to answer all our
theological questions. They have particular,
specific, limited purposes and deal with certain issues, leaving others to be dealt with
elsewhere in other ways.
I. Narratives may teach either explicitly (by
clearly stating something) or implicitly
(by clearly implying something without actually stating it).
J. In the final analysis, God is the hero of all
biblical narratives.