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VI. Understanding Old Testament History The Bible contains more narrative (narration/story) than any other type of literature. The OT makes up 3/4 of the Bible and over 40% of the OT is historical narrative. Thus, narrative is the most common genre in the Bible. I. Understanding Narratives Old Testament historical narratives: are not just interesting stories about people who lived in OT times, allegories or stories filled with hidden meanings more important than the plain and outward meanings, they do not always teach some clear morale directly. However, narratives are written in story-form, with a meaningful string of interrelated events involving specified characters and some kind of plot. The ultimate purpose of Old Testament historical narratives is to tell us about things particular people have done within the larger story of God’s plan to offer redemption to mankind through a promised Savior. Biblical narratives come in three distinct levels, much like the subject of God’s will - (a) His will for all of humanity, (b) His will for His covenant people, and (c) His will for the individual person. Accordingly, the top level of Biblical narrative refers to the “really Big picture” - the universal plan of God for redeeming all mankind through the promised messiah descended through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David. Summarized, the entire Bible can be understood in three major units: {a} a rescuer is coming (Genesis - Malachi), {b} the rescuer is here and it is Jesus (four Gospels), and {c} the Lord Jesus is coming again and here is what you need to know to be ready (Acts - Revelation). The “middle” level of Biblical narrative records God’s work through a select portion of humanity - the nation of Israel and/or the Church. Included here also would be stories involving individuals or the “covenant people” that have a major impact on a lot of other people: (a) Adam’s deeds affected all of humanity (Romans 5), (b) Noah’s faithfulness affected all of subsequent humanity (preserved and descended from Noah), (c) Abraham as the father of many nations, (d) Moses was God’s mediator for the Sinaitic Covenant(Israel), (e) Jesus and Apostles impacted all of humanity, and (f) the Church is the proof/demonstration of God’s wisdom (Php. 3:10-11). Finally, there is the lowest level of narratives and these are stories that take place at an individual level, describing events in the lives of people that do not have an obvious larger impact, such as {a} Joseph [Genesis 37-50], {b} Judas, {c} Paul, {d} Barnabus, etc. Typology - Not every individual passage directly "bears witness" to Jesus (John 5:37-39); but everything does plug in somehow to the ultimate level narrative. On the other hand, there are some “typology” stories that do not make much sense until the “type” (future reality being pointed to) appears later on for comparison (Genesis 22; Exodus 17:8-13; Numbers 20:6-9). As you read Old Testament narratives, always appreciate the individual stories, but be sure to understand them as elements in a much larger meta-narrative unfolding as God works to bring His Messiah into the world. Interpreting Narratives - As historical “stories,” narratives tell you things that happened, but do not always provide a clear statement of the lesson, principle, or moral that should be drawn. An Old Testament narrative usually illustrates a doctrine or doctrines taught propositionally elsewhere. Example - you can read account of the Israelites wandering in Numbers, but the lessons are not directly stated there, as they are in Paul’s summary (1Corinthians 10:1-10). Genesis records events involving Adam, Abel, Noah, Abraham, etc., but the moral/lessons/principle to be gained is most clearly noted by New Testament writers, as in Romans 4:18-24 and Hebrews 11. Narratives record what happened in a particular time and place, but are not necessarily teaching us what should have happened or what ought to happen every time. Historical narratives record sinful deeds and failures, as well as successes. Most of the characters in Old Testament narratives are far from perfect and their actions are, too. Their recorded sins/failures are not “examples” to be copied, but to be learned from! What people do in narratives is not necessarily a good example for us. Frequently, it is just the opposite - what happens to them is a lesson/warning to others (Numbers 16). God never outwardly approved of polygamy, but did provide legislation to protect women/children from abuses (Deuteronomy 21:15-17) and recorded the actions (and results!) of David’s & Solomon’s polygamy for us to learn from. We are not always told, specifically, at the end of a narrative whether what happened was good or bad - we are expected to be able to judge that on the basis of what God has taught us directly and categorically already in the Scripture. Thus, revelation of law material (Genesis 9:1-7; Exodus - Deuteronomy) provides the standards by which readers should be able to determine the good/evil nature of later events and actions. Example - Deuteronomy 17:14-20 provides the standards for evaluating Solomon’s actions centuries later (1Kings 1-11). All narratives are selective and incomplete. Not all of the relevant details are always given (cf. John 21:25). However, what does appear in the narrative is everything that the inspired author was guided to include as important for later readers to know. Narratives are not written to answer all our theological questions, but they have particular, specific limited purposes and deal with certain issues, leaving others to be dealt with elsewhere, in other ways. Old Testament historical narratives record important things that happened as God worked out His plan of redemption. They also remind us about the nature and faithfulness of God, while portraying human weakness and character in such a way that we can identify with a number of those we read about. While you may be able to identify with some narratives more than others, be assured that no Bible narrative was written specifically about you! II. Examples of Narrative Interpretation The Joseph Narrative (Genesis 37,39-50) The morale is pretty obvious: Sometimes our “advantages/successes/setbacks” (Genesis 37-39) make little sense in themselves, but do make sense in a larger context as we look back on the “bigger picture”! Overall, it is clear that God was with Joseph even through baffling situations (Genesis 39:2-6,21,23) and the over-all flow of what happened was being providentially guided by God (Genesis 45:5-9). A great lesson limited to the immediate story is that we may encounter things that do not (and will not) make sense to us until we can look back on them (“faith” requires 20/20 hindsight). The Era of the Judges The book of Judges offers us a lesson on “apostasy” (falling away from God). The root cause of Israel’s problems during this era is clearly identified - the loss of covenant relationship and knowledge concerning God on a generational scale (Judges 2:10). Without truth of their own to stand upon, people start copying their religious neighbors (2:11ff). The 2nd principle of thermodynamics applies to human lives and society - the general trend of man on his own is toward disorder. When there is no recognized central authority, then each individual becomes his/her own “god” and increasingly ruthless individualism reigns as everyone does “what is right in their own eyes” - i.e. “they do their own thing” (Judges 17-21). In doing this, the first 16 chapters of the book of Judges introduce us to the situation in Israel after Joshua’s generation passed from the scene (chapters 1:1 - 3:8): cooperation brings success (1:1-26), a number of incomplete tribal conquests (1:27-36), divine rebuke (2:1-10a), the cause and nature of the repeated cycle of apostasy and renewal that went on over a 300 year period 2:10b - 3:8. Then we are told about the individual Judges that God raised up to rescue Israel. Some of them receive very brief mention (even a single verse - 3:31), some are lumped together and briefly treated (10:1-5), but others are given a paragraph or more, up to a couple of chapters. The size of the treatment tells us something about the lessons available in their situation and ministry. A number of interesting issues are presented: lex talionis (1:7), the value of enemies (3:1-4), God can use the ungodly (3:12), God can use the abnormal (3:15), women can play a valuable role in God’s program (4:4-5,21), miracles were not normal even during OT times (6:13), laying out fleeces is not how God’s will is made known (6); God’s victories do not require human power (7), a noble denial of royalty can lead to idolatry and evil (8:22 - 9:57), God can send evil spirits as well as the Holy one (9:23), God does get a bit fed-up with human unfaithfulness, but is merciful (10:6-16), God can use those who had a bad childhood and bad friends in their youth (11:1-3), you can sort people out by how they talk (12:5-6), some of God’s servants blessed with great gifts can still act foolishly and pay the price for it (14-16); ignorant man-made religion can get pretty far-off (17-18), failing to deal with evil on a small scale will require much more costly actions later (19-21). The Ruth Narrative Although the book is rather short, the book of Ruth presents some very important information. God’s larger international plans are emphasized as Ruth (a Moabite) demonstrates good character and willingly chooses to align herself with YHWH. Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz present balance to the negative record in the book of Judges - there were also righteous Israelites around who were trying to live according to the Mosaic Law/covenant in spite of the social evils around them. This story is part of the background to David's ancestry and, ultimately, that of Messiah. Specifically the genealogy in Ruth 4 links the Patriarchal era (Genesis 38) with the royal house of David. Here we encounter the first reference to Bethlehem as an exceptional town during the Judges period because of its faithful citizens. SOME FINAL CAUTIONS Six Common errors of interpretation: (A) Allegorizing - ignoring the clear meaning and assuming the text reflects another meaning beyond itself, (B) Decontextualizing - ignoring the full historical and literary contexts, (C) Selectivity (picking and choosing words/phrases while ignoring the rest), (D) False combinations ("Judas went out and hanged himself" - "Go then and do likewise" "what thou doest, do quickly"), (E) Redefinition (emphasizing the evil of Noah's time from Genesis 6:4-8 into Matthew 24:37-40, where the extreme evil of Noah’s time is not an element that Jesus noted as being similar is declaring to be a similarity between the two events), (F) Extracanonical authority (using outside sources as authoritative guides to interpret scripture - Book of Mormon; Watchtower publications; what Popes or church officials say).
*Note - the material covered in 1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings is chronological, but does not continue in 1-2 Chronicles. Chronicles offers a parallel account of what is presented in Samuel and Kings. Kings follows events in both Israelite kingdoms, while Chronicles focuses on the Judean monarchy (David’s lineage) and offers numerous “spiritual commentaries” on what is going on. 1-2 Chronicles fills in some valuable details - don’t ignore these two books! ------------------------------------------- Charles E. McCoy 02/27/2006
Email Chuck at: chuck@severnchristian.org
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