Three key questions

Longman

- 3 minutes read - 567 words

Chapter 1 - What are the keys to understanding the OT?

An overview of OT study: attractions and obstacles

The attractions of the OT

1. Gripping stories

[Contrary to Richter] Longman finds Christians increasingly attracted to OT.

'spell-binding plots', 'vivid characters'

Paul says [1 Cor 10:1-11] that these are warnings against behaviour such as Solomon’s who lost a kingdom as a result of his marriages to foreign wives [1 Kings].

Also ideals to emulate [Daniel 3:16-18]

2. Heart-wrenching poems

Address the whole person, not just the intellect.

The non-specific circumstances of the Psalms make them suitable for widespread community worship. Calvin called them 'a mirror to the soul'.

Also laments (e.g. Psalm 130) but always point us back to God except [intriguingly] Psalm 88.

3. Images of God

  • [Gen 15:17] Flaming torch in smoking pot to Abraham

  • [Exod. 33:12-23] Shows His back to Moses

  • Pillars of smoke and fire to the Israelites in the desert

[Theophanies] are mysterious, partial but true images.

4. Guidance for life

Advice that transcends time and culture is attractive. Some even see it as a blueprint for individuals and society.

5. Background for the NT

OT necessary to understanding the NT, for example ref to 'second Adam' [Rom 5:12-21].

Obstacles to understanding

Whilst some parts are riveting, must accept Christian use of OT is often highly selective ignoring great swathes.

Our ambivalence is due to more than sin or stupidity, Longman identifies challenges due to its:

  1. length

  2. antiquity

  3. foreignness

  4. place in the history of God’s redemption.

1. Length and diversity

77% of the Bible.

Hard transitions such as from the exciting story of Exodus to the rituals of Leviticus.

'Most translations of the Bible lack the compelling literary quality of the original languages.'

They have an important place but hinder sustained reading.

2. Antiquity

Not the oldest literature we have 'by centuries' but old nonetheless.

Familiarity can make us forget this distance.

Post-exilic works like Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zachariah and Malachi date to around 400 BCE.

Difficulty dating Moses, though passages like [1 Kings 6:1] help. Generally held to be 15th century BC, though some evidence for 13th.

Conclusion: old

Cultural distance

Culture a difficult term to define but we recognise it. Culture of the Bible feels very alien. Incarnational, a revelation to a particular time and place, not transcultural. Translation is not just Hebrew to English but idiom to idiom. King as shepherd was common image then. Treaty form of Deuteronomy familiar then.

Position in the history of redemption

Can feel alienated from OT given we have the final revelation of Christ.

Principles for successful interpretation

Embrace the difference. Acknowledge it requires interpretation. Hermeneutics: the study of written communication.

Principle 1: Discover the author’s intended meaning

Not my own view but an attempt to get at the author’s view. Post-modern hermeneutics 'New Criticism', dating from the 1940s and 50s argues for no inherent meaning and our freedom to read whatever we like into it. David J. A. Clines suggests an analogy of cloth in the hands of a tailor. He cuts the cloth [text] to suit the client [audience].

Objections to / problems with the principle

  • author frequently unknown: (Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles)

  • later editorial activity

  • even if know the author we have no access to that author or other works by him/her.

  • relationship between human and divine author (if we accept one as [2 Peter 1:20-21] does)