Transcript 1 – The Interpretive Journey

Unit 5
Interpretive Journey
Old Testament
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
Narrative
Law
Poetry
Prophets
Wisdom
OT – Law
• Introduction
– Large portion of the Pentateuch (first five books of
OT) is comprised of law (over 600 commandments)
– Some of them are very strange:
• Exodus 34:26: “Do not cook a young goat in its mother's
milk.”
• Leviticus 19:19: “Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds
of material.”
– Why do we adhere to some laws and ignore others?
• Traditional approach to interpreting OT law
– Moral – deal with timeless truths regarding God’s
intention for human behavior (“Love your
neighbor as yourself”)
– Civil – deal with courts, economics, land, crimes,
and punishment (“At the end of every seven years
you must cancel debts.”)
– Ceremonial – deal with sacrifices, festivals, and
priestly activities (“celebrate the Feast of
Tabernacles for seven days after you have
gathered the produce of your threshing floor and
your winepress.”)
– Distinction between moral, civil, and ceremonial
law allowed the believer to know whether the law
applied to them:
• Moral – universal and timeless (still apply as law to
believers today)
• Civil and Ceremonial – applied only to ancient Israel,
not to believers today
– Problems with traditional approach:
• Arbitrary distinction not in the Bible (Lev. 19:18-19)
• Difficult to classify many laws (Lev. 19:19?)
• Too ambiguous and inconsistent
– We need a more consistent approach OT law
• Narrative context
– OT law does not appear by itself, but is firmly embedded
in the story of Israel’s exodus, wilderness wandering, and
conquest.
Exodus 1-19
(narrative)
Israel’s bondage in
Egypt, God’s mighty
deliverance, and
their journey to the
Promised land
Exodus 20-24
(law)
Part of the story of
God’s encounter with
Moses and Israel at
Mount Sinai
– The law is part of Israel’s story and the story provides an
important context for interpreting law.
– Don’t separate OT law from its narrative context!
• Covenant context
– OT law is tightly intertwined with the Mosaic
covenant. What is the nature of that covenant?
• Mosaic covenant is closely associated with Israel’s
conquest and occupation of the land
• Blessings from the Mosaic covenant are conditional
• Mosaic covenant no longer a functional covenant for
NT believers
Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant (Heb. 8:13)
• NT believers are no longer under OT law as part of the
Mosaic covenant
“Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the
supervision of the law.”
– Galatians 3:25
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or
the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to
fulfill them.”
– Matthew 5:17
• We must interpret OT law through the grid of NT
teaching. Jesus is the final interpreter of OT law.
• The OT law no longer applies as direct law for us.
However, the OT legal material still contains rich
principles and lessons for living that are relevant when
interpreted through NT teaching.
• Making the Journey in OT law
“Or if a person touches anything ceremonially unclean—
whether the carcasses of unclean wild animals or of unclean
livestock or of unclean creatures that move along the
ground—even though he is unaware of it, he has become
unclean and is guilty.”
–Leviticus 5:2
– Step 1 – Grasp the text in their town
• Leviticus deals with how the Israelites are live
with an awesome, holy God in their midst.
• Larger unit of 4:1-5:13 deals with purification
offerings for those who become ritually unclean
• 5:2 details what makes a person unclean
• 5:5-6 tells the people what to do to become
clean again
Step 2 – Measure the width of the river
• We are not under the old covenant and our sin is
now covered by the death of Christ.
• We also have direct access to the Father
through Christ and no longer need human priests
as mediators.
Step 3 – Cross the principlizing bridge
• God is holy!
• God’s holiness demands that his people keep
separate from sin and unclean things.
• If God’s people become unclean, they must be
purified by a blood sacrifice.
Step 4 – Cross into the New Testament
• God no longer resides in a tabernacle, but within
each of us through the indwelling Holy Spirit.
• His presence, however, still demands our holiness.
• NT redefines “clean” and “unclean” (Mark 7)
• Under the new covenant, sin is washed away by the
death of Christ, the Lamb of God.
• Confession of sin, however, is still important
(1 John 1:9)
Summary: Stay away from sinful actions and
impure thoughts because the holy God lives
within you. If you do commit unclean acts or
think unclean thoughts, then the death of
Christ allows you to confess your sins and
receive forgiveness.
Step 5 – Grasp the text in our town
• There will be numerous applications of this text.
• One application relates to the issue of Internet
pornography.
• God’s holiness demands that we lead clean lives.
• Viewing pornography clearly violates God’s
holiness and hinders our worship and fellowship
with God.
• Stay away from Internet pornography!
• If you do fall into this sin, confess your sin and
because of the death of Christ, you can be
forgiven and your fellowship with God restored.
• Conclusion
– Traditional approach to law (moral, civil,
ceremonial) is inadequate.
– Journey approach to interpreting law:
• Narrative context
• Covenant context
– Interpret all OT legal texts with the same method
OT – Prophets
• Nature of OT prophetic literature
OT Prophets
Major
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Ezekiel
Daniel
Longer
books
Minor
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
Shorter
books
– Little in our culture that resembles the OT prophetic
literature (Bob Dylan?)
– Only a small amount of OT prophecy deals with
events still future to us
“Less than 2 percent of Old Testament prophecy is
messianic. Less than 5 percent specifically describes
the New Covenant age. Less than 1 percent concerns
events yet to come.”
– Fee and Stuart
– Prophets proclaim more than they predict
– Prophets make extensive use of the figurative
language of poetry
– Prophetic books are primarily anthologies–
collections of shorter units, usually oral messages
proclaimed publicly to the people of Israel or Judah.
•
•
•
•
Not usually arranged chronologically
Therefore, almost impossible to outline
Look for a few major themes repeated over and over
Yet the prophet’s message comes through loud and clear
– Historical-cultural and theological context
• Basic prophetic message
– Prophets function as God’s prosecuting attorneys,
warning the people of the consequences of covenant
violation.
– Prophetic message has three basic points:
1. You have broken the covenant; you had better
repent!
• Idolatry—syncretism, faithful husband/unfaithful wife
• Social justice—widows, orphans, foreigners
• Religious ritualism—ritual substitutes for relationship
2. No repentance? Then judgment!
• Plea for repentance, but proclaim severe consequences of
rebellion
• Horrific invasions
• Loss of Promised land
3. Yet, there is hope beyond the judgment for a
glorious future restoration.
• New exodus (Isaiah), new covenant (Jeremiah), new
presence of the Spirit (Ezekiel and Joel)
• Messianic promises and future predictions
• Interpretation and application of basic message
1. You have broken the covenant; you had better
repent!
• Must pass through filter of NT teaching
• No longer under covenant of law, so different for
believers and unbelievers
• Focus on relational aspects of our sin (marriage analogy)
• Sinning against God causes him to hurt emotionally
• Idolatry – job, success, money, TV, clothes, grades …
• Social justice – poor, elderly, minorities, children …
• Religious ritualism – rituals function as means or ends?
2. No repentance? Then judgment!
• Sin is an offense against God and demands judgment
• NT g judgment of death for Christian’s sin transferred
to Christ
• If Christians fail to repent, their relationship with God
will be damaged
3. Yet, there is hope beyond the judgment for a
glorious future restoration.
• Ultimate fulfillment of promises in Christ
• God is in the business of forgiving and restoring people
• Predictive passages
– Small portion of prophet’s message to events that
are still future for us
Near View
or
Far View?
– Predictions could refer to:
• Return of Jewish exiles to Israel (past for us)
• First coming of Jesus Christ (past for us)
• Second coming of Jesus Christ (still future for us)
– Difficult to determine whether the prophets are
describing events that will occur within their lifetime
(near view) or events that will occur much later (far
view).
– We should be cautious about being overly dogmatic
when interpreting details of predictive prophecy.
– It is possible that the prophets have intentionally
blurred together these future events so that their
readers will focus on the broader theological
principles.
OT – Wisdom
• Introduction
– You have persevered the end of this book!
“Of making may books there is no end, and much study
wearies the body.”
–Ecclesiastes 12:12b
• Purpose of the wisdom books
– Law, narrative, and prophets stress “Believe!” and
“Obey!” while wisdom stresses “Think!”
– Call us to listen, look, think, and reflect
– Offer practical insights for living
– Goal is to develop wise and godly character for life
in the real world
• The big picture
– Four wisdom books balance each other
theologically. Read each one in context of all four.
Proverbs
Rational norms of life (what normally happens). Does
not present universals (what will always happen).
Song of Songs
Irrationality of
romantic love
between husband
and wife.
Ecclesiastes
Failure of the
rational, ordered
approach to
provide ultimate
meaning to life.
Meaning only
comes through a
relationship with
God.
Job
Righteous
and wise
suffer in
ways that
mere
humans
cannot
understan
d.
• Wisdom as poetry
– A large portion of wisdom literature is poetry.
– Wisdom books use parallelism as their standard
structural feature.
– The more emotional the tone, the more the book will
use figurative language:
Less Emotionally Charged,
Less Picture Language
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
More Emotionally Charged,
More Picture Language
Job
Song of Songs
• Grasping the wisdom books
– Proverbs
• Proverbs – short, pithy sayings that teach practical
wisdom about life
• Individual proverbs reflect general nuggets of wisdom
about what normally happens in life (e.g., “Don’t be
lazy! Work hard!”).
• Proverbs are never to be taken as universal promises.
• The book of Proverbs does not deal with the exceptions
to the normal rules.
• Since each proverb presents a general principle, the river
of differences is usually quite narrow and shallow.
• But be careful how you define “blessing.”
– Job
• Job does all that Proverbs commands, but he receives
dead children, financial ruin, physical pain, and criticism
from his friends.
• Job is a story (in contrast to Proverbs) and we must take
the literary context of narrative seriously:
–1-2
–2-37
–38-42
–42
Job is afflicted
Job searches unsuccessfully for a rational answer
God answers Job’s accusations
Job’s friends are rebuked and Job is restored
• The differences between the ancient audience and us are
not great.
• Lessons from Job:
–God is sovereign and we are not
–God knows all and we know precious little
–God is always just, but does not always disclose his reasons
–God expects us to trust his character
• NT presents suffering as a normal feature of a godly life.
• Don’t repeat the mistake of Job’s friends and misuse
biblical truth.
• Book of Job teaches us that it is not wrong to cry out to
God in anger and frustration when unexplained tragedy
strikes.
• Our focus in grief should not be on “why” but rather on
God and his character.
• Comforting friends is different from having all the
answers.
– Ecclesiastes
• Ecclesiastes (like Job) must be interpreted as a whole
with the ultimate answer coming at the very end.
• The book is full of satire, sarcasm, and cynicism.
• The “Teacher” or “Preacher” declares that a strictly
rational search for meaning is “meaningless.”
• At the end of the book, the Teacher comes to his
conclusion: “Fear God and keep his commandments.”
• Apart from God, not even wisdom can give life meaning.
• River normally shallow in Ecclesiastes except for a
limited concept of death and the afterlife.
• The NT adds that apart from a relationship with Jesus
Christ, life is meaningless.
• Apart from a relationship with Christ, not even a college
degree can make life meaningful!
– Song of Songs
• Shocking book because it speaks openly and joyfully
about human sexuality (read 7:7-8).
• The book is organized into three sequential units:
–1-3 Courtship
–3-5 Wedding
–5-8 Life of Love
• Highly emotional and full of picture language as the man
and woman describe their love for each other
• Scholars today reject the allegorical interpretation
• A model of the joy and irrationality of a married couple
madly in love
• Wise and godly people should express their marital love
in strong, emotional (mushy?) terms.
• We suggest a little updating of the figurative language
(hair like a flock of goats?)