Interpreting OT Narratives

Romans 11:25-26

25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.

26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.

 

Hebrews 13:7-8

7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

 

 

■ OT Narrative

- Historical Narratives

 

- Historical Books of the OT

Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther

 

- Largest genre of Scripture

Over 40 percent of OT

Gen, Exo, Num, Job, Isa, Jere, Eze, Dan, Jon, and Haggai contain large amounts of narrative material, some almost entirely Gospel and Acts in the NT

 

■ OT stories

- 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(Fee. 90P)

 

- Stories about God - "God's story"

 

■ Parts of Narratives

- Narratives have 3 parts

-- Characters

--- protagonist, antagonist(s), agonist(s)

 

-- Plot

--- Creation, fall, redemption

 

-- Plot resolution

--- salvation history or redemptive history

 

■ Three levels of Narrative

- Third Level(top) / Meta-narrative - creation, fall, redemption

 

- Second Level / Redemption covenant - OT covenants

 

- First Level(Lowest) / Stories of individuals - Abraham, Isaac, jacob, etc

 

- Understanding ow the "hierarchy of narrative" works / John 5:39 - the scriptures "bear witness about me

 

 

■ what's narratives are not!

- OT narratives are not allegories or stories filled with hidden meaning

 

- individual OT narratives are not intended to teach a moral lesson

 

- OT narratives are not direct teachings, but they often illustrate explicit teaching found elsewhere

 

 

■ Interpreting OT Narratives 10 principles (Fee/ Stuart p. 106)

 

- An OT narrative usually does not directly teach a doctrine.

- An OT narrative usually illustrates a doctrine taught propositionally elsewhere.

- Narratives record what happened, not necessarily what should happen; so not every narrative has an individual identifiable moral application

- What Bible characters do in narratives are not necessarily good examples for us.

- Most of the characters in OT narratives are far from perfect.

- Narratives do not always tell us at the end whether an example is good or bad; we must judge for ourselves based on other biblical teaching.

- Narratives are selective with what they tell us and incomplete; only what is important for us to know.

- Narratives are not written to answer all our theological questions and therefore, have a limited and specific purpose.

- Narratives may teach either explicitly or implicitly.

- God is the hero of all biblical narratives.

 

■ Important to think about.....

- What are the shared assumptions between the narrator and the implied readers(people of Israel)?

- What is the narrative teaching the original hearers(the people of Israel) about God?

- What is explicitly stated or clearly implied?

 

■ Example of Gen. 22

v. 15-28

15And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16and said,(I) "By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring(J) as the stars of heaven and(K) as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess(L) the gate of his[d] enemies, 18and(M) in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,(N) because you have obeyed my voice." 19So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to(O) Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba.