Episode 4 - Reading Narratives in the Old Testament

nknown Speaker  0:02  
Welcome to Modern Mind Mind Mind ancient book,

Unknown Speaker  0:08  
where we

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explore one of the most important books in human history. Welcome to another modern mind, ancient book, we decided to put the surveys, actually to the next episode, because we wanted to touch base on the topic of narratives or stories in the Bible and how we're supposed to approach them as an aid to help you, and ourselves, get a better grasp on the stories or narratives ahead of us, but how much of the Old Testament is considered a narrative

Unknown Speaker  0:56  
about 40% of the Old Testament is narrative. That's a significant percentage so it's important we treat the text, as it is best taken. We should seek to find the most straightforward meaning based on the direction given by the author. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  1:12  
we don't want to add meaning to the text. We don't want to miss something on the text, the stories of the Bible are about what the author meant to teach the original here. The Bible is a book about God's interaction with men,

Unknown Speaker  1:35  
even as early as Genesis we see God initiating things. And God says it was gonna do, and even enters into a covenant simplistic way of thinking of a covenant is that it's an agreement of sorts, that kind of like Easter eggs hidden in the text like you often find in movies and video games. Once you learn to recognize it, it's important. They make the Bible stories that much more richer and interesting.

Unknown Speaker  1:59  
Yeah, one of the things, though we want to resist doing is spiritualizing everything, or some people find fault in everything. We don't want to assume a greater understanding is to be had by adding numbers or signs together pulling the fifth letter of every paragraph to like discern the future or something silly stuff like that. And we also don't want to be offended by everything that we find offensive in the story, simply because the Old Testament, can be hard to understand, or because somebody wants to have some greater revelation that they want to teach others or something along those lines.

Unknown Speaker  2:45  
We need to be careful to recognize that the narrative is present, mixed with poetry songs of triumph and other literary devices stories or units in themselves were also connected to other stories, agreed.

Unknown Speaker  3:00  
One of the more challenging issues, modern readers find with the Bible, is that the Old Testament, particularly often tells the story to make the point, instead of making a concise scientific point, like a finite statement.

Unknown Speaker  3:21  
Yes, Roger. That's why the Bible is not a science text, you wouldn't go to a great novelists class and say I don't see the formula on how the author arrived at a particular point. Now the author may even have a science background. And that's interesting. But that's really going to get us off the main track quickly what you've read you may need to read something a few times, simply to get yourself to understand what the text is actually saying, and you're missing the focus thinking about things from our modern mind perspective.

Unknown Speaker  3:53  
Another point to make is that many people tend to cherry pick verses. They try to make a point, using just a small snippet. When we do that, we remove the meaning of the whole story and make a smaller statement in that story, the main focus, and then we can lose the real point of those few verses that were pulled out of context. Yes, I guess a simple way of saying this is that it's good not to miss the forest for the trees, that's a good way to stand. No, sometimes the main purpose of the entire book is summarized in a few verses. So this rule is a little bit softer than we might imagine. It can take a little skill to get this one down, so that we don't make any mistakes. That's been a 12 year journey for me. I went to Bible college because I knew I was missing something. When I was reading the text. The book really is an interesting text that PhDs study for their entire lives, and only become an expert on one narrow subject matter.

Unknown Speaker  5:11  
Roger, you know I'm not I'm not a PhD studying for decades, but I do enjoy challenging, excuse me, the challenge of ferreting out the meaning of these books. I've learned to look for the main points of the narratives is a starting point, and it really does lead us into a deeper understanding. I know it's like, seeking something lost.

Unknown Speaker  5:37  
You can read half the book before the points made, and that point makes sense of what you read before. The point was stated. It's like finding money you had to buy something you needed that you forgot your head and you still need the thing you forgot you hit the money for.

Unknown Speaker  5:57  
One good example is this book of Leviticus and the theme of blessing and curses, the actual statement is found in Chapter 26.

Unknown Speaker  6:06  
Another point to consider is that the Old Testament, in particular, has running storylines that can often offend people. The description of the people, or actions don't seem to teach, what's right or good. And then in other locations, there's a command that says not to do what's happening. Bible scholars talk about this as the descriptive prescriptive storyline in the Bible, descriptive, meaning, often the good thing is commanded, and then men do the wrong thing. In prescriptive, meaning that the good is commanded. It's just not following the bible doesn't shy away from showing men as doing the wrong thing.

Unknown Speaker  6:59  
It's important to religious or not to let the good the bad and the ugly. The story remain as is. We shouldn't add to it, nor should we take away from it to get our desired outcome. We should treat the Bible with respect, enough to be able to take a step back from our emotions. And what we wish to add in the text. And the way we feel and let the plain meaning staff agree.

Unknown Speaker  7:22  
That's why we're doing this project is to try to foster in the minds of the people who join us, or respect for the book and the storyline, as it's explained

Unknown Speaker  7:40  
to the religious, the Bible is a moral authority and sometimes there are challenging things in the Bible, because it's difficult difficulty. But if you're faithful you're going to judge these actions based on the whole, and not any particular part, and you find the deeper meaning. You know if you're against the Bible and you're anti Christian or anti Jewish, you may be tempted to use one verse that you don't like as a justification for your dislike of the Bible and those who follow.

Unknown Speaker  8:16  
Yeah, sometimes the Old Testament records a person doing something you know was wrong, but maybe later gets used for good or maybe later it's actually found out to be wrong. Sometimes the text doesn't tell you if it was good or bad. It's important, while you're learning these narratives to learn the patience to read it, understand where the text took you and move on until you find the meaning. You'd be surprised how often misunderstandings. Become the seed that leads to a richer understanding of the main purposes, and points of that section.

Unknown Speaker  9:00  
These are more difficult areas are often the ones you remember best right Roger.

Unknown Speaker  9:06  
Yes, agreed the narratives of the Bible are content that the author chose compiled in then wrote for an intended audience. We can expect the text to be complete. It doesn't tell the story of every man and woman in China, nor overreaction or reaction that takes place. It doesn't often explain what the audience would understand in their cultural context, because it's taken for granted, it was written to those people. You do have to kind of dig those meanings, out of India to dig that significant out of it. However, the Bible is mainly the story of God working in the lives of the people who compiled this information.

Unknown Speaker  10:10  
Yes, Roger exactly, you know one author said that God is the hero. The hero of the story of the Bible. God is the creator of the story. God is in the middle of the story. God is the end of the story. You know, it's a story that has significance to everyone. And God is a significant part of the narrative.

Unknown Speaker  10:37  
Agree. It's a religious story. It has significance to all of mankind, even if it's only treasured as a book by men. That reflects humanity. We have to allow these stories to be what they are, they're they're part of what it is to be human. Humans are religious. That's what this book is about. The final point I'd like to put forth about reading Old Testament narratives, is that the arose in an ancient culture that had common beliefs, and even religious convictions. Every surrounding nation and when I say surrounding nation I mean the nations around what is today modern Israel, to the east to the west to the like island nations in as far south as Egypt, they all had their own god or gods that created that conquered that get the world. Their god or gods gave their nation, an advantage or an edge over the other nations, their god or gods gave them blessings, they gave them have the ability to curse they gave them the ability to have victories, religions, at this point in history. More in competition with one another. That's important point to keep in mind when you're reading the 66 books of the Bible, particularly those found in the Old Testament narratives.

Unknown Speaker  12:23  
I mean standing that point or the points you just made will add a great deal of significance to reading the text and allowing the stories to have a wider meaning, the nation of Israel didn't exist in a vacuum. There's a great deal of interaction by the nation Israel with the other nations, with all these different nations interacting with Israel, knowing something about the culture and beliefs of those nations. Help us understand the narrative better.

Unknown Speaker  12:50  
Yep. The city of augur it revealed ancient clay tablets. One of the tablets that they found the archaeologists while they were digging, had a spell on the spell said that they should boil a goat in its mother's milk. The Canaanites, actually had a ritual that boiled a goat, and its mother's milk as a reflection of their worship to their gods, that's how they would find favor. We didn't know why that was in the Old Testament, until 1929, when the seventh century BC city have over it was on earth. We're on a journey as men. And we're finding the Old Testament is indeed rich with great narratives and historicity that we can learn a lot from doubt. We're gonna draw this one to a close to the listeners, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate you please share this podcast. If you feel so let loose certainly appreciate it. We'd like to get this into more people's collection and into their listening cycle. So we just want to thank you for taking the time to be with us. Don't say goodbye. Goodbye. Have a nice day. We will see you soon. Bye, join us. Come back. Thank you for joining us for modern mind, ancient book. We hope that the time spent with us was valuable for you. It certainly was for us. Like Isabella said, please.