Reading Old Testament Stories

*****Adapted from Pastor Jason’s class on Reading and understanding the Bible.

Three “Levels” of Old Testament Stories

Top Level: The universal plan of God, the “big story” of creation, fall, redemption and restoration.

Middle Level: God’s working through a particular people, Israel, in keeping faithful love to them and through them bringing his Savior into the world.

Bottom Level: The hundreds of individual stories can make up the top two levels

Note carefully: Every individual (bottom level) story is a part of the greater story of God’s working through Israel (middle level), which is itself a part of the grand narrative of redemption (top level).

Tips for Reading Old Testament Stories

•God is the main character. This means that for every story you read, ask yourself, “What does this story tell me about God, his purposes, and his ways?”

•The Old Testament stories parallel our lives. We can identify with the struggles and failures, the emotions and tension. As we see these characters fail, we can also understand how, in Christ, we can avoid such failure (Gal 3:29; 1 Cor. 10:1-6).

•Notice the details; they are there for a reason. Example: Gen. 37:15

•All of the stories of the Old Testament reinforce the covenant relationship between God and his people. Example: Judges 1:4-7, Deut. 7:2

Principles for Interpreting Old Testament Stories

1. Stories do not usually directly teach a doctrine; they usually illustrate a doctrine taught propositionally elsewhere.

  1. Narratives record what happen, not what should or ought to have happened; Therefore, not every narrative has an identifiable “moral of the story.”
  2. What people do in stories is not necessarily a good example for us; sometimes it is the opposite.
  3. Characters in the Old Testament stories are far from perfect.
  4. We aren’t always told, at the end of a narrative, whether what happened is good or bad. God expects us to judge that on the basis of what God has taught directly elsewhere in Scripture.
  5. All narratives are selective and incomplete; what does appear is everything that the inspired author wanted us to know.
  6. Narratives are not written to answer all of our theological questions; they deal with certain issues, and leave others to be dealt with elsewhere.
  7. Narratives may teach explicitly or implicitly. Implicit does not mean secret, or allegorical; it means the message can be understood as told, though it is not stated in so many words. Example: 2 Samuel 11
  8. Narratives need to be interpreted as a whole, not as if every episode has a meaning all its own. There is usually one main point. Example: 2 Samuel 11