Plot and Setting

Nearly half of the Bible is written in narrative. In order to understand the Bible more fully, it’s important to learn how to read this style of writing. In our How to Read the Bible series, we have four videos that focus specifically on reading biblical narrative. We look at four different aspects of narrative—plot, character, setting, and design patterns. These study notes will help you go deeper into the ideas introduced in three of our videos, Plot in Biblical Narrative, Character in Biblical Narrative, and Setting in Biblical Narrative.

Reading Biblical Narrative

Biblical narratives make up nearly half of the Bible. In their basic form, narratives have characters in a setting going through a series of events, and their primary goal is to communicate a theological message through the medium of story.

When we read biblical narratives we are not watching security camera footage of these ancient events. We’re reading an artistic, literary representation of the story of Israel. The goal isn’t just to tell us about something that happened, but also to help us discern the meaning of these events.

Let’s explore what we mean by artistic, literary representation using an example from art history. Take a look at this illustration of a pipe painted by Rene Magritte in 1929. It’s called “The Treachery of Images” and it includes the words “This is not a pipe.”

In an interview about his painting, Magritte said, “The famous pipe. How people reproached me for it! And yet, could you stuff my pipe? No, it's just a representation, is it not? So if I had written on my picture 'This is a pipe', I'd have been lying!” (Harry Torcyzner, Magritte: The True Art of Painting, 85).

Magritte was reacting against a renewal of “naive realism” in the art world, the idea that paintings ought to represent reality as it really is. Just like Magritte’s painting is not literally a pipe, so biblical narratives aren’t literally the events they represent.

A photograph of a tree is a good example of the distinction between a text and the event depicted in it. A photograph is a representation of a tree, yet it does not have bark and leaves, nor is the sky behind the tree a real sky. To say that a photograph only represents the tree but is not actually the tree does not mean the tree never existed or that the photograph is inaccurate because it only shows one side of the tree. The same can be said of the biblical narrative texts. To say they represent events but are not the events themselves is simply to recognize a very obvious fact about biblical narratives: They are texts, which means we stand not before events, but representations of events through words. John Sailhamer, Introduction to Old Testament Theology, 47.

Rene Magritte used artistic tools and techniques like different sized brushes, various paint colors, shading, and proportions to render a representation of a pipe in his painting. Biblical authors also used basic tools to communicate the meaning of narrative events. The authors rendered narrative texts using the tools of plot, character, and setting.

Plot is the arrangement of characters and events within a narrative to communicate a message.

A basic plot starts with a character in a setting. Something new or unexpected happens, causing problems that lead to a conflict, which is then resolved, and the character is changed as a result. The plot is how those events are chosen and arranged by the author. (denouement: the final part of a play, movie, or narrative in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are explained or resolved.)

[Plot video]

Narrative meaning is another element of plot. Essentially, the same events can take on different meanings depending on how you arrange the plot and whose point of view the story is told from. It’s also important to understand every event or scene in the context of its larger plotline. The same story can have a totally different message if we ignore the context.

A product of the enlightenment is the importance of reading things in their context.

When we think of reading a passage in context, what does that mean?

Let’s go back to Gideon’s fleece story: Judges 6:36-40.

If we read just this story, are we reading the context appropriately? Do we have all the elements of the plot?

Take the story of Gideon laying out the fleece to discern God’s will. “If you will deliver Israel by my hand, look I will lay out a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that you will save Israel through me, as you have spoken” (Judg. 6:36-37).

By itself, the plot of this scene (Gideon needs to discern God’s will > he asks God for a sign > God provides the sign) could mean he’s being promoted as an example for us to follow. But in the larger context of Judges 6-8, this scene highlights Gideon’s distrust of God even though God has already provided a sign through the appearance of an angel and fire on the altar. This story is about Gideon “testing God” (Judg. 6:39), which is never a good idea.Let’s look at the larger context, moving backward.

If we start in Judges 6 and read the whole chapter we have what we might think is enough context to make some actual sense of what is happening in vs.36-40. So let’s do that.

Judges 6 CSB

The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord handed them over to Midian seven years, and they oppressed Israel. Because of Midian, the Israelites made hiding places for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people of the east came and attacked them. They encamped against them and destroyed the produce of the land, even as far as Gaza. They left nothing for Israel to eat, as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey. For the Midianites came with their cattle and their tents like a great swarm of locusts. They and their camels were without number, and they entered the land to lay waste to it. So Israel became poverty-stricken because of Midian, and the Israelites cried out to the Lord. When the Israelites cried out to him because of Midian, the Lord sent a prophet to them. He said to them, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I brought you out of Egypt and out of the place of slavery. I rescued you from the power of Egypt and the power of all who oppressed you. I drove them out before you and gave you their land. I said to you: I am the Lord your God. Do not fear the gods of the Amorites whose land you live in. But you did not obey me.’ ” The angel of the Lord came, and he sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash, the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites. Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “The Lord is with you, valiant warrior.” Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened? And where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about? They said, ‘Hasn’t the Lord brought us out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.” The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the grasp of Midian. I am sending you!” He said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Look, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s family.” “But I will be with you,” the Lord said to him. “You will strike Midian down as if it were one man.” Then he said to him, “If I have found favor with you, give me a sign that you are speaking with me. Please do not leave this place until I return to you. Let me bring my gift and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay until you return.” So Gideon went and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from a half bushel of flour. He placed the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought them out and offered them to him under the oak. The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat with the unleavened bread, put it on this stone, and pour the broth on it.” So he did that. The angel of the Lord extended the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire came up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. When Gideon realized that he was the angel of the Lord, he said, “Oh no, Lord God! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!” But the Lord said to him, “Peace to you. Don’t be afraid, for you will not die.” So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. It is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites today. On that very night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old. Then tear down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. Build a well-constructed altar to the Lord your God on the top of this mound. Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down.” So Gideon took ten of his male servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his father’s family and the men of the city to do it in the daytime, he did it at night. When the men of the city got up in the morning, they found Baal’s altar torn down, the Asherah pole beside it cut down, and the second bull offered up on the altar that had been built. They said to each other, “Who did this?” After they made a thorough investigation, they said, “Gideon son of Joash did it.” Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he tore down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.” But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Would you plead Baal’s case for him? Would you save him? Whoever pleads his case will be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead his own case because someone tore down his altar.” That day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, since Joash said, “Let Baal contend with him,” because he tore down his altar. All the Midianites, Amalekites, and people of the east gathered together, crossed over the Jordan, and camped in the Jezreel Valley. The Spirit of the Lord enveloped Gideon, and he blew the ram’s horn and the Abiezrites rallied behind him. He sent messengers throughout all of Manasseh, who rallied behind him. He also sent messengers throughout Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, who also came to meet him. Then Gideon said to God, “If you will deliver Israel by me, as you said, I will put a wool fleece here on the threshing floor. If dew is only on the fleece, and all the ground is dry, I will know that you will deliver Israel by me, as you said.” And that is what happened. When he got up early in the morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung dew out of it, filling a bowl with water. Gideon then said to God, “Don’t be angry with me; let me speak one more time. Please allow me to make one more test with the fleece. Let it remain dry, and the dew be all over the ground.” That night God did as Gideon requested: only the fleece was dry, and dew was all over the ground.

The video talks about embedded context. The story of the fleece is embedded within the larger Gideon story, which is embedded within the narrative plot of the book of Judges, which is embedded within the plot of the life of Israel in the land, which is embedded in the plot of the grand narrative of the Scriptures. At each of these levels of narrative we can look to find meaning of the passage. Let’s work through that really briefly.

What is the plot of the book of Judges? How does the story of Gideon’s fleece fit within that plot? How is the meaning of the story shaped by that larger context?

What is the plot of the people in the land (from Joshua through exile)? How does the story of Gideon’s fleece fit within this plot? How is meaning shaped by this context?

What is the plot of the grand narrative of Scripture? How does the story of Gideon’s fleece fit into this plot? How is the meaning shaped in this context?

Does our view of context of the plot help us see the story of Gideon differently?

Plot structures can also be grouped by comedy and tragedy. Elements of these two genres come from ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle’s text Poetics, the earliest known work about dramatic and literary theory.

Comedies are ascent stories. The protagonist needs to climb and overcome challenges successfully in order to be transformed. Comedies prompt us to think about what’s valuable in the world, what’s worth the struggle, and what kind of people win. We want to be like the protagonist in a comedy. The biblical narrative of Joseph (Gen. 37-50) is a good example of a comedy structure. Joseph is abused by his brothers and sold into slavery. But because of his integrity, he rises from slavery to a place of influence in Egypt where he can later save his undeserving brothers.

Tragedies are descent stories. The protagonist is set up well, but due to character flaws or bad choices the protagonist self-destructs. We want to avoid being the protagonist in a tragedy. Tragedies make us think about what will ruin us, what’s worth the effort to avoid, and what kind of people lose. The story of Saul falls into this genre (1 Sam. 8-31). Saul is tall, handsome, and a go-getter, but he’s also prideful and thinks he knows better than everyone else. He is unable to recognize his own mistakes and he can’t take criticism. Eventually, his life falls apart.

Can we come up with other Comedies and Tragedies?

Comedies: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Joshua, Daniel, David?, Solomon?, Esther, Ruth, Jesus (11 disciples), Paul

Tragedies: Adam, Cain, Noah, Moses?, Gideon, Judas Iscariot

Setting

The action of every story takes place somewhere, and that place is called the setting. Biblical authors use the setting as a tool in biblical narratives to evoke memories and emotions and to generate expectations about what could happen in the story. Physical places and locations serve as settings, but time also serves as a type of setting.

[Play Setting Video]

Trace Bethlehem:

Genesis 35:16–20 CSB

They set out from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and her labor was difficult. During her difficult labor, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you have another son.” With her last breath—for she was dying—she named him Ben-oni, but his father called him Benjamin. So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). Jacob set up a marker on her grave; it is the marker at Rachel’s grave still today.

Judges 19 CSB

In those days, when there was no king in Israel, a Levite staying in a remote part of the hill country of Ephraim acquired a woman from Bethlehem in Judah as his concubine. But she was unfaithful to him and left him for her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah. She was there for four months. Then her husband got up and followed her to speak kindly to her and bring her back. He had his servant with him and a pair of donkeys. So she brought him to her father’s house, and when the girl’s father saw him, he gladly welcomed him. His father-in-law, the girl’s father, detained him, and he stayed with him for three days. They ate, drank, and spent the nights there. On the fourth day, they got up early in the morning and prepared to go, but the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “Have something to eat to keep up your strength and then you can go.” So they sat down and the two of them ate and drank together. Then the girl’s father said to the man, “Please agree to stay overnight and enjoy yourself.” The man got up to go, but his father-in-law persuaded him, so he stayed and spent the night there again. He got up early in the morning of the fifth day to leave, but the girl’s father said to him, “Please keep up your strength.” So they waited until late afternoon and the two of them ate. The man got up to go with his concubine and his servant, when his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Look, night is coming. Please spend the night. See, the day is almost over. Spend the night here, enjoy yourself, then you can get up early tomorrow for your journey and go home.” But the man was unwilling to spend the night. He got up, departed, and arrived opposite Jebus (that is, Jerusalem). The man had his two saddled donkeys and his concubine with him. When they were near Jebus and the day was almost gone, the servant said to his master, “Please, why not let us stop at this Jebusite city and spend the night here?” But his master replied to him, “We will not stop at a foreign city where there are no Israelites. Let’s move on to Gibeah.” “Come on,” he said, “let’s try to reach one of these places and spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah.” So they continued on their journey, and the sun set as they neared Gibeah in Benjamin. They stopped to go in and spend the night in Gibeah. The Levite went in and sat down in the city square, but no one took them into their home to spend the night. In the evening, an old man came in from his work in the field. He was from the hill country of Ephraim, but he was residing in Gibeah where the people were Benjaminites. When he looked up and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, “Where are you going, and where do you come from?” He answered him, “We’re traveling from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote hill country of Ephraim, where I am from. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and now I’m going to the house of the Lord. No one has taken me into his home, although there’s straw and feed for the donkeys, and I have bread and wine for me, my concubine, and the servant with us. There is nothing we lack.” “Welcome!” said the old man. “I’ll take care of everything you need. Only don’t spend the night in the square.” So he brought him to his house and fed the donkeys. Then they washed their feet and ate and drank. While they were enjoying themselves, all of a sudden, wicked men of the city surrounded the house and beat on the door. They said to the old man who was the owner of the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him!” The owner of the house went out and said to them, “Please don’t do this evil, my brothers. After all, this man has come into my house. Don’t commit this horrible outrage. Here, let me bring out my virgin daughter and the man’s concubine now. Abuse them and do whatever you want to them. But don’t commit this outrageous thing against this man.” But the men would not listen to him, so the man seized his concubine and took her outside to them. They raped her and abused her all night until morning. At daybreak they let her go. Early that morning, the woman made her way back, and as it was getting light, she collapsed at the doorway of the man’s house where her master was. When her master got up in the morning, opened the doors of the house, and went out to leave on his journey, there was the woman, his concubine, collapsed near the doorway of the house with her hands on the threshold. “Get up,” he told her. “Let’s go.” But there was no response. So the man put her on his donkey and set out for home. When he entered his house, he picked up a knife, took hold of his concubine, cut her into twelve pieces, limb by limb, and then sent her throughout the territory of Israel. Everyone who saw it said, “Nothing like this has ever happened or has been seen since the day the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt until now. Think it over, discuss it, and speak up!”

Ruth 1:1–5 CSB

During the time of the judges, there was a famine in the land. A man left Bethlehem in Judah with his wife and two sons to stay in the territory of Moab for a while. The man’s name was Elimelech, and his wife’s name was Naomi. The names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They entered the fields of Moab and settled there. Naomi’s husband, Elimelech, died, and she was left with her two sons. Her sons took Moabite women as their wives: one was named Orpah and the second was named Ruth. After they lived in Moab about ten years, both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was left without her two children and without her husband.

So far, what has been a theme when Bethlehem has been mentioned?

Death

Ruth 1:22 “So Naomi came back from the territory of Moab with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabitess. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.”

What should we expect to happen in Bethlehem now that Ruth and Naomi have returned?

Ruth 4:11–22 CSB

All the people who were at the city gate, including the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is entering your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built the house of Israel. May you be powerful in Ephrathah and your name well known in Bethlehem. May your house become like the house of Perez, the son Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring the Lord will give you by this young woman.” Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. He slept with her, and the Lord granted conception to her, and she gave birth to a son. The women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you without a family redeemer today. May his name become well known in Israel. He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. Indeed, your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” Naomi took the child, placed him on her lap, and became a mother to him. The neighbor women said, “A son has been born to Naomi,” and they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. Now these are the family records of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab, Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.

There’s more to the story of Bethlehem, but we can see how the authors can set up expectations and then either affirm them or reverse them in surprising ways.