NARRATIVE BIBLE STUDY WORKBOOK

Part of a series of genre studies

Introduction and prologue

GENERAL bible overview

Genres in scripture: list them

Basic Bible Interpretation: A Practical Guide to Discovering Biblical Truth Literary Genre in the Bible

Literary Genre in the Bible

What Is Literary Genre?

Genre, a French word from the Latin genus, means a literary type. “Literary genre” refers to the category or the kind of writing characterized by a particular form(s) and/or content. Distinguishing the various genres (kinds of literature) in Scripture helps us interpret the Bible more accurately. “We do this with all kinds of literature. We distinguish between lyric poetry and legal briefs, between newspaper accounts of current events and epic poems. We distinguish between the style of historical narratives and sermons.” Marshall makes some interesting observations along this line:

If I were to write an account of what I did on Christmas day, the style in which I would do so would vary depending on whether I was writing a letter to my aunt, or producing a report for a newspaper, or writing a Christmas story for children based on my experiences, or composing a poem about it, or even writing a song about it. These are different styles for these different occasions.

Basic Bible Interpretation: A Practical Guide to Discovering Biblical Truth Literary Genre in the Bible

Literary Genre in the Bible

What Is Literary Genre?

Genre, a French word from the Latin genus, means a literary type. “Literary genre” refers to the category or the kind of writing characterized by a particular form(s) and/or content. Distinguishing the various genres (kinds of literature) in Scripture helps us interpret the Bible more accurately. “We do this with all kinds of literature. We distinguish between lyric poetry and legal briefs, between newspaper accounts of current events and epic poems. We distinguish between the style of historical narratives and sermons.” Marshall makes some interesting observations along this line:

If I were to write an account of what I did on Christmas day, the style in which I would do so would vary depending on whether I was writing a letter to my aunt, or producing a report for a newspaper, or writing a Christmas story for children based on my experiences, or composing a poem about it, or even writing a song about it. These are different styles for these different occasions.

In this connection it is of interest to note that 4 of the 25 affirmations included in the Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics refer to literary form.

“We affirm that Scripture communicates God’s truth to us verbally through a wide variety of literary forms” (Article X). “We affirm that awareness of the literary categories, formal and stylistic, of the various parts of Scripture is essential for proper exegesis, and hence we value genre criticism as one of the many disciplines of Biblical study” (Article XIII). “We affirm that the Biblical record of events, discourses, and sayings though presented in a variety of appropriate literary forms, corresponds to historical fact” (Article XIV). “We affirm the necessity of interpreting the Bible according to its literal or normal sense. The literal sense is the grammatical-historical sense—that is, the meaning which the writer expressed. Interpretation according to the literal sense will take account of all figures of speech and literary forms found in the text” (Article XV).

What Are Some Literary Genres in the Bible?

1. Legal. Whereas the term law often refers to the first five books of the Bible, legal material, that is, the body of material that includes commandments for the Israelites, is included in

3. Poetry. The Books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs are the five major poetical books of the Old Testament. However, poetry is included in many of the prophetic books. The NIV presents the material in poetic style so that the distinction between poetry and prose is more readily noticeable. Poetry is also included in earlier portions of the Old Testament, including Exodus 15; Judges 5; and 1 Samuel 2. In the New Testament, Mary’s song is in poetic form (Luke 1:46–55) as are the words of Zechariah (vv. 67–79). A distinct feature of the poetry of the Bible is that two (and sometimes three or four) lines are stated in parallel form. This contrasts with English poetry which is usually characterized by meter and rhyme, neither of which occurs as a regular feature of Hebrew poetry. Scholars have debated extensively over the question of meter in Hebrew poetry. Their inability to come to a consensus on the issue points to the absence of a recognized meter in the Bible’s poetry. Occasionally rhyme occurs in some poetic verses, but this is rare. The kinds of poetic parallelism are discussed later in this chapter.

Of course the Psalms are written in poetry. Several kinds of psalms are generally recognized: lament of the people, lament of the individual, declarative praise of the people, declarative praise of the individual, and descriptive praise. A lament of the people usually has an introductory petition, the lament itself, a confession of trust, and a petition for the psalmist to be heard and delivered, and a vow of praise. Examples are Psalms 12, 44, 80, 94, 137. A lament of the individual usually includes an introduction (with an address to and/or a turning to God, and a cry for help), the lament itself (which refers to the psalmist’s enemies, the psalmist himself, and God), a confession of trust, a petition to be heard and delivered, an expression of confidence that the psalmist has been heard, and a vow of praise. Sometimes a report of deliverance is also included. Examples are Psalms 3, 22, 31, 39, 42, 57, 71, 120, 139, 142. A declarative praise of the people includes an exhortation, words of praise, reflection on past need, and the report of deliverance. Examples are Psalms 65, 67, 75, 107, 124, 136.

In a declarative praise of the individual, proclamation is given, an introductory summary is included, reflection on past need is cited, and the report of deliverance follows, with a renewed vow of descriptive praise and/or instruction. Examples include Psalms 18, 30, 32, 34, 40, 66, 92, 116, 118, 138. The descriptive praise psalm includes a call to praise (including a hallelujah prologue and an invitation for the readers to praise the Lord), a statement of the cause for praise (citing God’s greatness in creation and His grace in history and specific illustrations), and a conclusion which gives either a renewed call to praise, a restatement of cause for praise, or a statement of blessing. Some descriptive praise psalms are 8, 19, 104, 148 (exalting Him as Creator), 66, 100, 111, 114, 149 (praising Him as the Protector of Israel), and 33, 103, 113, 117, 145–147 (praising God as the Lord of history). In addition some psalms are called songs of Zion (46, 48, 76, 84, 87, 122), several others are wisdom psalms (36–37, 49, 73, 112, 127–128, 133), and 10 are songs of trust (11, 16, 23, 27, 62–63, 91, 121, 125, 131).

In studying and interpreting the psalms it is important to (a) look for these categories of psalms and the elements within each category, (b) recognize that many figures of speech are included (see chapter 7 on figures of speech), (c) note the kinds of parallelisms in the verses (see p. 138 on poetic parallelism), (d) study the historical background of the psalms, and (e) find the central idea or unifying message or thought in the psalm.

The Psalms should be seen as a guide to worship. Like the psalmist, we can use the Psalms to enable us to praise God, to make appeals to Him, and to remember His benefits. Also we can learn from the Psalms to relate honestly to God in expressing joy, disappointment, anger, or other emotions. The Psalms can also be used to encourage us to reflect and meditate on what God has done for us.

4. Wisdom literature. The Wisdom books are Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. (Some also include the Song of Songs in this group.) All Wisdom literature is poetry, but not all poetic material is Wisdom literature. Two kinds of Wisdom literature are seen in these books. One is proverbial literature, seen in the Book of Proverbs. The proverbs or maxims are general truths based on broad experience and observation. These are guidelines which are normally true in general. They are guidelines, not guarantees; precepts, not promises. For example, while it is generally true that a person who is lazy will experience poverty, a few exceptions to that general maxim may be observed in life. Also godliness generally results in a person leading a long life, as a number of proverbs state, but some exceptions to this have been observed.

A second kind of Wisdom literature is reflective. This involves a discussion of mysteries in life, as in Job and Ecclesiastes.

5. Gospels. Some people approach the four Gospels as historical narratives, as if the books were written simply to record biographical information on the life of Christ. Obviously they are not biographies in the normal sense in that they exclude much material from the life of Christ which one would normally expect to find in a historical biography. The Gospels include a good bit of biographical material on Christ, but they are more than biographies. They are both doctrine and narrative, presented to set forth information on the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ teachings in parables and in direct discourse are interspersed with the records of His miracles and encounters with individuals.

6. Logical discourse. This genre of biblical literature is also called epistolary literature and refers to the epistles of the New Testament, Romans through Jude. The Epistles generally include two kinds of material: (a) expository discourse, which expounds certain truths or doctrines, often with logical support for those truths, and (b) hortatory discourse, which includes exhortations to follow certain courses of action or to develop certain characteristics in light of the truths presented in the expository discourse material.

7. Prophetic literature. Prophetic literature is material that includes predictions of the future at the time of the writing of the material with injunctions often included that those who hear the prophecy adjust their lives in light of the predictions. In the Old Testament, for example, the people of Israel were told to prepare their hearts for the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Repentance from sin often accompanied predictions about the Lord’s return and accompanying events.

A special form of prophetic literature is apocalyptic material, which focuses specifically on the end times, while presenting the material in symbolic form. Prophetic literature is discussed in chapter 10.

How Does an Awareness of Literary Genre Help in Understanding the Bible?

An awareness of the literary genre or kind of literature of a given Bible book helps more in synthesis than detailed analysis. It helps give a sense of the overall thrust of the Bible book, so that verses and paragraphs can be seen in light of the whole. This helps prevent the problem of taking verses out of context. It also gives insight into the nature and purpose of an entire book, as seen, for example, in the Book of Jonah.

Structural patterns help us see why certain passages are included where they are. Also attention to literary genre keeps us from making more of the passage than we should or from making less of the passage than we should.

Basic Bible Interpretation: A Practical Guide to Discovering Biblical Truth Chapter Seven: Figures of Speech

CHAPTER SEVEN

Figures of Speech

In 1937 W. MacNeile Dixon, professor of English literature at the University of Glasgow, wrote,

If I were asked what has been the most powerful force in the making of history … I should have answered … figurative expression. It is by imagination that men have lived; imagination rules all our lives. The human mind is not, as philosophers would have you think, a debating hall, but a picture gallery.… Remove the metaphors [i.e., figurative expressions] from the Bible and its living spirit vanishes.… The prophets, the poets, the leaders of men are all of them masters of imagery, and by imagery they capture the human soul.

The Bible contains hundreds of figures of speech. E.W. Bullinger grouped the Bible’s figures of speech into more than 200 categories, giving 8,000 illustrations from the Scriptures, with the table of contents taking 28 pages to list the 200 categories!

What Is a Figure of Speech?

The laws of grammar describe how words normally function. In some cases, however, the speaker or writer purposely sets aside those laws to use new forms, forms we call figures of speech. As Bullinger wrote, “A figure is simply a word or a sentence thrown into a peculiar form, different from its original or simplest meaning or use.” If we say, “It is raining hard,” we are using a normal, plain statement. But if we say, “It is raining cats and dogs,” we have used a sentence that means the same thing but is an unusual, more colorful way of expressing the same thought. Or when we say, “The teakettle is boiling,” we mean not the kettle but the water in it.

According to Sterrett, “A figure of speech is a word or phrase that is used to communicate something other than its literal, natural meaning.” He then gives these examples of figurative expressions in modern-day English: “That argument doesn’t hold water.” “Stand up for the Word of God.” “I was tickled to death.” In the first example the argument has nothing to do with literal water. The point is that the argument is as useless as a bucket with holes. In the second example we are not being encouraged to stand up physically next to a Bible, but rather to defend the truths of Scripture, living in such a way that our convictions are clear. And in the third example the person was instead speaking of being extremely pleased.

When John the Baptist said, “Look, the Lamb of God” (

Basic Bible Interpretation: A Practical Guide to Discovering Biblical Truth How Does an Idiom Differ

How Does an Idiom Differ from a Figure of Speech?

An idiom is a figure of speech which is an expression peculiar to a given language or to people in a certain geographical location. According to Larson, an idiom is “a string of words whose meaning is different than the meaning conveyed by the individual words.” She illustrates this by pointing out that in English a person might say, “His fever went down,” whereas in the Aguaruna language of Peru the sentence would be “He cooled,” and in Ilocano of the Philippines, a person would say, “The fever was no more in him.” In

Donald K. Campbell, “Foreword,” in Basic Bible Interpretation: A Practical Guide to Discovering Biblical Truth, ed. Craig Bubeck Sr. (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 1991), 127–135.

What is narrative?

Basic Bible Interpretation: A Practical Guide to Discovering Biblical Truth What Are Some Literary Genres in the Bible?

2. Narrative. A narrative is of course a story, but a biblical narrative is a story told for the purpose of conveying a message through people and their problems and situations. Biblical narratives are selective and illustrative. The biblical narratives are not intended to be full biographies giving every detail of individuals’ lives; the writers carefully selected the material they included (obviously doing so under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) to accomplish certain purposes.

What do we need to look for in the story? Setting? Context? Design patterns (key words and images, etc. Doublets. Tracing threads. Patterns such as ‘moving to the east’. Numbers such as 40, the description and development of characters, their names, etc.; Highlight these for emphasis.

English Standard Version Chapter 12

12 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

4 So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD. 9 And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

the first 11 chapters of the bible are set-up for the rest of the Bible. May need a synopsis of the first 11 chapter in order to set up the call of Abraham. Maybe a chapter by chapter summary.

THE BEGINNING OF THE BOOK

Introduction

In my years of pastoral ministry and study, I have seen all sorts of books written that were intended to help people understand the Bible. Many of them were indeed helpful. However, it was when I discovered the idea of context, and I mean more than the immediate context, (the surrounding verses of scripture) that the Bible really began to come into view. Prior to this discovery the Bible had been somewhat abstract to me. I don’t mean that I didn’t understand it. But it was disjointed - a collection of stories that were then to be interpreted in order to find a nice moral - something akin to a Sunday School lesson in a children’s class.

It was in my first semester of seminary taking the class, “Biblical Narrative One,” that all that changed. We were given some important contextual background and the basics as to how biblical narrative worked. We then were off on a journey of discovery that changed mu life and ministry.

My prayer is that those who read this book will fall in love with scripture and more importantly, Jesus. By going through the narrative portions of the bible while recognizing the structure, context, genre and idioms, as well as design patterns, we can see how the Spirit of God worked through human authors over the centuries to give us a collection of books so interwoven with all these aspects that mere human authorship over such a long period of time and through so many authors be impossible. May this book enable you to read and understand the word of God in such a way that it compares to viewing a small, old, black and white television and then seeing a new HD flat screen for the first time.

CHAPER ONE - GENRE

Being brought up in a Christian home I attended church regularly. My mother was/ is an avid reader and reading was always encouraged. I had many books with bible stories in them as a child. Those stories were reinforced in Sunday School as we read passages from the bible and were then asked questions about the story while sitting in a semi-circle; boys making up one half and girls making up the other. And that is how I became accustomed to reading the bible. That is most likely how most children were exposed to biblical narrative.

However, the problem is that we tend to never get out of that way of reading the bible. We tend to read it “flat.” What I mean is that we t4end not to read it the way we may read a work of fiction. I don’t mean that the bible is fiction. I believe it is the divinely inspired word of the one true, living God. However, I believe we should read it “as if we were reading fiction.” What do I mean by that? Well, I’m glad you asked.

When we read fiction, we are reading with expectancy. We are following a plot that began at the beginning of the book and we expect it to work itself out as we move toward the ending of the book. We get to know the characters. We pay attention to their personalities and quirks. We learn to like some of them and others well, we don’t like so much. We realize that there is a protagonist as well as an antagonist. We see that hero is usually flawed. Our hearts begin to race as some conflict is introduced. Some characters die off and new ones are introduced. And then finally, we get to end where things are wrapped up in a bow. That is how we read fiction. It is also how we watch television shows and movies. This is how we watch, or binge on our favorite series we are streaming. My contention is that that is how we are to read our bibles - as fiction, though it isn’t fiction.

We are to read of Abram and his family on their journey to Canaan, watching the character development as Abram and Sarai grow old together, waiting on the fulfillment of the promises of God. We can see the drama in the family as they struggle to believe as they live as strangers in a new land, raising their children.

We are to know that there was a promise of someone who, in the future would turn things around after what happened in Genesis three. And then, as each new character is introduced, we are to wonder if they are the one, the “hero” who will bring the drama to a close. Will it be Seth? Will it be Noah? Abraham? David?

The bible is one long story of a promised “hero” who will one day set things right, ushering in a new heaven and new earth. When we read it this way, as we read a work of fiction such as the Hobbit or the Chronicles of Narnia, hanging onto each new character and plot twist, we find ourselves going along on a quest from Genesis to revelation.

Of course we know that the “hero” is Jesus, but how did the story build up to that point? When we read the bible in this way, as if it were fiction, we become immersed in an exciting drama of life, death, palace intrigue, betrayal, failure, love, mercy and flourishing that no other book can rival.

If we are to make this journey, we need to first realize that the bible is a structured book consisting of different genres of literature. These different genres were written a long time ago in a much different culture. Each character and theme, each idea and doctrine, each concept is introduced to us from the Ancient Near Eastern (ANE) perspective. This is where we build our foundation of context. Let’s begin by looking at the concept of literary genre.

What is genre?

Basic Bible Interpretation: A Practical Guide to Discovering Biblical Truth Literary Genre in the Bible

Genre, a French word from the Latin genus, means a literary type. “Literary genre” refers to the category or the kind of writing characterized by a particular form(s) and/or content. Distinguishing the various genres (kinds of literature) in Scripture helps us interpret the Bible more accurately.

Simply put, there are several different kinds of literature in the bible. Some of these kinds/ types of literature include:

Legal - this is the body of work including commandments for the nation of Israel. We can see this genre in Exodus 20-40, the book of Leviticus, portions of the book of Numbers and all of Deuteronomy.

Narrative - this is a story which conveys the mind of God through the lives of people, including their problems, their flaws and their failures as well as their triumphs.

Poetry - Books such as Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs (Song of Solomon) are Hebrew poetry. We may not think of them this way since they don’t always have the rhyme and meter we are accustomed to, nevertheless they are poetry.

Wisdom literature - Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes fall into this category, though they also can be categorized as poetry.

Gospels - the books known as the Gospels declare the good news of Jesus Christ. They have narrative and wisdom literature in them, but are generally considered to be a genre of their own.

Epistles - these are books, actually letters that consist of a great deal of logical discourse, such as the writings of Paul.

Apocalyptic - this is a genre of scripture that was very popular during the Second Temple period and includes Revelation as well as portions of Daniel.

Many books of the bible, such as the Gospels, include more than one genre. There is narrative, prophetic literature, and some apocalyptic sections here and there.

The point is that we must be able to determine what genre we are reading and then treat it accordingly. After all, you don’t read an instruction manual like you would a book of nursery rhymes. You don’t read poetry as you would the newspaper. The same is true with the bible. We must be able to determine what genre we are reading. For the purposes of this book, we will be dealing with biblical narrative.

HOW DO WE READ AND INTERPRET BIBLICAL NARRATIVE?

Narrative may be the easiest genre to recognize. As we said earlier - it is story. And who doesn’t love a good story. Stories are a great way to convey truth precisely because we can become engrossed in them. If you go into a book store or library, which section tends to be the largest? It is fiction. As a pastor, I’ve seen that the narrative portions of the bible tend to be the ones most people prefer. Why? Because people like stories. Narrative makes up a large part of the bible.

How does biblical narrative work? Once again, think about your favorite book, movie or television show. They usually begin with getting to know the character(s) and then move into the plot, where eventually some conflict arises and needs to be solved. The book, movie or show usually ends with the resolution of the conflict by the main character. This is how biblical narrative works.

NARRATIVE PYRAMID HERE

Biblical narrative follows this basic pattern. Think of biblical narrative a series on Netflix. There are several episodes that make up a season. Each episode ends with the screen fading to black as you wait for the next episode and get closer to the plot resolution. Each season ends with a cliff-hanger that leads into the next season. In biblical narrative we find the set-up, which introduces the character(s), setting the stage for the drama to proceed. The set-up may go on for some time. When teaching classes on biblical narrative, it is common or students to think each episode begins and ends with the chapter breaks in our bibles. This is often not the case. The set-up can go on for more than one chapter - sometimes two or more. The ascending action leading to the climax can go on for several pages. The chapter breaks were not put in place according to narrative outline. Sometimes the “episode” will end with the chapter, other times it won’t.

So, what else do we need to know? Can’t we just intuitively know what we are to glean from each episode? Why do we have to go through all the trouble of genre and context?