Hermeneutics Week 4

Review

Someone summarize what we’ve learned so far. Any questions?

Introduction

The next few weeks we are going to talk about different methods for interpreting scripture.

A study of various eras of history reveals that some people who strove to live according to biblical principles sometimes got it wrong.

For instance, in the late 1800s during North America’s pioneer days, good intentions to keep the Sabbath Day holy evolved into a ritual not based on Scripture: the pious carried the no-work premise to an extreme.

A biblical interpretation had lapsed into a tradition that became far removed from the biblically-based command to use Sundays to joyously worship God, focus on Him, and re-energize the mind, body, and spirit through restful activities.

Another example would be the ways in which some ministers used scriptures to defended the Nazis during World War II.

Discuss: What are some other ways people have misinterpret scripture throughout History?

Jewish Interpreters

The first interpreters the Bible introduces were the Levites who helped Ezra.

This introduction comes after Ezra led the second group back to Jerusalem from Babylon (457 BC).

The people no longer spoke Hebrew, the language in which the Scriptures had been written.

Because of the seventy years of captivity, they spoke Aramaic, the language of Babylon.

Therefore, when Ezra had the Scriptures read aloud to the people, these Levites had to interpret (Nehemiah 8:7–8).

It is likely that the Levites interpreted and explained the Scriptures.

So this is said to be the beginning of the Targum—a translation and interpretation of the Old Testament by Jewish rabbis.

About 300 BC the Jewish nation fell under the cultural and religious influence of the Greeks.

The Greek word for a Greek person is Hellene; thus, Greek ideas are called Hellenistic ideas.

In 168 BC, this Hellenistic influence changed under Antiochus IV, a Greek-Syrian ruler.

He attempted to destroy the Jewish religion.

This persecution forced the Jews to clarify and protect their beliefs. Thus, persecution renewed their study of Scripture and caused them to develop new methods of hermeneutics.

Persecution led to three different methods of studying Scripture.

Rabbinic Judaism is a branch of Judaism led by Jewish rabbis (teachers), centered in Jerusalem and Judea.

It emphasizes obeying the Scriptures, especially the Torah, the five books of Moses. The rabbis taught the Jewish people to cling to their faith, as they faced great pressure from Greek and Roman cultures. The teachings of the rabbis were collected into several forms.

Scriptures→Halakah and Haggadah→Mishnah (teachings)—→Talmuds (Commentaries on the Mishnah)

Halakah means “of a legal nature.”

This teaching had religious laws for every part of life, including rituals, family life, and personal life, along with relations to the government and non-Jews.

These Halakah rules were based on laws of the Old Testament.

Haggadah used stories and proverbs of the Old Testament to explain Scripture and edify readers.

For example, the Jews told the story of the Passover as they celebrated it. This was a powerful form of Jewish interpretation.

The Mishnah (“to repeat”) contains the teachings of leading rabbis, such as Hillel and Shammai.

These two rabbis lived at the same time, but often disagreed on the interpretation of Scriptures.

Hillel was moderate, while Shammai was strict.

Hillel drew up a list of seven rules to interpret Scripture. These rules were the basis for more rules in the second century. Other rabbis added more rules, and many of these rules are still used by modern interpreters.

Barnard Ramm, a modern teacher of hermeneutics, lists six of the rules from Jewish rabbis. Take a close look at these six rules the Jews used to interpret Scripture:

A word must be understood in the way it is used in its sentence, and a sentence must be understood within its context.

Scriptures on similar topics should be compared. If necessary, a third Scripture could explain the conflict between two Scriptures.

A clear passage is preferred over a difficult passage on the same subject.

Pay close attention to spelling, grammar, and figures of speech.We can determine to apply Scripture to problems in life that Scripture has not mentioned.

The God of Israel had spoken in the tongues of men—revealing himself to them (Ramm 1970, 46–47).

The Talmuds were another form of Jewish teachings. A Talmud was a commentary on an earlier commentary—the Mishnah. There was one Talmud in Palestine and another one in Babylon.

The Midrash was another form of Jewish commentary on Scripture. The word Midrash means to search.

These teachings were an attempt to discover the deeper meanings of the Scriptures.

The rabbis believed that these deeper meanings were hidden in the words of the Bible.

This method ignored the context of the Scriptures and emphasized the details of the passages.

Rabbis used this method as they searched for ways to apply the Scriptures to the problems of their day.

The rabbis became experts in stretching the law—oral and written—to cover all possible cases people brought them.

The Septuagint

The Septuagint: Greek version of the Jewish Scriptures redacted in the third and second centuries BC by Jewish scholars and adopted by Greek-speaking Christians.

The Greek school of interpretation was in Egypt, where Greek influence was strong.

In Egypt, Greek replaced Hebrew as the language of the Jews.

Some Jewish scholars translated the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, so that Grecian Jews could read them.

This Greek version of the Old Testament is called the Septuagint—the seventy—because it was the work of seventy scholars.

This was the Old Testament version/translation that the New Testament Writers used and quoted from.

The Alexandrian School

Egypt was influenced by Plato, a Greek philosopher who lived from 427 to 347 BC .

He taught that objects on earth were copies of eternal things and that ideas were more real than either the physical or spiritual.

Under the influence of Platonic tradition, the school in Alexandria used the method of allegory to interpret Scripture.

Philo was the main Jewish teacher who developed this allegorical method. His goal was to reconcile Greek philosophy with the teaching of the Old Testament.

The allegorical method of interpreting Scripture erroneously adds to the Word of God. It gives meanings to details that neither God nor the biblical writers intended. For example, Augustine liked to use the allegorical method. When he taught on the parable of the Good Samaritan, he said that the Samaritan’s donkey represented the flesh of Jesus (Fee and Stuart 1982, 124). This type of interpretation misses the meaning of Scripture and leads people astray.

Why did Philo use the method of allegory to interpret Scripture?

He was trying to build a bridge between Judaism and the Greek world. Because in Alexandria, unbelievers were attacking the Bible. They were saying that the Scriptures were immoral and untrue.

For example, the unbelievers did not like the story about the drunkenness of Noah, the account of Jacob’s wives and concubines, Tamar’s seduction of Judah, and the teachings about clean and unclean animals. So Philo began to teach that these stories had hidden meanings.

We can understand that Philo was trying to lead people outside Judaism to the truth. But by using the method of allegory to interpret Scripture—looking for hidden meanings behind plain verses—he led scores of people away from the truth for over a thousand years.

Old Testament narratives are not allegories or stories filled with hidden meanings. While there may be aspects of narratives that are not easy to understand, you should always assume that they had meaning for their original hearers. But whatever else, they are not allegories. The account of Moses going up and down Mount Sinai in Exodus 19–34 is not an allegory of the descent and ascent of the soul to God. Elijah’s battle with the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel is not an allegory of Jesus’ triumph over evil spirits in the New Testament. The story of Abraham’s securing a bride for Isaac (Gen 24) is not an allegory about Christ (Isaac) securing a bride (the church/Rebekah) through the Holy Spirit (the servant). (Gordon D. Fee and Douglas K. Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1993), 92.)

Instead of concentrating on the clear meaning of the narrative, people relegate the text to merely reflecting another meaning beyond the text. There are allegorical portions of Scripture (e.g., Ezek 23 and parts of Revelation), but no historical narrative is at the same time an allegory

Discuss: Do you know some traditions today that talk about “Hidden” Meaning in scripture? Why is this a problem? Give some examples of this.

Discuss: Have you ever heard a pastor “Allegorize” in a sermon? Give an example.

Conclusion

Next week, we will pick up on how the Apostles and the Early Church Fathers interpreted Scripture.

Why is this helpful?

We learn about errors so we don’t repeat them.

We learn about how we have interpreted so we can know how a passage has been interpreted Historically.

We learn about how God has spoken to individuals through his word throughout History.

We are reminded that our interpretation of scripture is not perfect.