Mon 10 Nov 2008
How to Read the Bible For All Its Worth – The Prophets
Posted by S.G.R. Webster under An Introduction to the Old Testament
[33] Comments
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How does the modern reader help solve proplems such as an inaccurate understanding of the word “profecy”(182) and the problem of historical distance(183)?
Was everything the prophets said God speaking through them? Was there times where they were themselves and speaking without the Lord?
On page 183, the book says that a reason that it is so hard to read the longer prophetic books in one setting is because they were not meant to be read in one setting. This is great and all but they never actually tell us how they are supposed to be read. So how then should we read them, besides the obvious of not all in one sitting.
On page 193, the authors say how important it is to “think oricles.” Will you explain more fully how to do this?
Why are the longer prophet book’s oracles not in chronological order and sometimes leaves you without a hint on when one oracle ends and another begins.
*sorry page 183
is there a reason why the oracles in the prophets are written without divisions to indicate where one ends and the other begins?…this seems like it would be very confusing. (page 193)
Under the heading
“The Problem of History”
Near the beginning of the book they emphasized historical context and doing your research to understand a passage.
If they are writing the rest of this book assuming that this is being done, why throw in this section? is it because there are passages that you won’t fully understand even with research or are they just reiterating.
On page 189, the author tells that we need outside help to read the prophets, and I agree. However, I feel as if the author is telling us that we must be something like Biblical scholars before we can understand the Prophets. How then, as high school students who don’t exactly have as much resources as we would like, should we attempt to understand these books?
On page 183 it says that there were hundreds of prophets in ancient Israel that all spoke messages from God, but only sixteen of them were written about in the Bible. If they were all speaking on behalf of God, why are only some of them included?
On Pages 199-200 it talks about how it is hard to distinguish what the prophecy is referring to in terms of time (i.e. Israel’s current, Israel’s near future, Israel’s distant future, our near and distant future) because of the metaphors and stuff, but it doesn’t tell us HOW to distinguish the difference.
when the oracles were written down, why were they not written down int he right order, and why wasnt it made obvious were one oracle ended and the next started. isnt this an inefficient way to write the books.
oh ya….. pg 183
The book says “Things clear to them [Israelites]tend to be opaque to us.” Did they really understand all the “metaphors” (pg.185) God used to communicate His message? And why make a metaphor about death or destruction; why not just say you’re gonna be punished for being not following the covenant…?
on page 187 at the bottom of the page, it says that the prophets are not inspired to make any points or announce any doctrines that are not already contained in the Pentateuchal covenant. If this is the case, how could they talk about the messiah. or did the pentateuch talk about the messiah then?
I think it’s cool how the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to draw analogies from Old Testament prophecy to help the Corinthians understand that the experience of the Israelites in the desert can be understood as an allegory of their own experience with Christ. pg. 202
On 183 It says that in ancient Isral God had many prophets who spoke on His behalf but only 16 of them are written down and talked about in the Bible. why is this? what makes those 16 different enough that God wanted them in and not the others?
ok real quick to start off i wanted to say i really like how the book emphasizes at the beg. on p.181 that the minor prophets are not less important.. just shorter.
on pages 190, 192, 193, and 194 it says things like “a good commentary will identify for you..” and “refer to commentaries..” i thought what we read earlier about how to interpret the Bible and read passages/verses w/ the exegesis & hermeneutics i thought the book stressed not turning to commentaries. and if they say we can how are we to discern which commentaries are “good” commentaries?
lastly, how did the “explanatory titles” get inserted into our Bibles if they are scholarly opinions? arent we supposed to not add anything (rev. 22:18,19) esp if it affects the way we read passages and in this case the oracles? – p. 193
on page 187 it says the prophet did not act or speak independently of God, but they also say they may rearrange and alter the truths to relate better with the people, is this divinely inspired(like they talk about Paul later) or is this their own way of speaking what God says to them?
Are all “sensus plenior” writtings written in a way that clearly connects it to the OT, like in Paul’s writing? If they aren’t clearly stated, then how do we responsibly make connections from the OT to the NT like that and get the correct meaning? (202-203)
since the prophets told what was going to happen in Israels near future, did the Israelites after that time regard them as something to look back at and remember Gods goodness, or did they use it for future guidelines. How should we look at it?
maybe this is just me, and I’m not trying to be skeptical about the bible or anything, but doesn’t it seem like it would be easy for people in Israel’s time to claim to have been speaking the word of God without actually doing so? I guess I just don’t understand why God chose humans to convey His messages rather than Himself directly or an angel or some higher power.
page numero 184, says that we have trouble putting the word spoken by the prophets in proper context. what is the “proper context” if it’s not knowing who wrote it, where they wrote it, to whom they wrote it, and when it was written to them?
I loved it when they talked about how mondern readers will have a hard time understanding the words used sometimes because they are not always words used in our culture
pg 183 sorry
I thought it was cool when they said that you wont necessarily understand everything you read but you may have to take a step back and get your perspective and then read it with patience (pg 189)
why does it say that it is hard for us to understand what is going on whent the rophets are speaking. i thought we were supposed to look at the backgroung and then read the passage so tht we have a better understanding of what is going on.
PGs bottom of 183, top of 184
On page 183, when the book says there were hundreds of prophets, but only sixteen were chosen to speak oracles to be written into books, does that mean the rest did not speak oracles? If not, what did they do?
-Page 193- Talks about THINKING ORICLES,??? What is going on there.
I found it very interesting when the authors talk about the prophets announcing the immediate future of Isreal, Judah, and other nations. I have always been confused about whether the prophecy was about the coming of Jesus or the new covenant like they state on page 182. This cleared up a lot for me!
When people think of the word ‘prophecy’ they automatically interpret it as “fortelling or prediction of what is to come” as defined in any dictionary. How did language break away from the ancient definition as a ‘warning’, or a ‘condition/plan’ if the ancient peoples didnt even mean that? This cannot be simply a matter of language evolving can it? Could we have gotten it that baddly?
On pages 182-183, is says that most of the prophets did not write about themselfs. would it be important that we don’t know this?
why is it harder for us to understand the words spoken by a prophet in our time even if we study the background? pg. 184