Learning How to Read #2
This second post on how to interpret scripture could be called "it can't mean what it never meant." All the Biblical books were originally written to ancient cultures and in two very different languages. Interpreting the Bible correctly requires bridging the enormous gaps between the world to which the books were written and our own. Failure to build this bridge causes all sorts of problems for us as we read the Bible. The Bible was not originally written to us, but to someone else. When we read it only through our modern lens then we are, in fact, saying that the scriptural books have had little to no meaning to anyone else in history but us. That doesn't mean that one has to be a scholar to interpret the Bible, but that one at least should be sensitive to the differences between the world that received these books originally and our own.
Let me give some examples. In looking at the first chapters of Genesis some today read ch. 1 to find a scientific description of how God created everything. Then in succeeding chapters they add up all the years of the pre-flood patriarchs to calculate the age of the earth. When we do this make this part of scripture something it is not. The ancient Hebrews were not concerned with the age of the earth, nor with modern debates over creation vs. evolution. They were intensely interested in how to get along in a world with lots of competing deities, and reading Genesis 1 with this in mind can show us something far more powerful than forcing it to fit a modern scientific mold can .
Prophetic books are particularly susceptible to being misused and misinterpreted. Often prophetic books will use symbols that must be interpreted in light of what they meant then. If a prophet refers to a nation as an eagle he is not thinking about the United States. If a prophet refers to a nation as a bear, as in Daniel 7, he is not referring to Russia. Prophetic warnings of invaders from the north over-running Israel are warnings of destruction from Assyria, but not warnings that the modern nation state of Israel will be attacked by Russia. To say that it is a reference to the modern nations, like I said before, means that they say nothing to the people who originally read them.
The book of Revelation, along with the second half of Daniel, some portions of Isaiah and Ezekiel, and some small portions of the synoptic Gospels are called apocalyptic literature. This literature is full of symbols and imagery. It is very important that we let these books stand for themselves, not what we read into them. Revelation was written primarily for a church that was under great pressure from Rome. Interpreting the book begins by asking this question, "what would this vision have meant to that church?" Once that is addressed can we begin to think about what it may mean for us. Therefore, we can't interpret the "locusts" of Rev. 9 to be helicopter gunships as some have sought to do. We consider what locusts represented in the ancient world and can then seek ways to interpret its meaning for us today.
Don't take what I say to mean that the Bible doesn't speak to us. It most assuredly does. We find that it does speak volumes to us, but we must interpret it with a certain element of humility. We must not force it into our molds. We must allow it to speak for itself. It was written to a culture that was non-Western, pre-scientific, and we must guard against the tendancy to make fit a Western, scientific mold. Scripture is the inspired written word of God and it isn't our place to make it conform to our standards.
Let me give some examples. In looking at the first chapters of Genesis some today read ch. 1 to find a scientific description of how God created everything. Then in succeeding chapters they add up all the years of the pre-flood patriarchs to calculate the age of the earth. When we do this make this part of scripture something it is not. The ancient Hebrews were not concerned with the age of the earth, nor with modern debates over creation vs. evolution. They were intensely interested in how to get along in a world with lots of competing deities, and reading Genesis 1 with this in mind can show us something far more powerful than forcing it to fit a modern scientific mold can .
Prophetic books are particularly susceptible to being misused and misinterpreted. Often prophetic books will use symbols that must be interpreted in light of what they meant then. If a prophet refers to a nation as an eagle he is not thinking about the United States. If a prophet refers to a nation as a bear, as in Daniel 7, he is not referring to Russia. Prophetic warnings of invaders from the north over-running Israel are warnings of destruction from Assyria, but not warnings that the modern nation state of Israel will be attacked by Russia. To say that it is a reference to the modern nations, like I said before, means that they say nothing to the people who originally read them.
The book of Revelation, along with the second half of Daniel, some portions of Isaiah and Ezekiel, and some small portions of the synoptic Gospels are called apocalyptic literature. This literature is full of symbols and imagery. It is very important that we let these books stand for themselves, not what we read into them. Revelation was written primarily for a church that was under great pressure from Rome. Interpreting the book begins by asking this question, "what would this vision have meant to that church?" Once that is addressed can we begin to think about what it may mean for us. Therefore, we can't interpret the "locusts" of Rev. 9 to be helicopter gunships as some have sought to do. We consider what locusts represented in the ancient world and can then seek ways to interpret its meaning for us today.
Don't take what I say to mean that the Bible doesn't speak to us. It most assuredly does. We find that it does speak volumes to us, but we must interpret it with a certain element of humility. We must not force it into our molds. We must allow it to speak for itself. It was written to a culture that was non-Western, pre-scientific, and we must guard against the tendancy to make fit a Western, scientific mold. Scripture is the inspired written word of God and it isn't our place to make it conform to our standards.
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