This episode explores how to interpret biblical narratives, emphasizing that these stories are not merely for entertainment or for what we can claim out of them. They serve to instruct and guide us in our faith. We look examples, such as Gideon's fleece and the fall of Jericho, to illustrate that just because a biblical character acted in a certain way, it does not mean we should follow their example without discernment. The lesson also highlights the importance of recognizing God's role as the central character in these narratives, encouraging us to learn from both the positive and negative actions recorded in Scripture. Ultimately, we are reminded to seek a deeper understanding of God's intentions and the broader context of His Word as we engage with these stories.

Takeaways:

1. Understanding Bible stories requires careful interpretation, as they're not merely entertaining but instructional.
2. Recognizing different literary genres in the Bible is crucial for accurate interpretation and application.
3. Not every action of biblical characters is a model for us to emulate; we must discern God's lessons for ourselves.

How to correctly understand and apply Bible stories and biblical narratives.

PLEASE note: this transcript may contain errors. For a copy of the exact note for the presentation, a video of it, and links to the PowerPoint presenation that you can use to teach the lesson, go to www.Bible805.com

Now, here are some of the questions that we're going to answer in this lesson.

First of all, what's the purpose of the stories in the Bible?

If someone does something that seems a bit odd, like Gideon setting out a fleece to determine God's will, or the children of Israel walking around the walls of Jericho to conquer it, does that mean I should do similar things to please God?

We'll answer these questions and so much more. So let's get into them in our lesson.

Now, with the Book of Joshua, we move in our through the Bible reading from the foundation of laws into stories. They're also called narratives.

And let's face it, it is a bit of a relief to be finished with the foundation of laws and into the stories of the Bible.

This next section that we are going to be reading contains some of the most familiar stories from the Old Testament about the walls of Jericho falling down, of Gideon setting out a fleece of Samson and Delilah, about David and Goliath, and all the various other exploits of David's life. Now, though they're very interesting, reading these books also present a major challenge, and that is, how do we properly apply them?

The laws are easy. God says certain things don't lie. I know I'm not supposed to lie. Don't commit adultery. No, I'm not supposed to do that. But the stories are harder.

And just because a biblical character acted in a certain way and it seemed to turn out well, should I act in that way also? For example, in the story of Gideon, he asked God for a sign that confirmed what God had clearly told him to do.

He set out a fleece, an animal skin, and asked that the next morning the fleece be wet and the ground be dry. God graciously, miraculously answered him and did that. He asked for the reverse, and God again answered.

Does that mean that we should come up with tests to determine God's will just whenever we want, or we can't make up our mind? The short answer is no, and exactly why it's no.

And how to properly learn from and apply the lessons of the stories in the Bible is what I'll explain in this lesson. Now, this is really important to understand because Romans 15:4 tells us that everything that was written in the past was written to teach us.

But it's important to carefully consider what God intends us to learn from them. As with many things concerning the Bible, the answer is not as simple, do this or that. Unfortunately, it's far more complicated.

Complicated because we can study these stories incorrectly. Just reading your Bible, knowing what it says is not enough.

Because knowledge alone can make us a Pharisee, concerned about the details, always critical, picking at others who we don't consider as spiritual or knowledgeable as we are. But the goal of our study is not just learning all of the content of the Bible.

It's to become like Jesus, his disciple, to be his representative in our world. As First John 2:6 says to us in the Phillips translation, "the life of a man who professes to be living in God must bear the stamp of Christ."

So how do we bear the stamp of Christ? We intentionally act like he did and in our daily lives. But this isn't automatic.

First, we need to know our Bible well, so we know how God wants us to act. And specifically, we need to know how Jesus would act in a certain situation. One example.

If we ever become proud of what we know, we've obviously failed in our study of God's Word. Really pride at any time. Because we need to Remember in Philippians 2:1, it says "Jesus in very nature God humbled himself." Think of that.

Our God, the Creator of the universe, humbled himself. And we ought to do the same in every situation. Back to our example.

We should humble ourselves under God's Word and how we can live it, always with a focus on prayer and application for ourselves, not just pointing to others to do that. It will help you to properly understand and apply the different types of writing in the Bible.

Now, this kind of study is also referred to as a genre study.

Now, many people aren't even aware that there's different types of writing, different genres in the Bible, but there are, and identifying them and how to read them, how to apply them correctly is extremely important in how you interpret the Bible.

Much of what I share that I trust will be helpful in this whole area comes from a book how to Read the Bible for All It's Worth by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stewart. Now, what follows will rely extensively on the book, and I've also mixed in my comments, added teaching, etc. On it.

Now, I may not always be clear of this statement came from them, this one's from me. But I want to give credit where credit is due and that is to acknowledge that much of one's.

Much of what follows is from the book now first of all, let's begin by defining the word genre. Webster's Dictionary defines it in this way. Genre means a type of art, literature or music characterized by a specific form, content and style.

The genres in the Bible include narrative, also known as stories, which is what we're focusing on in this lesson. Poetry, prophecy, history, letters, didactic and apocalyptic literature. Now don't worry about the definitions of each of those right now.

What's important as we begin is that we must identify each one correctly for what it is and then read and apply that particular passage of Scripture with the interpretive and application guidelines that apply to the that genre. Now here's why we need to do that. You don't obviously read and interpret a poem in the same way that you do a historical narrative.

And you don't read prophetical allegory filled text in the same way that you read Old Testament laws.

The interpretation of Daniel's prophetic vision of a giant statue is really different from the simple command thou shalt not kill one, all kinds of interpretations and background and all of that. The other just a very simple this is how it is.

What I just gave you may be obvious examples, but precisely how to read each genre with valid interpretation and correct application isn't always simple. In the coming lessons, I will talk about the various genres in the Bible as we encounter them in our reading.

But the genre we're talking about now back to the main point is story or narrative. This is also the largest genre category in the Bible. Over 40% of the Bible is narrative.

Now I've used the two words narrative equals story, story equals narrative. The two words mean the same thing and they are used interchangeably both in commentaries and in what I will teach you. Now.

I use the word story in the intro because that's what most of us are familiar with. But narrative is actually the term preferred in many commentaries because sometimes the word, the word story implies that something isn't true.

And that is absolutely not the case in the Bible. Keep in mind, a story in the Bible is always a true account of what happens.

As Gordon and Fee put it, the biblical narratives tell us the ultimate story, a story that that, even though complex, is altogether true and crucially important. Now my comments. We need to keep in mind that the Bible stories are a true account of what happened, what people did.

But I can't emphasize this enough.

That does not mean that their actions are a good thing or that we should necessarily follow them, even if they don't seem sinful or anything like that. It doesn't mean that just because the Bible character did this, we should do that. What the Bible does is it records whatever happened truthfully.

The Bible doesn't sugarcoat human history. There are many horrible, wrong, sinful actions recorded in the Bible as well as many good and godly actions.

We need to discern what God wants us to learn from both the good and the bad ones.

With the previous thoughts in mind, here are three important overall guidelines for interpreting the narratives and these come from how to read the Bible for all it's worth. First of all, Old Testament narratives are not just stories about people who lived in Old Testament times.

They are first and foremost stories about what God did through these people. Emphasis on what God did.

For example, the key lessons from the Book of Ruth are not primarily about how to be kind to an elderly mother in law or how gleaning worked in the Old Testament.

The key lessons in the Book of Ruth are about God's care in the midst of troubled times and ultimately about the formation of the line of David and Jesus. The second thing, Old Testament narratives do not necessarily teach directly.

They often illustrate what is taught directly and categorically elsewhere. This is really important.

Again, that's why it's so important to read all of the Bible in chronological order, because you are expected to know the explicit teaching behind the example. Only then will the narrative events make sense. For example, the Book of Judges does not repeat the commands of Deuteronomy.

It shows what happens when the commands are not obeyed and what happened when the Canaanites were not totally destroyed, which God commanded them to do.

For the later stories of the prophets that we will be coming to for them to make sense, you must go back to both the direct commands God gave in the books we just finished reading in the Pentateuch and super important, the promises the people made to God that they would obey. These books establish the right of God's judgment.

As previously, he clearly stated what they were supposed to do, what happened when they didn't, and what the consequences would be when people don't. Keep this in mind.

This is when they're reading the Bible and they accuse God of not being fair, when in reality he's doing only what he said he would do. Number three Narratives record what happened. Again, not necessarily what should have happened.

What people do in narratives is not necessarily a good example. Frequently it's just the opposite. For example, Israel was commanded to destroy the Canaanites.

God had granted The Canaanites over 400 years of mercy, but they didn't repent. They were Ordered destroyed because after the flood, though their ancestors had the same knowledge of God as did the other sons of Noah.

And they could have continued to follow God. Instead they chose the path of gross immorality, idol worship, culminating in sexual perversions as part of that worship.

And worst of all, in sacrificing their children to work where they burned children alive. I can't even imagine anything that horrible. Now not only were they a problem because their blatant sins, but it didn't stop with that.

When Israel did not destroy them, they became oppressors and tempters on a continuing basis. Constant wars are recorded from then on with people who were supposed to be destroyed under Joshua.

Not only were God's people tempted to participate and sin in involvement with the Canaanites worship of other gods Gods, but ultimately wives from these nations caused the downfall of even Solomon, the greatest king of Israel and the wisest man who ever lived. As his many wives, it said, led him to follow other gods. Little sins never stay little. They can become huge, personal and national disasters.

In judgment for Solomon's actions, God split the kingdom. And to emphasize God's recording of what took place does not mean his blessing of those events or decisions.

We also though cannot forget the character of God in this issue. This is super important. Think about it. Would God allow just a little bit of child sacrifice? Just a little bit of temple prostitution?

Just a little bit of oppression of the people? Of course not. God must judge sin and he knows it must be totally blotted out.

We don't like that because we want him to wink at our sins, but he cannot do that. Also, we must remember that God is ultimately loving.

He warns his people about what will harm them and ultimately in Jesus provided a sacrifice for the sins of that we just couldn't get rid of. He demonstrates in macro through history what plays out in micro form in all our individual hearts.

And we must ruthlessly deal with sin or it will destroy us. We must learn from their examples. As we read again more and more from Gordon and Fee.

We're not always told, and I'm quoting here at the end of a narrative, whether what happened was good or bad. We're expected to be able to judge this on the basis of what God has taught us directly and categorically elsewhere in scripture.

Again, God expects us to read the whole things that we know. All the narratives are selective and incomplete. Not all the relevant details are always given.

But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. Narratives are not written to answer all our theological questions or ones we just might be interested in.

What does appear in the narrative, though, is everything that the inspired author thought was important for us to know. Application to answer many questions from people.

Reality is we and they must read the whole Bible to fully understand God's answer, to see if their consequences are good or bad. And it's really not asking that we do anything different than we ought to do in any other book.

If we want to know why characters act the way they do, what happens, what all of these sorts of things, we've got to read the entire book.

One remaining thing on this whole thing, on genre studies, it's important to keep in mind, and Gordon and Phi put this together, and that is that there are three levels of story in the Bible. First of all, there's the top level, the whole overall universal plan of God that's worked out through his creation.

And it's the ultimate redemption of earth and humanity. That's the theme of the whole Bible.

And then there's the middle level, it centers on Israel, the big picture, the call of Abraham, the forming of the people, bondage, deliverance, taking the land, destruction and restoration. All of these leading to the birth of Jesus.

And then the bottom level are the individual stories.

Most of the stories operate actually on all three levels.

And we need to keep the upper levels mind as we read about individuals in different places in the Bible, the emphasis is on one or the other, but God keeps track of and is working on all of them. And though we don't always see individual stories, when we're reading about an overview thing, they're always going on. And this is really important.

For example, just on the fairness of God condemning all the Canaanites to death, we do see stories of individual redemption. And I'm quite certain that there are many more that we won't find out about until we get to heaven.

But anyway, one of them, for example, of Rahab, even in the destruction of Jericho, she was a prostitute who took in the spies. And what's interesting is how she knew about Jehovah God. She knew what he was doing, she had insight and she believed in his salvation.

And again, we have no idea what other people may have known. That also of Ruth, her story is really interesting.

And one of the things I read in the commentary a while back is that even though so much of Israel during that time was involved in immorality and idol worship and all of that, one of the little details that's easy to miss is, is how the town of Bethlehem was a good town. They took care of a pagan woman, quote, unquote. They observed the law and how she was when she came to be remarried. They observed gleaning.

They did all of these different things that showed that they had not, as a city, as a little town, as a city, had not forgotten God. As Abraham said, will not the judge of the whole earth do right?

He knows every person. He knows all our hearts, and no matter the evil around us, he will always do what is right. Again, we just need to be reminded that there are many things happening we're not told about in the final analysis.

Remember, God is the hero of all biblical stories, all narratives, at all levels, because every individual story is part of the bigger story, God's story of redemption. And you must study and know the context and keep in mind the big picture of that particular part of the story for it to make sense.

For example, as you read Judges, it is arguably one of the most depressing books in the Bible. In it, though, are individual stories. Gideon, Samson, and remember, though, they aren't the heroes. God is the hero in how he used and empowered them.

When we understand that God is the true hero of all biblical stories, it not only helps us put him in his proper place, but it gives us a proper view of the biblical characters. They all made mistakes as we do.

We don't want to try to copy them, to emulate them, but to learn about God who gives grace to all of us no matter how many mistakes we make. So why is it that people don't understand that, you know, this is what the Bible's about and all of that.

Why do people misinterpret the narratives all the time? Well, here's what Gordon and Fee say on that. First, they're desperate, desperate for information that will help them in their situation.

And second, we're all impatient. We want answers now from this book, this passage.

And third, because people wrongly expect that everything in the Bible applies to them individually, that is just not true. These actions are all incorrect because though the entire Bible was written for our instruction, not every passage is specifically to or for you.

It's not about you, though. You can learn from it.

Not only are these mistakes not the correct way to read the Bible, but as I mentioned earlier, they can lead to disappointment with God because In reading many passages out of context or from desperation, people think that God promises something he did not promise, and they get disappointed or upset then if he doesn't do it. Now, here's an example.

This is an example that's used all the time, but it does bear repeating of a verse taken out of context and that's used incorrectly all the time. Now, don't get discouraged because I'm going to show you a proper explanation for it that is positive. But hang in there a minute.

They share it all the time as a promise that in their specific situation that God's going to make it all better and he's going to make it better really quickly. Now can we do that? Can we grab on to the promise that God will make it all better and do it quickly? Well, we need to be careful now.

It's not a real categorical no, but let's look at what we've learned for a correct answer.

He told them that God, remember the hero of the story, the true main character, was still with them, that he had a plan for them, that even though as a nation they had sinned horribly and suffered the ultimate punishment of being removed from their land, he told them, settle in, seek the welfare of Babylon, trust and serve God, and even under judgment. Finally, he reminded them that God had also promised that.

And here's the key thing, after 70 years he would bring them back to the land that is the future and hope the verse refers to.

Now, as far as personally claiming this promise, unless you want to take 70 years for a promise to be fulfilled, the specifics of this passage may not be something you want to claim, but don't stop there. Don't give up on God giving you a good hope and future.

Look at the bigger picture of God, who in this passage and the rest of the Bible does give us a hope and a future. Again, in this and other passages, what do you learn about the character of God and how he treats people? That is why you can legitimately hold on.

Though in Judges they constantly sinned, God provides deliverance. Throughout the Old Testament, God continued to raise up prophets. Their job was to call people back to God.

The prophets were ignored, killed and people were punished.

Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.

In the New Testament, Jesus told his followers the hairs of your head are numbered, that they were of more value than many sparrows, that God would care for them in the same way.

We're promised peace on earth in our hearts, though outside there may be great turmoil and in the future heaven and eternity without sickness or tears. We do have a good future and a hope promised in the Bible because of the overall story of how God treats His people.

But in waiting for that to be fulfilled, what can we learn from reading all the Bible and not just grabbing one verse? Here are some suggestions we may need to endure consequences before the ultimate blessing Again. The Jews weren't in Babylon for 70 years.

Your challenge

Pain and hurt may last a long time and it may not be your fault. The sins of others can influence our lives.

Think about what it must have been like for a 19 year old at the time his parents refused to obey God where God said all of you 20 years and older will die in the wilderness. But everyone 20 years old.

I mean younger than 20 years old, they'd still have to wander for 40 years in the desert, though they personally did not to deserve it. Life is like that in many ways. Some truths though to hold onto if you're in the midst of a wandering that isn't of your choice.

Ultimately the trial and pain will end. All things will be made new as Isaiah says sorrow and sighing will flee away, but we need to recognize that our ultimate goal and good is guaranteed.

The timing is not, and it will almost always take longer for the fulfillment of our hope than we want it to. The fulfillment of your future and hope may not come on this earth, but God's love and care is guaranteed for us throughout.

He will never leave us or forsake us. What then should you do with what you know now about how God works and how to study and learn from the narratives?

Keep reading and studying and listening to God's Word and these lessons on it.

If you want your faith and life to make sense, you must keep working on understanding the big picture of the whole Bible so you know the context for Bible stories.

Keep reading the upcoming stories, the narratives, not for what you can claim from them, not only what will work for you, but to learn how God works, how he thinks, what matters to Him. Remember, God is a hero of all Bible stories. Get to know your God better, to grow in your trust and love for Him.

Your joy and peace will grow as you do this because you have God's written word. Don't be asking for a sign or a fleece to make decisions.

People sometimes ask for God's will in a particular situation for a sign or they put out a fleece. But often the answer is in applying what you already know. Speak the truth in love. Don't let anger control you. Do justice, love, kindness.

Walk humbly with your God. Study God's clearly revealed will in the Bible. He's very plain about most issues we face.

Don't put off on God, which you just don't want to deal with. Be honest with yourself and others. Talk to that person. Get help. Make a decision. Adjust from there.

When faced with a truly difficult or confusing situation, remember in James 1 it tells us that when we face trials, we need to ask for God's wisdom. Not for a way out, but for wisdom.

For what to learn from hard times, for what to do, for how to bring honor to God in the story he may be telling in your life. And finally, don't be a whiny child that complains because you think you should be treated like God treated some other child.

Because the story in the Bible isn't always about you. Be a child who knows that you're loved by a good God and trust Him.

No matter what's happening in your life, be assured that the story you're in is much different than what you can see and that God has it all under control.

Know you can trust the author of all the stories of those of us who love him, and that he will one day tie up every loose plot line, resolve all conflicts, and bring our story to a conclusion where, in truth, we will live happily ever after.