The World of the Bible - Part 1

It has been a while since I wrote anything that resembled a series. Perhaps it is time for the drought to end.

With the change in my "career," "ministry," or "work," I have had many people ask me how it is going, what do I miss, etc. Those questions are easy to answer. I miss one thing more than all the others combined - teaching and preaching. This is not bragging, but I know what I am good at, and this is something I do well. That is one of the ways God has gifted me. That being the case, I miss it greatly. Last weekend while doing some work, I was listening to a friend's teaching podcast. It was then that I was reminded once again, how much I miss teaching. So, I thought, if this new position does not provide that, what could? I thought of my writing. This is one place where that can happen. So here it goes.

If there is one characteristic of my teaching that stands above the others it would be my commitment to accurately exegete Scripture. That comes from my training. It was drilled into my head in four collegiate years, five seminary years, and four years of doctoral work. It has imbedded itself in me in 30 years of ministry.

There are two things that really burn my toast. The first is Christian "eisegesis" in place of "exegesis." Exegeis is the ability to study and draw OUT of Scripture what it says. Eisegesis, is the reading INTO Scripture our views, our politics, our pet peeves, our interpretation, and so on. The second is small groups and "Bible studies," sitting around sharing their collective ignorance. I will avoid the temptation, and not go there now.

When we start to try to accurately understand the world of the Bible, although it spreads out over 1,500 years, there are some marked differences from our own. I intend to talk briefly about some of them over the next few days. I have discussed these for years, but the language here is not my own. I heard someone else give several of these thoughts "handles." So, whoever it was that gave me the verbiage, thank you.

Difference #1 - It is not Industrial / Technological but Agricultural

Some of you read that and said, "Ho-hum, next. This is so obivous." That may be true in substance but in practicality it gets lost. We can so easily read today into pages where "today" does not exist.

When you read or study the Scripture, it becomes quickly aparent that all issues were about agriculture. They often talk about the crops, the flora, etc. The holidays were built around the agricultural season. The daily concerns were about agriculture. No wonder it is a big concern when there is a drought. The concerns with the poor were surrounded by the need to provide for them with the yields of the earth. To grasp Ruth, you have to understand the rules of gleaning set up to care for the poor.

Read through Scripture and notice the numerous references to the land and the crops. In our time of machinery and computers and knowledge, this simple fact can get lost, and cause us to lose an oppotunity to understand what is taking place on the pages of the sacred text.