Class 5 - Gaps Related to History
Inductive Bible Study: Part 1 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Housekeeping
Housekeeping
Get familiar with the class workshop (webpage with audio and notes)
A look at our groups
A look at the passages
Sizing up the Task
Sizing up the Task
Have you ever heard someone say, “Sometimes I have a hard time understanding the Bible?”
There’s a difference between a wall and a gap
Reading the Bible takes work
Homework
Homework
Finish if you haven’t already reading:
“Unit 1: Introduction: Sizing up the Task” (p.1-4)
“Bridging the Gaps: Facing the Challenges to Understanding” (p.4-5)
“Gaps Related to History” (p.6-14)
Reread “Induction v Deduction” [p. 35-38] (It may make more sense the second time around after we have talked about it.)
Consider the two biggest historical gaps you noted about your summer passages. Do some light study into those gaps and be ready to communicate something you learned that helps you “bridge the gap” and understand a little more about what was going on.
-
Work on answering the following questions for the book/books you are teaching from:
Who was the author?
Who was the audience?
When was the book written?
What is the primary purpose of the book?
Inductive Bible Study: Observation, Interpretation, and Application through the Lenses of History, Literature, and Theology Chapter 1: The Task of Bible Interpretation: Bridging the Gaps
...the Bible is not an easy book to study. In its pages we are confronted with a history that is not our own, cultural norms that are often different from contemporary practices, literature that communicates through a complex array of genres and subgenres, and theology that defies simplistic categorization. And while it’s proper to speak of the Bible as a unified work, we nonetheless find ourselves challenged by a collection of sixty-six books, each reflecting its own unique history, p 3 literature, and theology. If the Bible were just any collection of books from antiquity, its study most likely would be the exclusive domain of scholars, its mysteries researched and unraveled for a select community in the halls of academia. Yet the Bible is anything but exclusive in reach, its pages open to all who seek to know the truth in faith.
-We don’t accidentally stumble onto truth
-Just because the Bible is a living, spiritual book, that does not mean we can ignore how we communicate and come to understanding (we do this in all of our communication)
-The Bible is just unique compared to other written material we are used to.
Despite the gaps that exist, we are capable of learning how to interact with Scripture....
Inductive Bible Study: Observation, Interpretation, and Application through the Lenses of History, Literature, and Theology Chapter 1: The Task of Bible Interpretation: Bridging the Gaps
This is the challenge of Bible study: its particulars are often complex but never vexing; its message is simple but not simplistic; the study of Scripture requires hard work—in fact, it entails a lifelong journey—and yet along that pathway of discovery you’ll find enrichment and growth from day one. God uses his Word wherever you and I may be in our journey of biblical literacy, often in spite of our ignorance and limitations. At the same time, Scripture encourages us to move to maturity in many different realms of spiritual experience, not p 4 the least of which involves developing greater skills in handling God’s Word (
Three Gaps Related to History
Three Gaps Related to History
The Time Gap - The events depicted in Scripture occurred in a historical context far removed from the twenty-first century.
The Geographical Gap - The events recorded in the Bible took place in lands far removed from that of most Bible students.
The Cultural Gap - The cultures reflected in the Bible are drastically different than our own.
Today, I want to look at the three gaps and 1) explain them, and 2) bridge the gaps with you to demonstrate how it aids our Bible study.
The Time Gap
The Time Gap
-The most general aspect of the historical gap because it includes everything that’s different between 1000 BC and 2025 AD (just 3,000 years)
-What are some differences because of the time gap between 2025 AD and 1000 BC that would impact our understanding of the Bible?
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-Consider modern medicine: I have never once in my life feared leprosy.
40 And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
-Consider politics: The Gospel Project: Lesson 1 - 1 Samuel 8 (almost 2 gaps)
1 And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beer-sheba. 3 And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment. 4 THEN all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, 5 And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, [and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.]
-I have heard this passage used to instruct Father’s how to be diligent in parenting.
-I have heard this passage used to express shock that Israel would reject God (as if we would have done better - Deuteronomy 17:14-20)
-We are in a constitutional federal republic — which is a long way away from a monarchy - long way from a Theocracy (God rules through mediators)
-Have you ever read something in the Bible and though you would do differently if you were there?
-The irony is that the leaders in Israel were using the rebellion of Samuel’s sons to move the attention away from their own rebellion.
The Geographical Gap
The Geographical Gap
-Possibly the simplest to observe, but most often overlooked.
Regional Study Guide: Introductory Map Studies in the Land of the Bible
Learning biblical history without the land of the Bible is as difficult as playing chess without a chess board or telling someone how to drive through Boston without a map. Each biblical passage may teach a lesson, but the reader is often left with a myriad of unconnected events which do not fit into a meaningful whole. Learning the regional architecture of the land of the Bible (the ‘playing board’ of biblical history) remedies this situation by providing a gateway into the real world of the Bible. There are many benefits of such a study to us as readers and interpreters of Scripture. Here are some.
a. We discover the motives of those we meet on the pages of the Bible while participating in their decisions, for better or for worse.
-Genesis 12:10-20 Abraham going down to Egypt
-Who’s our author? Moses (who just led Israel out of .… Egypt)
-Who’s our audience? Israelites (who were enslaved in Egypt, but were redeemed and delivered)
-What’s Israel’s context? They don’t like the wilderness (freedom) and want to return to Egypt -
-What’s Moses’ motive in going to Egypt? 1) Food, 2) Unbelief - Trusting his own wisdom (which is a demonstration of his lack of faith in God.)
-What’s Genesis 12 context? The foundational promise of the Abrahamic covenant (land, seed, blessing)
-What happens to Abraham? Despite his lack of faith, God graciously intervened and used an unbeliever to providentially relocate Abraham.
-So what’s the point of Genesis 12:10-20? God is faithful and will providentially (graciously) accomplish his purposes in our lives. So, trust the promises of God even when circumstances appear to frustrate those promises.
-The point is not to teach worldliness? (Going down to Egypt)
b. We see events in the Bible fitting into a larger context as pieces of a puzzle fit into a larger picture.
c. We more fully appreciate the message of the biblical writer as a prelude for translating that message into our lives in the 21st century.
Why do geographical markers exist in the Bible?
-To explain the setting - normal aspect of narratives which helps the reader connect with the story
-Includes location names, elevation, direction,
-To create intensity (Amos 1-2)
-To reveal motives (Genesis 12)
10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. 11 Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.
-To develop theological emphasis - (Matthew 10:15)
15 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.
-To create a type scene - establishing a similar setting to make some connection
The Cultural Gap
The Cultural Gap
To dangers exist:
To completely overlook cultural realities that impact the narrative.
To force everything into a cultural reality that we don’t understand.
Homework
Homework
Finish if you haven’t already reading:
“Unit 1: Introduction: Sizing up the Task” (p.1-4)
“Bridging the Gaps: Facing the Challenges to Understanding” (p.4-5)
“Gaps Related to History” (p.6-14)
Reread “Induction v Deduction” [p. 35-38] (It may make more sense the second time around after we have talked about it.)
Consider the two biggest historical gaps you noted about your summer passages. Do some light study into those gaps and be ready to communicate something you learned that helps you “bridge the gap” and understand a little more about what was going on.
Work on answering the following questions for the book/books you are teaching from:
Who was the author?
Who was the audience?
When was the book written?
What is the primary purpose of the book?
