Adventures in Biblical Interpretation

Transcript

adventures in Bible x interpretation the if you read the blur x what I I'm going to give three examples x of different common types of how we uh x do Bible Study Bible x interpretation but the what I want to x really emphasize is less the conclusion x and look here's something cool I I found x but more about the process and how uh x are you seeing the uh Arrow here x yes we are good okay you keeping pet x ideas honest we all get oh that's a cool x idea what if this connects to that uh so x the idea I want to share is is uh how to x maybe be x critical of our own ideas of mine how x to uh what tools and methods we can use x when we're doing our Bible study and x creating classes or uh getting ideas to x make sure that uh they're probably valid x and if they're valid they're x useful not just some interesting piece x of information so uh before we start x with the x Bible x uh x okay the advancement is not x advancing oh there we go okay I'm going x to start with uh an x analogy x of how we would look at a work of art x there's a lot of similarities here in x looking at scripture and the the main x idea here is before you analyze a work x of x art the first thing you need to do and x there's a the Bible name for this and x I'm going to be throwing a few funny x words at you later but it's called exag x Jesus which is just determining what's x actually in the text in this case it's x it's an oil painting uh in the Bible x it's what's in the text you what what's x there what am I working with and I'll x I'll be seeing an example of that from x Genesis x one we looking at text well is it say x this or to say this because you can only x go as far as the text allows you to go x so in this painting here by Yan x verir uh one of the great Dutch x Masters x reason I'm showing this is this is a one x of his famous well they're all famous x paintings by vermier he was just just x fantastic artist she's holding a balance x in fact the painting is called woman x holding a x balance uh you may be able to determine x in the balance there's little kind of x shiny things in x there uh and for years our the x historians trying to figure out or ated x what's that is she weighing coins is she x weighing pearls is it just a reflection x on the metal pants is one actually x higher than the other just try to x determine what's what's actually in the x picture uh evidently the the uh x conclusion now rests on there's nothing x in the balance it's just x Reflections this was done by careful x chemical analysis of those little shiny x spots compared to the pearls over here x and the coins down there that uh it's x just a balance and it's balancing and x she's holding a x balance okay neat uh another uh x discussion has been right x there is this woman pregnant or not or x is that just some style or fashion she x was wearing uh so first they did you'd x have to decide what are we seeing x there's a cloth here there's pearls x there's coins uh what's in the x background here if you can make it out x this picture behind her is a picture of x the last judgment which of course was a x common a common theme for art European x art for for x centuries so once it's determined to say x okay we know when this painting was made x we know the general uh I idea of Dutch x art at the time the lot of symbolism x oh I say you know what's the warrant for x even proposing any x interpretation uh it's it just a picture x no it's it's got a lot of meaning x because that's that's what uh Dutch art x was or European art just it's full of x symbols so the idea of a woman holding a x balance the last judgment in the x background there's certainly some x message there what's the message well x we're not sure about that rier is not x here to tell us x uh what exactly it was or if he wanted x to leave it open is she uh one proposal x is she's uh depicting the Balanced Life x the ideal life or she's depicting the x vanity of of wealth because there's lots x of uh coins and Pearls there or she's x depicting uh x Prudence in business so different ideas x but they all depend on what exactly are x are we looking x at the next example here we're getting x closer to biblical x imagery x uh this guy here this uh I call a work x of art it probably was not intended to x be a work of art but a ceremonial work I x doubt if the Craftsman who made this x considered himself an artist as we would x consider x today but what is x this it was discovered nearly hundred x years ago it's from the Royal tombs of x Sumer it's found near the ancient city x of or it's probably dates from the time x of Abraham or or possibly earlier the x archaeologist who discovered actually x there's two there were two of x these x uh a fon kind of facing each other and x they were smashed this is a x reconstruction careful reconstruction x but these were found buried and of x course under 3,000 4,000 years of of uh x dirt and x compaction but they've been x reconstructed this there's one here x that's in the Philadelphia uh un excuse x me University of Pennsylvania museum in x Philadelphia and the other ones in the x British x museum the previous picture by vermier x by the way you can see in the National x Gallery in Washington x DC uh sir Leonard woy discovered this he x was the main excavator uh and he called x it Ram in a Thicket because it reminded x him or because it came from suaria and x it was attentively dated around the time x of Abraham and this looks like a ram and x this bush here so he called it a ram and x a x Thicket Well turns out that it's not a x ram and it's not a Thicket but the name x has stuck it's still called a ram in a x Thicket uh it's actually a goat uh if x you can see these Twisted horns it's x called a maror goat m a r k h o r maror x goat and this Thicket is uh plants been x identified I I don't recall what it x is and this animal is standing up it's x got its front legs on the on the the uh x uh St not the stem the trunk of the of x the plant here there's its head it's x standing up this thing looks like x feathers I don't know if it's supposed x to be a coat or ribs or whatever or it's x just a a fanciful Beast with x feathers uh it's most it's found in the x tombs Royal tombs x so uh it was probably thought to be some x type of ferary symbol or or or monument x to the uh x King uh x it's what I have heard this obviously x not my x field someone else talking about this x it's probably a fertility symbol and x that kind of makes sense as you can see x the the goat is kind of mounting this x and this bush or tree is identified as x some female fertility symbol and and the x goat is the the male fertility x symbol so whatever the x interpretation the idea is here uh x coming over to the text first you have x to figure out what it is it's not a ram x and a thick it's got nothing to do with x Abraham or or or uh uh an artwork x created to uh show that once you know x what it is then you can propose what it x means what's the possible representation x say is it a a commemoration of this or x is it say I'll go say it's a fertility x symbol or whatever whatever the x interpretation it has to be consistent x with historical and social context we x can't decide that this uh oh it's a goat x oh that means this is this is the x greatest of alltime sculptures or x something like that that's that's x totally out of time and place for for x what that was we can't you know impose x our ideas of goats and trees and and put x them back in history we have to read x interpretations out of not into any x object or text so that with that x introduction let's look x at uh the process of biblical x interpretation I got four x principles one is I'm going to use this x word called warrant x which means a cause a reason a x justification some prompt some x motivation for developing the line of x thought say what what uh impels us to x think that I should even look at this x and find it symbolic in the first place x and if so what line of thought I should x go what's taking me hopefully in there's x something inside the text that tells you x that and I'm going to look at some uh x warrants some examples of types of x warrant in the next slide x uh the next is this Bible word exog x Jesus which is what's the text actually x say what am I looking at am I looking at x a sculpture of a ram in a Thicket or of x a goat on on some type of uh other kind x of tree standing up in it not being x caught in it but actually uh mounting it x with the text we want to determine and x most of this is done for us because x we're reading English translations x already so already it's it's it's done x but some times we have reason to look x more carefully or or say well I don't x think this is saying you know it might x be another way of seeing this so we want x to look and make sure whatever text x we're working from that allows for the x interpretation that we're x doing the third principle of consistency x especially if using some kind of x symbolic ideas or x themes that it's consistent with other x uses that if uh you know for instance uh x you're following a theme of rainbows or x something like that and they usually x mean this and in some other context you x can't say well this rainbow is really x about fruit x salad where that's where' that come from x that's not consistent and if it's not x consistent you want to say that's x because in this instance it's a x sarcastic use or it's or it's uh there x might be reasons but consistency is x really important to not take any ideas x or symbols of x well for this purpose it's got to mean x this because that's what I'm trying to x say in aptness uh just the idea of x General uh I think this is pretty well x in place uh for most of us all the time x although I've certainly heard stuff that x sounds so bizarre you wonder x uh this the interpretation just fit in x with the context of what being taught of x the parable of Jesus do to fit in with x of what he might say in in general Bible x teaching so those are four General key x ideas now I talked about x uh x warrant x meaning x some positive reason for going the way I x want to go here here's what I uh mean by x that a warrant could be a precedent like x Messianic prophecies if you read in the x New x Testament and say Matthew is quoting a x Psalm in or x Isaiah then that's a precedent that's a x instance they say okay that gives me x reason to look at other Psalms or look x more carefully in this Psalm to find x other uh possibly x Messianic indications there or if Paul x says something x like is it for the bow that Paul uh that x that that the God cares about when he x says you shouldn't muzzle a excuse me x the ox when it Treads out the grain he x says is it for the ox you know he's x making a point and that's that gives you x to gives me say well that means that x it's fair game to look at other texts x like that and say you know maybe it's x not for the animals benefit maybe he's x trying to teach us x also so that's that's the idea of x precedent is is a a kind of a x warrant correlation of key words or x ideas in two different texts this is one x I can examine carefully in our last x third example and it's a very common one x is you're let's say you're reading x a x uh uh let's say a parable of Jesus and x you start noticing hey he uses this he x says this this does that possibly tie in x to where these words also occur x in some you know part of the life of x David is he pulling this out you know x where what's the background we see a lot x of that and that's a good warrant is you x see correlation of couple ideas from two x different text and say that's an x invitation to go further and see if x those texts are x connected resolving apparent x contradictions the one text says this x the other says that that's certainly a x warrant to look at them say why does he x say in one place he who is not with me x is against me and another place says he x who is not against me is for x me you so you look at the context that x that's certainly an invitation to x interpret and figure out what's going x on anything that's obviously x symbolic of like the Revelation say well x I know I can't just take this as it is x it's not literal what does it mean so a x lot of symbolic texts are invitations or x warrants for x interpretation poetry x Parables uh are Al almost always x invitations to look further and say what x might this x mean you read a a metaphoric statement x like circumcise the forkin of your x hearts what does that mean you don't x your heart doesn't have a forkin and if x it did you don't want to circumcise your x heart with a flint kn you know this is x nasty uh it's got to have some other x meaning so any any type of statement x like that is certainly an invitation or x warrant for interpreting what it might x actually the message might x be our last one is filling in the dots x what connecting the dots uh all the x historical narratives are necessarily x highly compacted x and what actually is happening on the x ground in between point a and point B in x the life of Jesus life of David Samson x you talk any historical uh narrative x text there just a lot of stuff to fill x in and those are certainly what I would x call a warrant for interpretation and x creating uh the x narrative so here's the three I'm going x to pause a little bit later for x uh uh x questions right now x I do want to introduce this three common x modes of interpretation these are my x three examples what I mean by a common x mode is x uh a theme Bible classes Bible studies x often are based on a theme a key word or x a key idea and you want to take it from x the beginning to the end from Dan de be x Sheba uh fill it out all the places x where this idea or this uh you know word x uh maybe it's a place a place name and x you trace it and you go all the way x through that that's one of our i' say x common or principle uh methods of of of x developing Bible Exposition and I'm x going to look at an example of that and x then have look at it critically to see x if that's x valid symbolic language and metaphors is x clearly another one run into that a lot x and one of my examples will be on that x and what I call I'm going to introduce a x big fat word for this later uh x scriptural self- reference that those uh x correlations between text where you say x you discover that x uh a parable of Jesus is is based on x some some incident in the Old Testament x or uh stuff like that're going look at a x correlation between a Psalm and a x historical x event x so here's the first one and for all you x New England folk up there I I don't know x who this guy is uh probably some of you x do I do know he's wearing a Boston x uniform Michael x Napoli Mike napol okay is he still with x the team he is not but he won a World x Series with them okay so he's okay to uh x put on there absolutely he had a lot of x home runs in his time here David good x player okay good I I kind of chose it x because I wanted to see a picture of x going for the fences you know hitting it x from Dand beer she but just knocking it x out of the park and that guy looked like x a x brute and he's got a swing there and x that is a some home run that he hit uh x and it's a nice picture too I like the x composition and the x uh the uh the power that's shown and the x angle here this way and this way X nice x nice Val anyway uh that's what we want x to look for hitting it out so you get a x theme and you start it in Genesis and x you say how far can I go with this it's x it's a good way to get excited about x something and develop it and take some x little seed of an idea so here's the one x I'm going to work x with and it's going to start with it's x Genesis 111 as I said this this word x it's a good word to know um exag Jesus x it's different than interpretation it x comes before interpretation it's just x getting getting the facts right and then x I like I say you know what's actually in x the picture what am I looking x at so this text here is about the x vegetation that comes out of the dry x land when the waters are part and the x dry land appears x and I'm going to show you x three x different uh renderings of this verse x and say deciding you know which one is x most likely representing what's intended x in the text is becomes a matter of EX x aesus not interpreting what this means x just say what is it actually x saying so the x ESV says let the Earth Sprout vegetation x plants yielding seed and fruit trees x bearing fruit in which is their x seed vegetation comma he okay there's x vegetation x now the x NIV looking at exactly the same Hebrew x text but makes a punctuation that x changes vastly what it's being said let x the land produce x vegetation x colon seed bearing plants and trees on x the land that bear fruit so this one x here has vegetation plants yielding you x think was that three different things x or is x vegetation a general CL class of which x these two are x specific same text but two different x ways of rendering it the Third x Way in the KJV or the x nkjv makes it x explicit let the Earth bring forth grass x the word translated vegetation now is x rendered x grass the herb that yields seed and the x fruit tree that yields fruit according x to its kind whose seed is in x itself so you look at the same Hebrew x text and you got three options here are x we dealing x with a general category in two different x specific types of plants or is it this x Sprout vegetation whatever that might be x and plants and fruit or is this actually x grass herbs and fruit x trees uh you can look at the words and x probably not come to a x conclusion you can look at x the comparative days of creation and see x well which one kind of matches up with x the Stars or the or the sea animals or x the land animals or how God works it's x uh it's it's I say uh is a reason why x these are different because I think all x of them are x possible it's a it's a difficult matter x of EX x Jesus but my x opinion x is that it's three different things I x think this matches up most clearly with x the other creative days and also it has x this feature which is uh very distinctly x in it says x grass herbs that yield seed so the x second description is longer and then x the trees that bear fruit that contain x seeds so that's clearly three different x types of things even though this first x word that's can be rendered grass can x also mean green stuff it's even more x General than that it's hard hard to x explain how in English um it's actually x the noun cognate of the verb where it x says let the Earth bring forth It's like x let the Earth bring forth stuff that x comes forth it's uh but in Hebrew that's x uh knowing how sometimes words are kind x of generic but I think this is probably x where it's going so once I make a a x determination that this is what the text x is is there now I can work and say well x okay grass herbs trees is there anything x to go beyond x that uh just take it as it is and you x know okay let's move on to the fourth x day and see what's what's coming up x there uh so this is what to me I saw x this and I looked at this many many many x many many years x ago and decided to take it from Dand de x beir Sheba I was going to knock this one x out of the park x uh so first thing I noticed x was that these three represented the x kind of three General uh yes I took x plant ecology in college one of my x favorite classes yeah there's Ground x Covers there's midstory things like x bushes and there's the canopy layer I x said oh that's interesting God's got an x ecological picture here that's really x cool in the x uh the Earth comes forth the dry land x shows up and it's not just got plants x but it's like this this is a good x science here he he's got a great story x and then I took it to the next step I x said well what kind of x plants might these x be in the in a agricultural context x well there's x grains there's shrubs and Vines and x bushes and there's fruit x trees and biblically or I have edible or x edible what the what what's being x pictured x here x is grain uh wheat or barley or any x grain that's the x grass the x herbs have uh primarily in the Bible is x talking about grape Vines and the tree x the main tree is the Olive Tree that x yields olives that yields olive oil so x that's x where uh pardon the p the seed of all x this is in Genesis x 1:1 that that's where it's it's hinting x at and of course the very beginning x way so you have this picture now or this x interpretation the dry ground ground x land arises out of the sea remember the x water see my waving my hands here uh the x the x uh and its purpose was x oh my goodness did I do that oh get rid x of that apostrophe I'm x sorry that's horrible mistake um its x purpose was to bear x fruit and this becomes x now a symbol when when we because a lot x of places you read in the Bible about x the Grain and the wine and the x oil uh for instance this passage from x Deuteronomy if you serve him with all x your heart and all your soul Soul he x will give you rain that you may Gather x in your grain and your wine and your oil x this is a reference back to Genesis 111 x of the creation of the dry ground or the x the Earth the same name for the the land x uh the land of Israel that's in there x and in places where Israel disobeys x God uh like this Prophecy from Joel the x the grain is destroyed the wine dries up x the oil x languishes uh there's a number of places x where you x read of that type of x text and what it's say here di in beers x Sheba now you know gen Genesis 101 is x home plate I'm really mixing these x metaphors amazingly or that's Dan and x I'm going all the way to BBA with this x I'm is x that what we see way back in Genesis 111 x about these three categories of grain x coming out of the land it's a picture of x baptism it's a picture of Israel going x or Israel coming out through the Red Sea x God wants to see fruit the fruit of the x spirit if if you develop that I will x take care of you that's that's a x symbol and when Israel doesn't develop x fruit it's it's it's thought God is is x taking it away they've already done that x the grain destroyed it's because they x have not brought for forth the fruit of x the spirit that they become cursed so x it's a symbol both of natural and x spiritual x Israel okay that's where I took it but x it's all based on if there's actually x those three categories in Genesis if x that's the right ex of Jesus then I'm x justified in going here not 100% sure x that is correct I'm pretty sure I look x at that a lot and I in my mind well is x it there is it not there it's a great x story if it is there but uh I'm not 100% x convinced if if that indeed if those x three things are indeed indicated by the x the text in Genesis 111 then I think x this is x valid uh and it's hard not to see it uh x it's also hard not to see this and then x not look back at Genesis 1 11 and and x have that kind of twist my mind into x believing that's got to be what it says x because here's where it go you know x that's probably not the best way to to x interpret scriptures you know justify x our conclusion that say well it's got to x be there because this rest of this looks x so good well maybe it is but I really x think it is and I really suggest when x you see this or different combinations x when he says like the fruit tree and x your loaf uh or your your all Orchard x and your wine Vats will will dry up x there a lot of different ways this is x stated but it's all I'm quite sure uh a x spiritual an important spiritual lesson x for x us okay let's look at the second x example x okay I'll explain this word an idiote x guide to idioms decoding idioms in other x symbolic language but sometimes the x Sheep is just the Sheep x uh I I will not comment on how much this x sheep does resemble uh Sullivan but if x you look at these eyebrows x here it's it's hard to mistake it x um sometimes a sheep is a sheep x sometimes a sheep represents us so how x do you x know what's what what are the rules x here does anybody uh know why I put this x word in here an idiote besides it's a x litera of ID idiotes x guide that's a Bible x word it occurs in Acts x 4:13 uh when Peter was and the disciples x were speaking in the temple after I x think it's after they were arrested put x in jail God out they speaking the temple x and it says when they perceived that x these were uneducated common men they x they they wondered and then they knew x that they had been with Jesus that word x for common men the Greek word there is x this word x idiotes from of course we get our our x English term x idiot but that's not how the word x started it's it meant originally a a x citizen who was not of uh a a public x servant you had like important people x and then you had regular people com x common people so the x they're that they were they were the x idiotes or or Ordinary People common x people people of no office but just x they're like the x pawns or x uh and then of x course down through years in history and x language change it became something else x so this just a plain guide to idioms for x ordinary folk like x us the idiomatic language I want to look x at comes from the promises to Abraham x what's our x time what I don't have x a six and x nine okay we're x good there are three the first time God x promises anything about the x seed he said in Genesis 13:16 right x after uh Abraham and lot separate and he x says I will make your seed as the dust x of the x Earth and uh using that x dust as a symbol x for x uh multitude multiplicity he says it's I x make your seed dirty no so if you can if x you can count the grains of your dirt x you can count your x seed x so the warrant for even looking into x this would be well that's that seems x like a hyperbolic x statement x that's the I mean that's uncountable x that that's totally unrealistic no one x can have that many descendants so we x might want to look at that but the next x time God promises something to x Abraham uh in this critically important x text it's I think quoted four different x places the New Testament Abraham x believed God and God counted him as x righteousness and he says I'll make your x seed this is what Abraham believed when x God said I'll make your seed is the x stars of heaven and I'm x imagining uh 1500 or so 2,000 BC there's x not a heck of a lot of light pollution x Abraham is seeing Stars uh a thousand x stars for everyone that we can see it x must have been amazing just absolutely x amazing what the uh on a moonless night x a clear night moonless night what what x the heavens would have looked like x uh to to ancient x peoples so the warrant for you say why x would I want to look into this well yeah x it's it's hyperbole no one could have x that many seed the stars of Heaven might x be easier to count uh CU you look up x there see x 1111 but the the dust of the Earth but x it's still you know clearly uh x hyperbolic and plus it's different for x what he said before so that you got two x reasons for wanting to look into this x I I wouldn't say it's a contradiction to x what he said before but it's we got to x figure this out is it like the dust of x the Earth the Stars x Heaven God comes to Abraham a third time x this one is after the uh the offering or x the not offering of x Isaac and God says to Abraham because x you've obeyed my voice and you proven x yourself faithful to me now for the x third time he says this I will make your x seed x oh there's another type oh not the x starts of Heaven the stars of Heaven and x the sand upon the x seashore so now we got a third one added x here one's been repeated and one's been x added so the word for say get x interpreting we got three different x metaphors and they're x all x clearly hyperboles and this x one I'm to my mind x is got to be the most hyper counting x grains of x sand I mean even in a in a tiny amount x you know handful of sand you think of x the the seashore the whole x oceans that's a it's probably not as x many as there are stars in in the x universe but visibly I to me this is the x most x impactful uh metaphor x so what do you do with these x three you the seed is x Promised uh with three different x promises and three x different uh metaphors make your seed as x numerous as the dust of the Earth the x stars of heaven and sand upon the x seashore so we we we say we're dealing x with symbolic x language we're dealing with hyperboles x in three different ones this is just a x matter of God emphasizing something x and as if to say well if you think the x dust of the earth is hard to count try x the stars of heaven and you think that's x hard to count try the sand on the x seashore but the last one has stars of x Heaven and the sand those are two are x together in the Genesis 22 reference x so maybe he's trying to make it even x harder to count and over against all x that there a huge x contradiction which x is what does Paul say in Galatians about x the seed x anyone is the seed numerous Paul x says say it's one one x right it's clearly you've got Paul x says and and he makes this point the x seed is not many but it's one was Jesus x so there's a huge contradiction here not x only these idic x but you Paul's read this a few hundred x times he he knows these x metaphors and he's saying the seed is x not many it's all about x Jesus so I would say that's a x contradiction at least on the surface x it's obviously not a contradiction in in x meaning but it's really weird to see x this in the in Genesis this threefold x repetition x of really great metaphors of x uncountability dust of the earth stars x of Heaven sand of the x seashore and then Paul says oh yeah by x the way that's all talking about just x Jes it's not doesn't mean a lot means x just it's all about Jesus so what do you x do with x this that's what I say that's that's a x clear warrant to look into it here's x what I what I did with x it uh okay we got to apply these idioms x to Jesus Paul says this though this is x about Jesus so in some way we got to uh x find that somehow this points to Jesus x this describes Jesus so let's let's go x go from x here those first two figures I don't x think are uh we're familiar with as a x qualitative items I'm not talking about x quantity like a number but x dust is refers to things of the earth x and x stars are Heavenly things in First x Corinthians he you ex ex x explicates that idea you got dust mortal x Heavenly x Immortal and you say okay we're on the x right track here because Jesus was both x both of the dust and and and of the x stars and he had you know an Earthly x sense and a Heavenly uh Constitution uh x born of God inside a mortal woman so x we're okay there I think getting x someplace sand on the x seashore the sand on the seashore is uh x not used as often as those figures and x it doesn't show up in the New Testament x but if you look at the references where x it does show up in the Old x Testament It's associated x with a a concepts of authority rulership x and x Dominion Jeremiah this text here says I x placed this sand as a Bound for the sea x that it should go no more and if you x take the sea for its symbolic meaning x you know unruly peoples and the sand x rules the seashore rules it first K 29 x is about Solomon's wisdom that God gave x him wisdom as the sand on the seashore x so he could govern his people it's about x governance these two references here are x about uh armies that are described as as x numerous as the sand on the seashore uh x sub military Authority in that x case there's not a whole lot of places x and there are some par not parallel but x partial x there's a lot of places that just talk x about sand there's a lot of placees talk x about sand of the sea but this specific x one here sand on the seash shore uh got x if you just restrict it to that you get x a consistent picture of how that is used x and now we can say well yeah okay we can x see how this would apply to Jesus he x is uh you know mortal person he's x Immortal and he is certainly the x authority the ruler the man who's given x all things uh God gave him dominion over x all things so I I think we're on on the x right track here but taking it one more x step in looking at these three now as I x say three chronological aspects of of x Jesus that he came first as IM mortal x human after his resurrection he is x Immortal he is now as the stars of x Heaven at the right hand of God when he x returns he still Immortal but now x returning as a ruler and those two were x those two figures of speeech x the the stars of heaven and sand on the x seashore were joined to together in x Genesis 22 so that third x prophecy now would describe Jesus after x his x return so x this all fits together together it x correlates it makes a nice x story uh I think it's really x cool but looking at it critically you'd x have to x say would Abraham have any idea what x that was all about was this just written x for our sake does this make any sense x without all the other Bible references x it's just something that was written you x know how would this this uh metaphoric x idea been important to to people who x didn't have judges or Joshua first king x to read to see how it's just used in x scripture uh so again I have a little uh x you know x reservation or maybe I should maybe it's x okay just say no this was you Abraham x got what he got out of it and we get x what he we can see it because we don't x have the God talking to us directly God x talks to us through through a scripture x and this is how he does it so like the x previous one Genesis it makes it's x terrific I like the outcome uh the x validity of it is it anything more than x just well it matches up and that's cool x or is there uh you know real reason to x believe that that was intentional it's x hard to believe it's not intentional x very many x occurrences and the one we're looking x for is specifically sand on the seashore x or talking about the the sea shore not x just sand in in the sea x Authority rulership or Dominion where do x I get that Jeremiah 522 if you look at x that says I place the sand as the Bound x for the sea that it should uh go no x further the idea being that the seashore x confines or has uh rulership over the x the waves in the sea and we usually take x and I think with good reason the idea of x the waves in the sea is to be x just people doing their people thing the x the uh uh what you call the the masses x people acting like just humans but the x sea has the sea shore the sand has x Authority First Kings 429 that reference x was Solomon prayed for wisdom and God x says Solomon prayed for wisdom that I x might govern this people and the wisdom x that God gave him was described as as x the sand on the seashore x the metaphor there was x the his wisdom was to be used for x governing rulership over his x people these two references I believe x there's a third one uh this one x describes the uh Canaanite armies and x this one describes the midianite armies x in Judges x 7 but it says that they they came x against Israel as the sand on the x seashore so those in military context to x uh describe the power let's say of those x armies does that help Bob yeah yeah I'll x look into that some more x yeah see this other references just x talks about the the the sand and they're x less x specific don't have as much to go on say x this is not as sturdy as as these ideas x is the Dustin Heavenly which is you know x pretty clear but it's there and it is in x the promised Abraham so why did he x include that and it just so happens x those three promises happen to match up x uh with Jesus as Immortal Jesus after x his resurrection and Jesus as the x immortal x ruler okay third x example x intertextuality you like that x word great word it's clean word don't x worry about it uh you know if you find x out the cyc did intertextuality don't x worry about it that's okay uh it means x just comparing scripture scripture x finding out it it's a technical term x that's used not just the Bible but in x literary criticism about the dependency x of one text upon another the influence x of uh one x text it's just a big word CES viel and x is a big word that means big word I love x that word too finding connections and I x I call this the Holy Grail of Bible x study it's like one of the neatest x things you find is when you can line up x say look at all these things that are x mentioned here and it uh you know it x turns out that Peter's uh the the day of x Pentecost you know just matches up with x all these cool things I can find back in x Genesis and things like that uh great x stuff so we're going to look at example x there x 91 he who dwelleth in the secret place x of the most high shall abide under the x shadow of the x Almighty I will say of the Lord he is my x refuge in my Fortress my God in him will x I trust surely he shall deliver thee x From The Snare of the Fowler from the x noisome pestilence he shall cover thee x with his feathers and under his wings x shall thou trust his truth shall be thy x shield and buckler Thou shalt not be x afraid for the terror by night nor for x the arrow that flyth by day nor for the x pestilence that walketh in darkness nor x for the destruction that wasteth that x Noonday thousands shall fall by thy side x and 10,000 at the right hand it shall x not come near thee Only With Thine Eyes x shall thou behold and see the reward of x the wicked because thou Hast made the x Lord who is my refuge even the most high x thy habitation x shall no evil befall thee neither shall x any plague come near thy x dwelling but he shall give his angels x charge over thee to keep thee in all thy x ways they shall bear thee up in their x hands lest thou Dash thy foot against a x stone and thou shalt tread upon the lion x and Adder the Young Lion and the serpent x thou shall trample under feet because he x hath set his love upon me therefore will x I Del deliver him I will set him on high x because he hath known my name he shall x call upon me and I will answer him I x will be with him in trouble I will x deliver him and honor him with long life x will I satisfy him and show him my x salvation great x thanks so that that Psalm is you know x just one of the really nice psalms about x God's protection I think it's specific x it's not just talking in general about x you know bad things happening and that x God's going to take care of you and x stuff like that uh x it's suggestion is that this Psalm is x written with the seeds of Jerusalem in x mind uh but just go through some of the x the highlights or key x points that Yahweh my refuge and my x Fortress my God in whom I trust I will x deliver him I will protect him because x he knows my name there's an emphas there x not just knowing god knowing my name x Yahweh the x deliverence deadly x pestilence God's faithfulness here is x liken to a defense a shield in the x buckler there's a terror of the night x and the arrow that flies by x day thousands 10 thousands dying but not x coming near you is it starting to see x the picture here maybe you will look and x see the recompense of the x wicked and this last one being delivered x From The Snare of the x Fowler so compare x that x with some of the thing the phrases that x show up these are mostly taken from the x second King's account but it's in Second x Kings it's in Isaiah and it's in in 2 x Chronicles too we have three different x accounts of this x uh but just in I just in Second Kings x alone three times the rabsha or the x representative sakb says to the people x of Jerusalem don't trust in Yahweh to x deliver x you three times don't do that uh there's x a backstory there but clearly it says x the psalm says I will deliver him x because he knows my x name don't trust Yahweh that CLE clearly x matches x up I will defend my city the city for my x own x sake matches up with this idea I am your x shield and x buckler you that's specific phrase where x they say don't let this is what the the x Assyrians Ambassador says don't let x Hezekiah deceive You by saying Yahweh x will deliver x you but it's x clear the Yahweh did deliver them I will x deliver him and protect him because he x knows my x name of course that famous famous x statement when people Rose in the x morning behold these were all dead x bodies they looked over the city wall x the whole Camp of Syria was dead matches x up with you will look and see the x recompense of the x wicked tens of thousands slain 185,000 x Assyrians x this spe God said to Hezekiah via Isaiah x he shall not come into the city or shoot x an x arrow specific x reference you will not fear the tear of x the night nor the arrow that flies by x day uh yeah look at the x slain the pestilence of course was x during the night that's when the angel x of the Lord came and slew them there's x the tear of the night the air of the x Flies by day but that would not x come upon them this last one here is not x in the Bible but it's really worth x noting in the psalm it says the God will x deliver You From The Snare of the Fowler x this statement here I shut him up like a x bird in a cage that is the actual words x of x sakb it's not in the Bible where it's x recorded is on a historical uh Monument x that's been x Unearthed and of course it's in the x British museum you they stole a lot of x good stuff from them at least in a uh x object called the tailor prism if you x look up Taylor prism or it's also called x I think the sakb prism or the steel of x sakb but it has a x history that very much parallels all the x victories of sakar up into to The Siege x of Jerusalem and it says I shut him x Hezekiah up like a bird in a x cage because they did have Jerusalem x surrounded the psalm says I'll deliver x You From The Snare of the Fowler the x bird keeper and that's where the uh by x the way the that's the last thing that's x written in these types of uh ancient x irishan monuments you you're not going x to read about their failures this but x it's really telling to to read the x script or the translation of the script x of on the Taylor prism of everything all x the victories and then he gets up to x this point where he's got Jerusalem and x Siege and then it stops and well we're x not going to talk about the rest of that x stuff okay so you look at a list like x this x and it's kind of hard to not think that x this Psalm 91 is written with this in x mind if you want to go The Next Step was x written by Hezekiah written by Isaiah I x I certainly couldn't say that or by x somebody familiar with it or somebody x using this history as a basis for this x uh but that leads us to some of x the x expositional how do you do x intertextuality like x this how many x links War do like if there's just x two or three is that connection or not x how many do you need you know you can x use the uh the uh the Goldfinger rule x you know that x one famous line from uh one of the x inflaming James Bond books once is x coincidence now once is happen stance x twice is coincidence the third time is x enemy x action uh or design x intention is there three is there five x is there six obviously the more the x better but you know that that's the uh a x question that's not all yet we're not x there linking words how specific you x know that word arrow is kind of specific x uh I think it's not uh so that that's x something to weigh too are are there x really things that don't show up a whole x lot you know words like death and life x up a lot uh armies show up a lot but is x something more the arrow that flies by x day that kind of seems to me worthy of x looking x twice if you see a few specific links x does that invite looser associations the x S says uh I'll reward him with long life x so do you want to extend that say well x yeah hezekiah's life was extended 15 x years after that it's it's inviting to x think that way uh I don't know I don't x want to push that too hard but I want to x keep myself honest here so I'll think x that x way and look at it and if there is a x design this is maybe the most important x if psalm91 really was written with that x in mind what's the value for us is this x just a curious piece of hey that's cool x just you know I can mark up my Bible now x and or I can make a good Bible class x with it or does this help me uh x understand God's care for me God's care x for Israel is there there's got to be a x spiritual lesson we don't want to ever x do these list of connections from one x text to another and just say wow that is x so cool maybe that is its own benefit is x just seeing how the Bible depends on x each other but that to me is a a key key x key item is taking any of these x conclusion say well now that I know this x how does that benefit my my uh my x development of my spiritual life so x there's three different ways of looking x at scriptures three types of conclusions x that I've come to or tentative x conclusions that look good but always x invite x say uh x further investigation you don't want to x be push things but I want to see x everything that is in there that the x Bible's got to offer me