Notes for Interpretation of the Old Testament – First Lecture"Old Testament Interpretation"Prayer: Psa 119:1-8Review of syllabusWhat we will not be doing….  "how to use the Bible in preaching sermons" "how to come up with quick and easy Sunday School lessons" "Finding out how to 'apply' the Bible to situations…."1. "Apply" is too crude a concept… Band-Aid…Cheese…Spackling…2. Assumes that it is the situation that is, ultimately, what is important. WRONG!3. Puts me at the center of the process…my context and desires and understandings and beliefs and presuppositions and needs and wants constitute the reason why the Bible was written. WRONG!a. Perhaps, instead of "applying Scripture to our situation" we should "apply ourselves to the Scriptures"… more on that later…What will we be doing? (1) Interpretation of the (2) Old TestamentWhat is the Old Testament?First part of the BibleCalled hai graphai, the "Writings" or "Scriptures" in the NTCalled Hebrew Bible, Hebrew Scriptures, First Testament, Jewish Scriptures, those names, or Old Testament, by me… (Not Old=Bad…New=Good…)Anthology…Collection of Writings that have some sort of “center”Collection of writings that date to somewhere @ 1300 yearsLongest continuous intellectual tradition in the WestThe Interpretive traditions were well underway during the time of HomerGreat classic of 3 major faithsThe central text for this class -- explainWhat is Interpretation? That is the real question, isn't it?This class is not titled Old Testament Survey or Old Testament Introduction for a reasonNot simply a review of basic facts of the Biblenor an overview of historical facts and figures of the text and the communities that shaped it.We are interested in aiding interpretation“To interpret” is a verb…it is something you have to dothis class is more like vocational education than it is like a literature classConsidering how we do something…How we read words on a page and make sense out of themhow we find meaning in…and through…themThe Bible--because of its importanceits messages,its complexityits centralityis a book that demands not just to be read…but to be interpreted.2 Peter 1:20–2:3 20 First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, 21 because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.NRS 2 Peter 2:1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive opinions. They will even deny the Master who bought them-- bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Even so, many will follow their licentious ways, and because of these teachers the way of truthwill be maligned. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation, pronounced against them long ago, has not been idle, and their destruction is not asleep.“One’s own interpretation” is often used to force a singular interpretation…often of a leader.Yikes! Just a class at Perkins?? What we will be doing is a matter of life and death! Something having to do with destruction and redemption…something at the crux of life as we know it.How do we counter the destruction? How do we counter the condemnation?Interpretation occurs in a community….not individually. It is something we all do. Yet in this class we will be intentional about doing together.This is a dangerous text….because when people get together to read this text…one of two things occurs:Those people are joined together in community.Those people split into fragments.Look at those people on the right and left. There will not be just faces…there will be a community here. Yet…destruction is always at the door.It is these texts that bind us together.Since this is a class…interpretation of the Old Testament isn’t like breathing or blinking or eating. There must be something to substantial to think about. What are the problems?Problems of OT Study1. Traditional use in churches- virtually ignored portions- minimal acquaintance with those that are known – not a lot of “depth”- contents require a lot of background knowledge- Confusion of familiarity and understanding- Works across the board…with my wife…kids…appreciation- This is probably the biggest obstacle in understanding the Old Testament for most people- Calvin = Assumption of the perspicacity of Scripture- Meaning of the Bible is obvious…clear…- On a certain level…it is right- But on a certain level…it undercuts any sort of engagement with the text- Can lead, in fact, to disengagement with the Bible- Memory verses – Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness (Psa 96:9)- Metaphor of recipes- they are not meant to be memorized but followed- don’t “apply them”…but actually use them…use them as a guide to produce something2. Contents- disturbing parts (New Testament is also disturbing!)- violent- not politically correct- endorses forms of human oppression- prurient and sexually explicit (English is less explicit than Hebrew!)- in response, most people simply select the parts they like- cf. Marcion's Bible – put it in the “circular file”- one of the first opinions of the early church that was declared a heresy- superseded by the New Testament3. Language- the fact is that the Old Testament was not written in English- This fact cannot be overestimated- We can slough off the problems of translation by calling it Hebrew Bible- on the other hand, the church, unlike the Mosque in regards to the Quran, has always affirmed that a translation of the bible is as authoritative as the text in the original language- This is mostly true because the Hebrew used in the Bible is often obscure- Often doesn't make much sense…none at all…- Job and Song of Songs…- Translators try to squeeze some meaning out and put it in natural language:- NRSV Isaiah 29:1 Ah, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add year to year; let the festivals run their round. 2 Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be moaning and lamentation, and Jerusalem shall be to me likean Ariel.- Nobody knows what an “ariel” is.- Moreover, conventions of writing and storytelling are different from the times when the bible was edited and compiledHow do we deal with these problems?Two ways:1) Relate the Old Testament to the community by making it relevant- See the difficulties as illusory-