Interpreting the Bible: Old Testament Interpretation I. Introduction A. The Old Testament is a highly relevant part of the Bible to our faith B. How, though, are we to go about interpreting it? 1. How is it similar to how we would read the New Testament? 2. What differences are there that we should keep in mind? C. Let us spend some time, then, looking into how we ought to interpret the Old Testament II. First Interpretation Level: Message to Direct Audience A. As we look at how we are to interpret the Old Testament, we can discern from the Scriptures four levels of interpretation 1. Not every passage will require all four levels, but they all nevertheless exist 2. As always, we must read to understand the text first B. The first level of interpretation is to consider the message to the direct audience 1. When we first read a passage in the Old Testament, we must first consider to whom the material is written to directly 2. Example: Exodus 20: immediate audience of the Ten Commandments are the Israelites in the wilderness 3. Isaiah: writes directly to Israelites of the 8th-6th centuries C. Part of understanding the text is understanding the operating covenant 1. The Old Testament contains history of many covenant periods 2. Genesis-Exodus 20, for instance, records information about the events during a the covenant with Noah and the covenant with Abraham 3. We must make sure to keep this in mind when interpreting the text 4. Example: Judah and Tamar, Genesis 38 a. While this text has many difficulties in really understanding exactly what God thinks about this circumstance, we must remember to not hold Judah accountable to the Law of Moses! b. The Law had not yet been given; Judah lives under the covenant between God and Abraham/Isaac/Jacob c. Let us not be guilty of anachronism, holding Judah accountable to a standard under which he did not live! D. The first level of interpretation, then, helps us to understand the text in its particular time and place context III. Second Interpretation Level: Message to Later Israelites A. Once we have seen a passage in its original context, we can then see as to whether there is a message present for Israelites at a later period B. Example: the Sabbath 1. In Genesis 2:2-3, we read how God rested from His creation on the seventh day 2. The first level of interpretation indicates simply that the author explains that there was nothing created the seventh day, and indeed God rested entirely 3. In Exodus 20:9-11, moreover, we see this concept applied to the Israelites later, establishing the purpose of the seventh day rest for the Israelites 4. The second level of interpretation of Genesis 2:2-3, then, shows that later Israelites saw the text as the reason for the Sabbath observance C. This second level of interpretation is critical for a holistic understanding 1. Why not just have Genesis 2:2-3 refer to the Sabbath observance directly? 2. Hebrews 4:1-11, however, also presents an application of Genesis 2:2-3, this time showing how the Sabbath rest of the Israelites was the shadow of the true Sabbath rest of Heaven, where mankind rests entirely just as God did 3. This example demonstrates, then, that the event may have different implications for Israelites and Christians, and therefore the Israelite implication is not to be taken as the exclusive understanding of the text! D. At other times, seeing the history of interpretation of a given text and how it was applied in days gone by may provide assistance in how we understand the text E. We can see, then, that it is important to see a text not just in terms of its own timeframe but also how God and the Israelites later perceived the text IV. Third Interpretation Level: References to Christ A. Having established an Old Testament passage's relevance to its timeframe and also to later Israelites, one can seek to find as to whether there are references to Christ B. Luke 24:27, Acts 17:2-3, Acts 18:28, Romans 1:2-5: the Old Testament Scriptures are powerful references to Christ, and were constantly used to show how Jesus was the Christ C. Acts 8:27-39: Philip preaches Jesus to the eunuch based on Isaiah 53 D. We see Christ referred to in the Old Testament in types and in prophecy E. Types 1. Types refer to shadow/substance (Colossians 2:17) 2. 1 Corinthians 10:4: the Rock as Christ 3. In the OT, we can see how many of the great men of faith are somehow types of Christ 4. Moses as the leader of the people, giving the Law, type of Christ (cf. Deuteronomy 18:15-19) 5. Elijah and Elisha as prophets able to do signs from God, type of Christ (cf. 1-2 Kings) F. Prophecies 1. Prophecies, of course, represent a prophet's foretelling of the circumstances of Jesus 2. Born of a virgin, for instance (Isaiah 7:14) 3. To be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) 4. To suffer and die (Isaiah 53) 5. To be raised on the third day (Jonah 1, Hosea 6:2) G. We can see for a certainty, then, that the Old Testament teaches us much about the Christ in types and prophecies (cf. Galatians 3:19-25) V. Fourth Interpretation Level: Modern Message/Application A. After establishing the understanding of the message of a text to the original recipients, to later Israelites, and whatever references may exist to Christ, we can then establish what we can gain from the passage in terms of our own faith B. We must enter this phase of interpretation properly! C. The Old Testament is not designed for us to establish new covenant doctrinal truth! 1. Ephesians 2:11-18 2. Colossians 2:14-17 3. Hebrews 7-9 4. All of these passages show strongly that the old covenant has been superseded by the new covenant in the blood of Christ 5. We were not under the old covenant, nor are under it, and therefore are not amenable to its regulations 6. Just because something was right to do in the Old Testament does not mean that we can just directly apply it to ourselves today-- such does not respect the covenant distinction present in the Bible! D. Many who hear this think that we believe the Old Testament to be worthless E. Such is not the case! F. There are many purposes for the Old Testament! G. We have already seen one-- the Old Testament points to Christ and helps us understand Him H. The Old Testament also is designed to give us instruction (Romans 15:4, 1 Corinthians 10:1-11) 1. Paul speaks of the "fathers" in the wilderness (cf. Exodus-Deuteronomy), despite the fact that Corinth was a church of Gentiles not related by blood to such persons 2. Regardless, Paul instructs the Corinthians to not do as they did! 3. The Old Testament, then, is full of instruction about the nature of God, and serves to illustrate many of the principles of the New Testament 4. Warning about making small changes to God's will? Consider Jeroboam the son of Nebat (1 Kings 12) 5. Warning about not fully reforming oneself? Consider Jehu (2 Kings 9-11) 6. These, and many other examples, help to teach us I. Not just instruction, but encouragement and hope 1. Romans 15:4 expresses the hope that can be gained in the OT 2. Hebrews 11 reinforces this, demonstrating how the past examples of faith can build us up and prod us on to greater heights in Christ Jesus 3. We can gain encouragement from the messages of the Old Testament J. The Old Testament is even profitable to reinforce New Testament doctrine (2 Timothy 3:15-17) 1. While we must always remember that we do not obtain doctrine from the Old Testament, the text is still "profitable for doctrine" 2. We can see plenty of times in the New Testament where the message of the author is reinforced by passages from the Old Testament 3. 1 Corinthians 9:6-9: reference to the OT as reinforcing Paul's ability to be paid to preach the Gospel 4. 1 Corinthians 14:34: attestation of the law saying that women are to be silent 5. 1 Timothy 2:11-15: Paul's guidelines about women's submissiveness grounded in Adam as being first created and Eve having sinned first 6. We can see, then, that the OT can help to demonstrate why something is true under the new covenant 7. Still, we must always remember to say that "x is true from y NT passage and is also seen in z OT passage," making sure that the practice is truly authorized by the NT, and not just based in the OT K. It is manifest, then, that the Old Testament is far from worthless: there is much that we can learn and understand from its pages! VI. Conclusion A. We have established principles from the Scriptures by which we can interpret the Old Testament B. We are to first understand the message as presented to the immediate audience C. We can then see if the message applies to Israelites later D. We can find what references may exist to Jesus as the Christ E. We can then see what instruction, encouragement, or reinforcement of NT doctrine we can gain from the passage F. In this way we can properly handle the Old Testament and learn much of God from it G. Let us seek to understand the Old Testament! H. Invitation/songboook