“Curiosity killed the cat . . .”

Today we continue our walkthrough of Lindsay Olesberg’s fantastically practical book, “The Bible Study Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to an Essential Practice.”

We’ve worked through her foundations and now we are taking a look at the building blocks.

Today we will look at three: Attentiveness, Curiosity, and Understanding

Attentiveness

The building block of attentiveness pulls us away from using the Bible to bolster what we already think and sends us into keen observation about what the text actually says.

It is a discipline to do it well.

Many of us read the Bible on autopilot, just reading through without taking the time to see what is there. Part of the reason I started this blog was to help myself and you readers not read the Bible this way.

If you are wanting to know how to be attentive, here are three things you can look for in any text of the Bible:

1. Context: Narrative, Cultural, Historical
2. Content: The facts that make up the story (Who, what, when, where, etc)
3. Connections: Laws of composition such as repetition, compare/contrast, cause & effect

Spend just a little time looking for these and you might be amazed at what you find. Trust me. I do this for a living.

Curiosity

“At it’s root, curiosity is an emotion.”

We must always approach the Bible in a spirit of curiosity. This makes us teachable and willing to learn from the text.

Reality check: Curious people live better lives. Everything in life is better when you have a posture of curiosity. Jesus affirmed people when they were curious about him. Think about the disciples asking him what the parables meant or Zaccheus climbing the tree to see who Jesus was.

When you read the Bible, if you have any intellectual integrity, you will have questions. Ask them. And then be willing to learn what the answers might be.

Here are some ways to ask better questions:

• Be specific: “What’s up with this?” is not as good of a question as, “Why are these details included in the story?”
• Ask about connections: “Why does Jesus announce the Kingdom of God?” is not as good of a question as, “What is the connection between the arrival of the Kingdom of God and ‘repent and believe in the good news?'”
• Ask questions that force you to keep looking at the text. 

And finally, she gives four types of questions. I know, lots of lists and bullet points. It’s ok. This is good stuff.

1. Questions that help us SEE the text and envision the scene
2. Questions that RELATE the text to our lives
3. Questions that help us UNDERSTAND the tension points of the text
4. Questions that help us UNDERSTAND the text as a whole

Understanding

I’m on a roll. Here is the seven-fold path to understanding a Biblical text:

1. Identify the units of thought: Ignore the paragraphs your Bible gives you and make new ones based on where changes in the text happen.
2. Define the genre: Poetry? Narrative? Personal Letter? History?
3. Define words and concepts: Use a lexicon if necessary, but the immediate context of a word or phrase has more weight than what a dictionary says.
4. Look up OT references and determine how the author is using them: Or if you are reading the OT, is the author referencing a previous event?
5. Envision the drama: There is no contradiction between rigorous thinking and vibrant experience
6. Answer the remaining questions: use whatever clues you can find in the text to answer them. Don’t refer to sermons or books.
7. Identify the core message: What is the main point?

Your Bible study skills probably just went through the roof! Boom!

“. . . but satisfaction brought it back!”

Listen, I know y’all are busy. I honestly don’t know how you find time to come up with and prep sermons each week. You do a lot of work and I bet you might feel just a little under-appreciated.

Well, fear not! I thought I would dedicate today’s post to you and help you out a bit.

How would you like three quick sermon ideas?

How would you like them to all come from the same chapter in 1 Samuel?

That’s what I thought!

Sermon #1: Return to the LORD

“Then Samuel said to all the house of Israel, ‘If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Astartes from among you.”

How many of us say we are returning to God and then don’t really change anything?

It’s time to get serious and put away those things that you put above God! Come on, people, what are you holding on to? What are your “foreign gods.” It’s ok. We all have them. Just come up after the service and lay them here at the altar.

We’ll have a smashing party later.

Sermon #2: Prayer is our Strategy

“And when the people of Israel heard of it they were afraid of the Philistines. The people of Israel said to Samuel, ‘Do not cease to cry out to the Lord our God for us, and pray that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines.’”

Where do you put your trust?

In planning? In making sure all your bases are covered?

We might think Israel was foolish for letting their guard down to worship while the vile Philistines were waiting for just the right moment to attack.

But they trusted in something more than military strength.

They trusted the LORD. And they prayed.

Boom.

Sermon #3: It’s worked so far!

“Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Jeshanah,and named it Ebenezer; for he said, ‘Thus far the Lord has helped us.’”

It is easy to forget what God has done in our lives. Am I right or am I right?

Let’s adopt a posture when faced with trials. Let’s just say to each other, “Well, God has helped us so far. Maybe he will again!”

Where in your life do you need to trust that God will help you?

We have stones to give out to everyone to help them remember that God has helped us so far. Take one and keep it in your pocket. Save it for a day when the Philistines attack you.

—————–

You’re welcome, Pastors. Keep doin’ whatcha do.

The Philistines have had a rough go the last few months.

Sure, they won a great and decisive victory over Israel. Sure, they captured the most important object in Israelite culture. But that doesn’t mean life has been rainbows and lollipops.

Tumors and terror have plagued their cities. Their god, Dagon’s capa was detated. Some victory celebration, right?

I know the Philistines are villains (or Vill-istines) in this story, but I gotta hand it to them, they know when they are beat. They know they have to get rid of the ark of God before something worse happens. They’ve heard what God did to Egypt and they do not want to go the way of Pharaoh.

What do they do? They repent.

They send the ark back with a guilt offering to the LORD. They know they were wrong. They admit it and make amends.

Israel’s Response

One day, in the border town of Beth-Shemesh, the people were out collecting the wheat harvest. They looked up and saw the ark come over the ridge pulled in a cart by a couple of cows.

They joyously ran out to meet it. The Levites took it down and made sure it was cared for. The people sacrificed the cows on a large stone.

It was a happy day.

Both Israel and Philistia responded to God appropriately.

But then (and this is where it will get weird if you are reading from a different version of the Bible) this guy, Jeconiah and his family decided to be crabby pooh-heads about the whole thing. They didn’t celebrate the return of the ark.

So God killed seventy of them.

That sucks. And just so you know I’m not being flippant about it, that is a disturbing passage.

Party or DIE!

What’s It Say in Your Bible?

I am studying from the NRSV. Here is what 1 Samuel 6:19 says:

“The descendants of Jeconiah did not rejoice with the people of Beth-Shemesh when they greeted the ark of the LORD; and he killed seventy men of them.”

But here is what it says in my NIV:

“But God struck down some of the men of Beth-Shemesh, putting seventy* of them to death because they had looked into the ark of the LORD.”

There is no note in my Bible about a discrepancy in translations or manuscripts. So I am very confused. Which is it? Does anyone have any answers for that?

I’m looking at you, David Lamb.

Well, either way, those men who looked into the ark or chose not to party didn’t respond as well as the Philistines. And when that happens, you know you have a problem.

What does your translation say? What do you make of God killing those men?

As we work our way through “The Bible Study Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to an Essential Practice” by Lindsay Olesberg,we move now from the foundations (which you can read here and here) to the “Building Blocks.”

The foundations were her core convictions. The building blocks are the tools that help us study Scripture more effectively.

We will look at two building blocks this week: Honoring the author, and respecting  the story.

Chapter 6: Honor The Author

“The Bible is more like an encyclopedia than an epic novel.”

66 books. Many different authors. Over a thousand years in the making. This is not your everyday book.

God was trying to communicate incredibly important information to his people. And to do so, he used human authors. But these authors were not stenographers; they wrote using the style, language, idioms, rhetorical devices, and reference points of their cultures.

“They did not set out to write ‘timeless truth.’ They wrote for real communities, with real problems and challenges.

If we are going to be good students of the Bible, we need to do our best to understand and honor the authors of the texts. Why did they write? What was going on in that time? What were the needs of the community? What was happening in their world?

This will free us from reading our own issues and concerns into the text (though the text may end up speaking to our concerns) and makes the Bible, not us, the focal point.

Here are two questions Lindsay implores us to ask: What was the author trying to communicate? And How would this sound to the original readers?

Chapter 7: Respect for the Story

Have you ever been to a movie based on a beloved book only to leave disappointed because so much was changed? Did the movie makers even read the book?!

That is how God feels when you take things out of context.

Ok, I don’t know about that. But it is how I feel. And Lindsay.

“Faithful Biblical interpretation requires that we take the fullness of the Biblical narrative seriously, rather than edit it and simplify it to fit our agendas.”

That narrative has 5 parts:

1. Creation and Fall
2. Israel
3. Jesus
4. Church (the part currently taking place)
5. Redemption

We have to learn these parts (or acts) and learn where different parts of the Bible fit into each one. Some books may have more than one! Yikes!

Lindsay then begins what might be the most helpful thing about the book. She walks you through a Bible Study where she looks for the things that she is teaching about. Using the story of Zaccheus from Luke, she shows you how to locate where it fits in the immediate context, where it fits in Luke, and where Luke fits in the Bible.

Super helpful.

How has honoring the author and respecting the story helped you as you study the Bible?

Tonight’s Fight: Dagon of the Philistines will be squaring off against YHWH of Israel.

Significance: This is the first time these two have personally matched up. Their people have skirmished from time to time, but this one is a Diety vs. Diety face-off. Should be a great match.

Key Factors: Dagon not only has the home-court advantage in Ashdod, but YHWH has been taken there from Shiloh against his wishes.

Also, the Philistines just won a major battle against Israel. The momentum is entirely on their side.

Round 1

Results: Surprisingly, no one stuck around to watch the fight after dark. It is unclear how long it lasted but by morning, Dagon was pinned and lying face down before YHWH. Shocking!

Round 2

Results: The Philistines we expecting Dagon to rally back in round two. Perhaps he just got a little over confident in the first round. They came back in the morning and discovered that round two had gone far worse than they could have imagined.

Dagon was “face down” before YHWH but this time his head and hands were cut off.

That’s the match, folks. Nothing more to see here.

The Hand of God

Is there a connection between the severing of Dagon’s hands and the repeated references to “the hand of the LORD?”

Uh, yes.

God was “kidnapped” by the Philistines. His people lost a huge battle. Things are looking pretty bad. So what happens?

God trounces the Philistines on their home turf, in their temple, in their cities, without any help from his people. He can do it all by himself.

The LORD’s hand was heavy and three great cities broke out in panic and tumors.

God is more powerful than the Philistines’ God. He is not limited by the might of his people or his geography.

This is a powerful reminder given that in a few chapters, Israel will cry out for a king when they don’t need one! God can handle it himself!

When was a time you were surprised at the way God worked all by himself?

What are the benefits of studying the Bible with people from other cultures?

Lindsay Olesberg, author of “The Bible Study Handbook” has traveled the world studying and teaching with students, pastors, and leaders from vastly different contexts than our North American one. She seems to think there are plenty of benefits. We are working through her book seeing what new things we can learn about studying Scripture because, hey, we all need a little help right?

But first we have to look at her fourth foundation of Bible Study.

You can check out her first three foundations here.

Chapter 4: Water For The Soul

If we want our bodies to remain healthy, we need to actively do things that foster health (exercise, eating well, regular check-ups) and seek healing when we aren’t well.

Too often, we don’t include our souls in the equation.

The health of our souls is connected to all other areas of health in our lives. We aren’t disconnected beings.

Regular Bible Study is healthy eating for the soul. It brings us into the presence of God, the one who sustains, heals, and renews us. But, and this is important:

“It makes all the difference, when we sit down to study that we consciously bring our whole selves to the text – heart, mind, soul, and strength.”

When you think about deepening your relationship with God, I’m guessing prayer, silence, and worship might make the list. But does Bible Study? I’m not talking about devotional reading. I’m talking about study. Digging deep. Asking questions. Searching for answers. Talking with others. Applying what you learn.

That kind of stuff.

Have you considered Bible Study a vital part of your spiritual life? Why or why not?

Chapter 5: Community Around The World

You will always study the Bible better with other people.

And you know who two of the best kinds of people to study the Bible with are?

Non-Christians and Non-Westerners.

Why? Because they will see things that you miss. They will ask questions that you never thought to ask. They will understand some of the context better than you will. Every time.

My closest friends are those with whom I have studied the Bible.

Wouldn’t you want friendships with people who you can have deep, meaningful conversations with and who you can go live meaningful, purposeful lives of applying Scripture with?

Then why do we spend so much time reading the Bible by ourselves? What are we missing out on?

What is one of the best experiences you’ve had studying the Bible with other people? Have you ever studied with Non-Christians or Non-Westerners? What was that like?

You’re losing to the Philistines
They beat you once. They are winning this war
And even though you brought the ark
They beat you down just like they did before

You shouldn’t need to ask me why
Remember all the things that I have said
Your sons, Phinehas and Hophni
They blasphemed God and now they are both dead

And it was all your fault this time
And it was your life on the line
You fell and broke your neck and died
Didn’t you, my dear?

If you liked that one, check out my other song, “Hey There, Delilah!”

Why do I always write songs about Philistines?

When those words come out of your mouth, you can’t take them back. They have been spoken, heard, and heeded before you will ever get a chance to think about their implications.

One day you are minding your own business. The next day you are on a mountain top with a knife to your son’s throat.

One day you are your homeland with no food. The next day you are on your way to an unknown future in a foreign country.

One day you are taking care of some sheep in the desert. The next day you are on your way to liberate slaves from the clutches of a brutal dictator.

One day you are just a boy working in the Tabernacle. The next day you are speaking prophetic words of judgments upon an entire family.

What will it be for you? Do you dare to utter those fateful words and join the company of the great patriarchs of old? Make no mistake, neither their tasks nor their path was easy.

But their stories have echoed through the ages. Their testimonies continue to inspire and confound us even today.

Three little words could change your life forever. And three little words can change the world.

“Here I am.”

We are working through this book because we all need help learning how to study the Bible and be transformed by it. Lindsay is one of the best Bible teachers I know and this book will not disappoint.

Read about the Introduction here.

Foundations

Chapters 1 through 5 are the “Foundations” Chapters. They are the things the rest of the book is built on. The reader can choose whatever order he or she wants to read them.

Chapter 1: The Centrality of the Word

Reality: Christian faith is shaped by the Bible.

Another Reality: The Bible is a strange book.

That leaves us with a tension doesn’t it? How are we to approach this strange book? How do we learn from it? How do we let it shape us and our communities? I could list a lot of great quotes from the book, but will choose instead to focus on her three main convictions.

1. Facts Before Theories. Studying the Bible inductively allows us to observe the text and let it shape what we think the Bible is about. We can’t bring our theological systems or preconceptions into study and read them into the text. The facts of the text must shape the theories.
2. Author Determines Meaning. Here I will use a quote: “It is a mistake to turn to a parallel passage in Luke or Matthew to answer a question about Mark rather than looking for the evidence Mark has provided to effectively communicate to his audience.” This is my biggest pet peeve in Bible Study! Thank you, Lindsay!
3. Understanding requires Application: For Christians, to truly understand the Bible, we must apply it to our lives. It is never enough to just know what the text says.

Which of these convictions connects with you the most?

Chapter 2: The Power of the Word

The Bible has the power to transform lives and transform culture. Why? Because it is one of the primary places God can encounter you.

You will read a lot of great books in your life, but they do not demand nor provide the power for transformation in your life.

Our ability to be transformed is affected by the condition of our hearts. Here, Olsberg brings out the parable of the sower. What kind of soil does your heart resemble? A road where nothing can grow? Rocky soil where no deep roots can form? Thorny soil where cares and distractions choke out any life the Word might have grown? Or good soil that receives the word gladly and yields an enormous crop?

Chapter 3: The Authority of the Word

Channeling N.T. Wright (always a good move), Olsberg says the authority of the Bible is Christian shorthand for “the authority of God revealed through the Bible.” This is a really helpful clarification for several reasons.

God wants to have authority in our lives through his Word so that we might be free. It seems like a contradiction, but the stuff in the Bible is there for our own growth, health, and life. Obedience to God is what brings us true freedom.

What is one way have you experienced the centrality, power, and/or authority of the Bible?

(Usually) Men who take more than their share from the offerings of the faithful?

Who prey on the women who graciously give their time and energy to serve?

Who have no regard for the reasons religious service was invented in the first place, or the God who created them?

Meet Hophni and Phinehas. Sons of Eli. Priests of the LORD at Shiloh. These two are in a special class. Not only are they guilty of everything I just mentioned, but they take, sometimes by force, the fat that belongs to the LORD! Could they possibly sink any lower?

Things get to the point where God will no longer allow it to happen. He sends a “man of God” to Eli to give him a prophetic warning. Said warning takes the form of a Chiasmus. I’ve written about these before but I’ll give you a little refresher.

Chiasmus Crash Course

Similar to a three-point essay, Chiasmi are ancient ways of making a point in writing. The section will start and end with mirroring themes or words that both work their way to the middle, where the main point is. Then the middle and the outer sections will have a special relationship. Let’s take a look at the Chiasmus in 1 Samuel 2.

A) Hophni and Phinehas greedily took food that was not theirs from the offering. Specifically, they “fattened themselves.” (v.29)

B) God promised that Eli’s family line would be priests forever. They would go in and out before the LORD. (v.30)

C) God will honor those who honor him and show contempt for those who despise him (v.30)

D) The strength of Eli’s family will be “cut off.” (v.31)

E) No one in his family will live to old age (v.31)

F) Then, in distress, Eli’s family will look with greedy eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed upon Israel (v.32)

E1) No one in Eli’s family will live to old age. (v.32)

D1) There will be one who is not “cut off” from the altar (v.33)

C1) Hophni and Phinehas will die in the same day. But God will raise up a faithful priest (v.34,35)

B1) The faithful priest will go in and out forever (v.35)

A1) Your family will beg for food from the priest (v.36)

Theological Bombshells

There are a couple of, shall we say, troubling verses in chapter 2.

But they would not listen to the voice of their father; for it was the will of the LORD to kill them.

I promised that you family and the family of your ancestor should go in and out before me forever . . . far be it for me

So these two guys can’t repent because God has decided to kill them and he is going back on his promise. Do you see why this might be troubling?

The important thing to remember is context. The story is incredibly important! The author of Samuel is not saying that God just willy nilly killys people. No. He killed these two jerk-offs because they were the heads of an entirely corrupt system that was robbing people of the chance to worship God properly. They were sexually assaulting servants of the tabernacle. That matters!

And God is revoking his promise on Eli’s (and Aaron’s) family because they have proven that they can’t handle the responsibilities of the priesthood, to put it mildly.

God willed people’s deaths in a certain context. God went back on a promise in a certain context.

In both cases, humans completely refused to obey the system God had set up. They had corrupted and perverted it, heaping injustice on the people they were supposed to serve.

And that matters.

What do you think, am I off here? Should I be making a larger theological point?