God Speaks to us in Our Language – Session 2: Parts of Speech and The Poetic Books

1. God Speaks to us in Our Language – Session 2:Parts of Speech and The Poetic Books Andy Knaster, BA, MA, MIS

2. Session 2 • Review homework from session 1 • Poetry and proverbs as containers of essential truth • Understanding interpretation and application • Parts of speech in the Bible • Recap, homework, next week

3. Review: Session 1 Homework • Read the Song of Solomon • Answer this question, “Applying the principles we’ve learned, what is the genre of the Song?” • Identify three different figures of speech (e.g., similes, metaphors, etc.) that you can find in the Bible. If you read any one of the Gospels, you'll find a boatload of them. • Identify three key doctrines in the poetic books. There are plenty in Psalms. Extra credit if you find one in the Book of Job. • Identify one prophetic teaching in the poetic books.

4. Content Warning

5. Interpreting the Song of Solomon • Remember Ockham’s Razor, when faced with multiple hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be followed • To get to the notion that the Song is about Christ and the Church requires making an assumption that goes beyond the grammatico-historical/literal-normal interpretation • There is another factor to consider in interpretation, the entire biblical context. • When interpreting, ask yourself this question: “How does my interpretation square with the rest of the Bible?” • This leads to another “rule” in interpreting Scripture: • No doctrine that impacts orthodoxy comes from a single verse or passage

6. Interpreting the Song of Solomon • If we take the Song of Solomon in its normal sense, it is a lyric poem that depicts the romantic love between a man and his bride. • If the practice of having the entire biblical context in mind when interpreting a passage is applied, then we should not only see romantic love elsewhere, but we should see it “endorsed” as a good thing • Genesis 1:27-28, 2:18-24 – God blessed the man and woman, commanded them to be fruitful and multiply, were one flesh, and were intimate without shame • Hebrews 13:4 – The marriage bed, a place of intimacy, is to be held in honor • 1 Corinthians 7:1-8 – The sexual relationship between a married couple is required • Furthermore, in someone that is not gifted with singleness, the feeling of not being in an intimate marital relationship is equated with “burning”

7. Interpreting the Song of Solomon • Given what we have learned, the normal understanding of the Song of Solomon is it belongs to the genre of lyric poem and that it depicts the actual romantic love that a man and woman have for each other • Its presence in the Bible, along with several other passages having complimentary messages, give validity to the normal translation. • This leaves us with the big question, “apart from giving us a beautify depiction of romantic love, how can the Song of Solomon add value to my life?” • The answer is found in the application of the passage.

8. Applying the Song of Solomon • There is a concept I call “the fingerprint of God.” • The idea is that everything that God touches bears His mark and maintains similarity to His character • If you apply the fingerprint of God to the Song of Solomon, you can get all sorts of practical applications from it • God created romance and wants husbands and wives to practice and enjoy it • Godly love is overwhelming ands all-encompassing. We can apply that to any object of true love whether it is those we minister to, opportunities for service, and even those who are seemingly unlovable • Because the Church is called the bride of Christ elsewhere, the Song can reveal to us the depth of His love for us • The God who inspired, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might” (Ecc. 9:10), wants us to do whatever we do with zeal and fervor

9. Applying the Song of Solomon • More practical applications • Because it is God’s picture of marital love, we can use it as a barometer of our love relationships to our spouses • If a man does not love his wife/wife does not love her husband as Solomon and the bride do, then they need to use that as a target for where they need to be • We need to teach our teens and young adults, as awkward as Song 7:3 (“Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle”) is to read, that is the sort of love these people have to look forward to when they find God’s mate for them • It is a stark reminder that the feeling and romance of love do not make your marriage bulletproof • Love is not a feeling, it’s an act of your will • http://youtu.be/mKbHFMADh8Y

10. Interpretation and Application • Bible study based in orthodoxy that leads to orthopraxy has four basic elements: • Observation: What does it say? (This is where genre studies are key) • Interpretation: What does it mean? • Application: What must I do about it? • Communication: How can I convey what I have learned to others? • Theological note: The Bible has one and only one meaning. That one meaning is so powerful, it can be applied to every aspect of life, regardless of the culture, the times, and technology • A adage to remember is this, “that which is not applied in fact can always be applied in principle.”

11. Figures of Speech in the Bible • “A figure of speech is a rhetorical device that achieves a special effect by using words in distinctive ways” (Nordquist, 2013). • A figure of speech is like a genre in that its form indicates what the meaning of the passage is. • Think of figures of speech today. If we didn’t know what they meant, we’d be very confused. • “Washington is grossly ineffective…” Metonymy, Washington = US government • “Hitler was more evil than the Devil.” Hyperbole, exaggeration to make a point • “Sinatra’s voice is like buttah” Simile

12. Bullinger on Figures A FIGURE is simply a word or a sentence thrown into a peculiar form , different from its original or simplest meaning or use. These forms are constantly used by every speaker and writer. It is impossible to hold the simplest conversation, or to write a few sentences without, it may be unconsciously, making use of figures. We may say, the ground needs rain: that is a plain, cold, matter-of-fact statement; but if we say the ground is thirsty, we immediately use a figure. It is not true to fact , and therefore it must be a figure. But how true to feeling it is! how full of warmth and life! Hence, we say, the crops suffer; we speak of a hard heart, a rough man, an iron will. In all these cases we take a word which has a certain, definite meaning, and apply the name, or the quality, or the act, to some other thing with which it is associated, by time or place, cause or effect, relation or resemblance.

13. Figures of Speech in the Bible

14. The Poetic BOOKS Job Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes Song of Solomon

15. Why Did God Give Us the Poetic Books? • Job gives us a glimpse of the human condition, the sufferings we are able to endure, the wickedness of the Devil, the pride of man, and the power of repentance. • Of Psalms, Spurgeon wrote, “The delightful study of the Psalms has yielded me boundless profit and ever-growing pleasure” (Preface to The Treasury of David) • Proverbs is simply the wisdom of the ages in 31 chapters. More people who know little, if anything of Scripture, know portions of Proverbs • Ecclesiastes explores the very meaning of life itself. It stands opposed to materialism and empty endeavors. It speaks of the vanity everything from human wisdom to acquiring riches. It ends with a verse that sums up the entirety of the walk of faith. • The Song of Solomon shows us the beauty of romantic love between a husband and wife. It stands as an example of the depths of love in so many contexts beyond romantic.

16. Great Doctrines and Prophecies in the Poetic Books • The existence of the great redeemer God and the physical, the bodily presence of God at the end of time, and bodily resurrection of the dead: • For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God (Job 19:25-26) • Some of the attributes of God • His omniscience (Psalm 139:1-6) • His omnipresence (Psalm 139:7-12) • God is the creator (Psalm 139:13-16)

17. Great Doctrines and Prophecies in the Poetic Books • The narrative of the crucifixion: • I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet. I can count all my bones, they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. (Psalm 22:14-18)

18. Next Session • The Gospels and parables • Consider the following questions: • Why are there four Gospels? • How do you approach the different genealogies of Jesus in Matthew 1 and Luke 3? • What is the purpose of parables? • Are parable and sermon genres? Why or why not? • Can you find the differences in the accounts of the Olivet Discourse (Matt 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21)? • What is your approach to dealing with apparent contradictions? • Can you name three to five distinct genres in the Gospels?

19. References and Resources • Bullinger, E.W. (1898) Figures of Speech Used in the Bible. Kindle Edition. • Nordsquist, Richard. (2013). Figure of Speech. Retrieved from http://grammar.about.com/od/fh/g/Figure-Of-Speech.htm • Pope, Charles. The Book of Job: Daring and in your face about the problem of suffering. Retrieved from http://blog.adw.org/2012/10/the-book-of-job-daring-and-in-your-face-about-the-problem-of-suffering/ • Spurgeon’s Treasury of David online: http://www.spurgeon.org/treasury/treasury.htm