The Bible as Literature

1. The Bible as Literature Can Believers Read Scripture as Works of Art as Well as the Word of God?

2. What Makes Up The Bible? • The Bible in the West includes the Hebraic and Christian scriptures, respectively the Old and New Testaments. • Whereas Jews accept the Old Testament as biblical, Christians broaden that outlook to include both the Old and New Testaments. • Accepting the scriptures as the revealed word of the Lord is a matter of faith, and systematic analysis of the scriptures is theological interpretation, which results in a code of beliefs called religion.

3. Non Believers See Value in the Bible Too • Many nonbelievers view the Bible solely as literature and as a wellspring of myths and fables. • Still filled with profound truth • Still beautiful • Also important for historical context.

4. Nazarene Doctrine of Scripture The doctrine of the Scriptures that the Church of the Nazarene embraces is our norm ("Whatever is not contained therein is not to be enjoined as an article of faith"). The Old and New Testaments inerrantly reveal the will of God in all things necessary for our salvation. Those writings are authoritative in all things related to faith and Christian practice.

5.  The movement of which Nazarenes are a part is not fundamentalist in its doctrine of the Scriptures. Among other things this means that the authority of the Scriptures is soteriological (concerned with salvation). Furthermore Nazarenes have the freedom to have a range of opinions of the nature of Biblical narratives.

6. The Bible Universal • Religious readers can read the Bible as literature, often examine the literary features of the Bible, which they perceive as effective means by which the word of the Lord is conveyed to humankind. • To approach the Bible as literature thus serves the purposes of all readers.

7. An Overview of the Major Parts of the Bible--Each with its Distinctive Literary Features: • OLD TESTAMENT • Pentateuch • Historical Books • Wisdom Books • Prophetic Books

8. NEW TESTAMENT • The Gospels (Historical and Wisdom) • Travel Literature (Historical) • Epistolary Literature (Historical) • Apocalyptic Literature (Prophetic)

9. Historically Accurate? • "Are the individuals mentioned in the Old Testament (such as Adam, Eve, Noah, Jonah, Job, David, and Solomon) real people or just allegories for teaching principles?" • Scripture everywhere speaks of them as real people. Archaeological exploration in the Middle East have pointed increasingly to many identifiable parallels (names, places, artifacts, and texts) with things in the Bible. These parallels give warrant for accepting the actuality of persons named in the Old Testament (Cauthron). • Remember, however, their importance is not determined by their historical but spiritual reality.

10. A good way to describe these texts is to call them "primeval narratives / traditions" “These stories focus on events that took place long before humanity began to document its history and civilization.. . . These chapters contain narratives about the world out of which Israel's ancestor Abraham came to follow God's call." Discovering the Old Testament 62).

11. "Can you really diminish the historical legitimacy of any Biblical character without also diminishing the theological legitimacy of the lessons that character conveys?" This question appears to assume that historical veracity is the complete measure of all truth. To say it another way: It takes the affirmation "If it is historical, it is true" and turns it into the statement "If it is true, it is historical." Yet, one must ask how we usually understand Jesus' parables in the gospels. Must we hold that Jesus referred to a specific, living individual when he spoke about a farmer, a land owner, a wife making bread, a pearl merchant, a father who divided his possessions (see Matthew 13 and Luke 15)?

12. The theological truth of a parable is not lessened, or made any less legitimate, when we assume that these were stories of what might happen rather than specific reports of what actually transpired in someone's life. • In fact, Biblical interpreters through the centuries have argued that the father in the prodigal son parable would not have been a real Jewish father in Jesus' day. In that culture, a father would not be so foolish as to do what the younger son asked, because the request was an insult to the father. Yet, these same interpreters have spoken at length about the message and meaning of the parable with regard to Jesus' emphasis upon God as Father.

13. To return to the question: to "diminish the historical legitimacy" of a character in the Bible may undermine the legitimacy of the theological affirmations associated with that character's story, but not necessarily in every instance.

15. The Pentateuch • Called the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), also called The Torah by the Jews, contain numerous literary forms: • In Genesis, the story of Creation is a literary catalogue distinguished by classification and division and by incremental repetition.

16. The Pentateuch, continued:contain numerous literary forms: • In Genesis Continued: In the first stage or day of Creation, the narrator recounts that God created light, divided it from darkness, and classified the light as day and the darkness as night. • The narrator follows the same pattern in describing subsequent days of Creation. Accordingly, God separates the earth from the sea, then creates the respective creatures dwelling on land and in the water.

17. The Pentateuch, continued:contain numerous literary forms: • In Genesis Continued: As the incremental stages of Creation unfold, the narrator repeats certain phrases, such as “Then God said” and “God saw how good it was.” • In the literary catalogue of Genesis, these phrases are rhetorical markers that distinguish, respectively, the beginning and end of a stage or a day of Creation. • The catalogue and incremental repetition are structured like a literary narrative ascending toward a climax.

19. On the sixth day of Creation, God personally creates Adam and Eve and imprints them with divine resemblance, after which he rests.

20. Adam and Eve Pages 58-59

21. Cain and Abel Pages 59-60

22. The Flood • Similar to the Gilgamesh narrative. • Differs in the motivation behind the cause. • Differs in the construction. • The pattern of God’s judgment and mercy.

23. Genesiscontains the recurrent literary feature describing in narrative the trial or test during which the patriarchs are to exercise the virtues of faith and obedience. • Noah tested in the flood. • Abraham tested when God commands him to sacrifice Isaac. • As protagonists in the stories of Genesis, the patriarchs by their trials, sufferings, and eventual triumph resemble heroes in literature.

24. The Tower of Babel • And so Yahweh scattered them upon the face of the Earth, and confused their languages, and they left off building the city, which was called Babel "because Yahweh there confounded the language of all the Earth."(Genesis 11:5-8).

25. When God speaks in this story, He uses the phrase, "let us go," referencing the trinity. • God says in Genesis 11:6, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them." (NIV) • God realizes that when people are unified in purpose they can accomplish impossible feats, both noble and ignoble. This is why unity in the body of Christ is so important

26. Some scholars believe that this marks the point in history where God divided the earth into separate continents. • To build, the people used brick instead of stone and tar instead of mortar. They used "man-made" materials, instead of more durable "God-made" materials. The people were building a monument to themselves, to call attention to their own abilities and achievements, instead of giving glory to God.

27. The Tower of Babel has often been associated with known structures, notably the Etemenanki, a ziggurat dedicated to Marduk by Nabopolassar (c. 610 BC). • The Great Ziggurat of Babylon base was square (not round), 91m in height, but was finally demolished by Alexander the Great before his death in an attempt to rebuild it. • A Sumerian story with some similar elements is preserved in Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta

28. Who is Rashi? • Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki, (Hebrew: רבי שלמה יצחקי), better known by the acronym Rashi (Hebrew: ‏רש"י‎), (February 22, 1040 – July 13, 1105), was a rabbi from France, famed as the author of the first comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud, Torah and Tanakh (Hebrew Bible).

29. Acclaimed for his ability to present the basic meaning of the text in a concise yet lucid fashion, Rashi appeals to both learned scholars and beginning students, and his works remain a centerpiece of contemporary Jewish study. • His commentaries, which appear in all printed editions of the Talmud and most printed editions of the Torah (notably the Chumash), are an indispensable aid to both casual and serious students of Judaism's primary texts.

30. Abram, Abraham and Isaac The Child of Promise 63-64

32. Who is Keturah? • According to the Hebrew Bible, Keturah or Ketura (Hebrew: קְטוּרָה, Standard Qətura Tiberian Qəṭûrāh ; "Incense") was the woman whom Abraham, the patriarch of the Israelites, married after the death of his wife, Sarah. Her nationality is unknown. Keturah bore Abraham six sons, Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.

34. There is no indication when that happened, other than during his lifetime. He died at the age of 175.[6]. • Keturah was the mother of six sons, representing Arab tribes south and east of Palestine, so that through the offspring of Keturah Abraham became "the father of many nations".[7]

35. Abraham married her probably after Sarah's death. If that is correct, Abraham would have been at least 137 years of age at the time of Sarah's death and was in bad health. • Keturah is styled "Abraham's concubine." She is described as his concubine to indicate that she was not considered to be of the same dignity as Sarah, the mother of the chosen son, Isaac. • It is probably also for this reason that the sons of Abraham's concubines were separated from Isaac. • World Lit text skips the rest of Issac’s life.

36. Isaac's Boys:Jacob and Esau • What literary experience do we get from this story? • Is there an overt moral? Pages 64-66

38. Who’s Zilpah? • In the Book of Genesis, Zilpah ( זִלְפָּה "Drooping", Standard Hebrew Zilpa, Tiberian Hebrew Zilpāh) is Leah's handmaid and the second concubine of Jacob and the mother of Gad and Asher. • Zilpah is given to Leah as a handmaid by Leah's father, Laban, upon Leah's marriage to Jacob (see Genesis 29:24, 46:18). According to some commentators, Zilpah and Bilhah, the handmaids of Leah and Rachel, respectively, were actually younger daughters of Laban {Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer, xxxvi.}.

39. Who is Bilhah? • In the Book of Genesis, Bilhah (בִּלְהָה "Faltering; bashful", Standard Hebrew Bilha, Tiberian Hebrew Bilhāh) is Rachel's handmaid and a concubine of Jacob who bears him two sons, Dan and Naphtali. • Bilhah is given to Rachel as a handmaid by Rachel's father, Laban, upon Rachel's marriage to Jacob. According to some commentators, Bilhah and Zilpah, the handmaids of Rachel and Leah respectively, were actually younger daughters of Laban.

40. When Rachel is unable to conceive, she offers her handmaid to Jacob in marriage, and is delighted when Bilhah bears two sons. Rachel names Dan and Naphtali and plays an active role in their upbringing as two future Tribes of Israel. • After the death of Rachel, Reuben, the firstborn son of Jacob and Leah, loses his right to a double inheritance when he is accused of infidelity with Bilhah.

42. According to Rashi, as long as Rachel was alive, Jacob kept his bed in her tent and visited the other wives in theirs. • When Rachel died, Jacob moved his bed into the tent of Bilhah, who had been mentored by Rachel, to retain a closeness to his favorite wife. However, Reuben felt that this move slighted his mother, Leah, who was also a primary wife, and so he moved Jacob's bed into his mother's tent. • This invasion of Jacob's privacy was viewed so gravely that the Bible equates it with adultery

43. The story of Joseph

44. Moses Exodus Leviticus Deuteronomy

45. The Tanakh • Nevi'im (Hebrew: נְבִיאִים Nəḇî'îm‎, "Prophets") is the second of the three major sections in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh. • It falls between the Torah (teachings) and Ketuvim (writings).

46. Historical Books • Among the historical books of the Bible, Judges, Joshua, Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles predominate. • They are part of the Jewish scripture called the Nebim (the prophets) • Officially in the Jewish tradition there are two subsections of this portion of the Jewish Bible • The former prophets—from the entrance to Canaan to the Babylonian captivity. • The later prophets—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the 12 minor prophets. • They describing the roles of kings and prophets among the Chosen People and the evolution of a nomadic community into a political and military kingdom in the land of Canaan.

47. Saul and David

48. Historical Continued • Emphasized are the first monarchies of Saul and David, the histories of various kings, and the grandeur of their temporal realms. • More important is the role of the prophets as spokespersons of the Lord. • Inveighing against monarchs and the people for their periodic lapses in fidelity to the Lord, the prophets uphold the expectations of the Lord in the midst of a community whose majority, at times, becomes wayward.

49. Literary Form of Narrative • The histories of the kings are presented in accord with the literary form of the exemplum, an example or “case study.” • The kings who are faithful to the Lord thrive, whereas the unfaithful sovereigns are punished, even to the extent of being defeated by their enemies in battle. When impelled by vainglory and by lusts (materialistic or carnal), the kings are self-indulgent.

50. Literary Form of Narrative • In line with the literature of didacticism, these books teach readers clear-cut lessons concerning one's relationship with the Lord, the virtues to be imitated and the vices to be shunned, the importance of fidelity to the Lord and his heavenly realm, and the dangers of inordinate attachment to worldly pleasures and possessions.