Threads from Henry's Web

Category: Bible Study Tools

  • Bibles with a Viewpoint – The Green Bible

    Those who read this blog regularly are probably already aware that I have mixed emotions about study Bibles.  I would say “love-hate relationship” but none of my feelings about study Bibles attains the level of “love.”

    Via Sun and Shield I found a review on First Things of The Green Bible.  I recommend reading the review.  I have not purchased, nor have I read, the Green Bible, and I don’t plan to.  None of my comments here are based on anything specific written in the notes to that Bible.  It is to the very idea that I object, not this particular implementation.

    Now let me state for the record that I am not offended by the idea of discovering reasons for taking care of the earth properly in your Bible.  I think that much of that is covered under the theology of creation, if one pays attention.

    No, my problem is more general.  Think of it this way.  Supposing someone took one of my books, sliced it up, and then inserted comments about some particular theme everywhere.  Let’s say, for example, that these comments had to do with the ecology.  I support recycling.  I support reducing carbon emissions.  I think we’re doing too little.  But that’s not really my field of study, so there would be a few sentences here and there, just like the ones in this paragraph that indicate what I believe.  So instead of focusing on the topic I intended the book to focus on, the new book, whilst being anchored by text I had written, would be focused on something that was quite incidental to the earlier work.

    How would I react?  Easy question.  I’d say, “Go write your own book.”

    The Bible is different in many, many ways from one of my books.  It is a collection, it is ancient, it comes from a different culture than mine, and it is regarded as sacred, which nobody has or likely will do with mine.  There are reasons to apply commentary to the Bible.  But when that commentary is interspersed with the Bible text, it becomes easy to confuse the reader and slant the result toward a particular topic.  That’s as true of The American Patriot’s Bible: The Word of God and the Shaping of America
    as it is of The Green Bible.  It doesn’t matter which of them is more compatible with my own views (The Green Bible, for what it’s worth).  Both Bibles are offensive to me.

    Some may not believe that anyone would be confused.  Surely they know the difference between the Biblical text and the commentary.  But I have found in Bible studies that when people use study Bibles they very often take the notes as the true word of God, while spending little time on the text.  Even more frequently they take the theme of a passage from the introduction and notes rather than, again, reading the text itself.

    Simply the fact that a single theme is taken and emphasized throughout is enough to introduce unbalance.  I believe that’s a substantial problem.

    My suggestion to people who want to emphasize that the Bible is green as green can be, or that every word of scripture supports American patriotism?  Write your own book!

    There is good reason to have study Bibles, but I think those who write notes for such Bibles have a great responsibility to point back to the text.  Thus providing background information, interpretational options, and structural notes can be very helpful.  The problem comes in when the notes begin to direct the study and its emphasis.

  • Syriac Resources

    What I do with Syriac would only be called “reading” by those who are generous to a serious fault, but I found the resource links James McGrath provided today quite useful.

  • Word Study Reprise

    It’s very easy to go astray with word studies when one doesn’t know the languages in question.  Since I had a recent request for this material, I want to provide the links to my previous series (from early 2007) on word studies, dangers, and methods.

    1. Word Study Dangers: Overview
    2. Word Study Dangers: The Process
    3. Word Study Dangers: Glosses and Definitions
    4. Word Study Dangers: Your Dependence on Scholars
    5. From Word to Study
    6. A Simple and Legitimate Use for a Concordance Indexed to the Biblical Languages (This post is much later, but related)

    I hope these posts are helpful to those who are trying to get a peak at the Biblical languages.  Even better, set out to learn them!

  • A Look at Reader’s Version of Greek and Hebrew Bible

    A few days ago I found the Reader’s Version of Greek and Hebrew Bible (HT: Tim Ricchuitti), and while I think it is a good tool, I greet such tools with mixed emotions and I would like to point out some excellent uses for it, as well as some not-so-excellent uses.

    Much too often students see learning Greek and Hebrew (or any other language) as ending when one can use the proper reference tools to manage to gloss a text in the source languages.  I recognize that for many, that is really as far as you’re going to go.  That level of ability will allow you to read commentaries based on the source texts more effectively and to understand discussions of various translation and exegetical issues better.  It does not, however, constitute understanding the language in question.

    Such understanding comes through a combination of studying the various aspects (morphology, grammar, syntax, and so forth, not to exclude rhetorical issues), and becoming comfortable reading the text–lots of text.  (Speaking and hearing are also very valuable wherever possible.)  To use myself as an example, I can read most Biblical texts without reference works at hand.  Normally I don’t do so–I tend to check and recheck options, because I may be simply filling in a gloss from memory rather than understanding the word or expression.  By contrast, I “read” Syriac like many folks with a couple years of Greek read Greek–with all references open and painstaking work.  I’m not sorry I spent the time getting my Syriac to this point.  It allows me to check textual references, for example, but I would not really call it “reading.”

    One of my Greek teachers, with whom I spent a couple of pleasant years reading New Testament epistles, was Dr. Sakae Kubo, who also edited the Reader’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament.  Dr. Kubo would emphasize to us what we should and should not do with this tool.  Its purpose was to allow us to read larger quantities of Greek, not to substitute for learning vocabulary.  And believe me, Dr. Kubo could make you wish you’d memorized your vocabulary should you choose the path of laziness!  (There is now a New Reader’s Lexicon.)

    This online tool extends the vocabulary concept to grammar, giving a reader the opportunity to either check his basic knowledge of morphology or to cheat himself of the value of truly becoming proficient.  Knowing the basics of a languages morphology is even more important, in a sense, than simply knowing vocabulary, because it impacts how you understand every word.  So again, this morphology (or the morphology you find in your Logos or other Bible study software) is again a mixed blessing.  It can either help you become more proficient or it can cripple you and become a crutch.

    The difference will be a matter of discipline.  Do you become dependent? Do you force yourself to actually learn once you correct yourself according to such a tool?  Only you can make sure you get the right things from a tool such as this.

    There are several different modes of reading that I believe are of value to a student of Biblical languages, or of any language you are trying to learn to read:

    1.  Rapid reading.  This is important for true vocabulary building as well as for building your proficiency.  It allows you to see how words relate to one another and how ideas are expressed in a particular language.  The person who works his way through a passage looking up one word at a time and consulting charts for morphology will miss this level.  Further, I believe vocabulary will always remain difficult to memorize if one has never seen it in context.  I combined extended reading in Hebrew with memorization of all words that occurred more than 5 times in the Hebrew Bible.  I don’t regret one moment spent on either activity.  Indeed there are times when I wish I’d pushed it further when I was younger!

    2.  Study. In this case, rather than considering a passage read because you think you have basically “got it” you dig in study details and recheck things that you think you might know.  I know that even after writing a study guide to the book of Hebrews, for example, I still like to read a passage with all references handy.  You never know when someone else’s passing comment will give you a new insight.  This is what you practice in the early stages of Greek class.  Hopefully you will become much more effective at it over time.

    3.  Memorization. I’ve seen only a few people recommend this.  I suspect more would like to, but they know people react negatively to memorization, especially in a foreign language.  My first and second year Greek teacher at Walla Walla College (now university), Lucille Knapp, required a few verses of memorization of all students.  You should have heard the complaints!  But it was a tremendous blessing.  I’ve continued the practice, though there are only a few passages that are at the top of my memory.  I tend to go to memorizing something new rather than reviewing the old.  But even so, reviewing old passages will bring them back pretty quickly.  In the meantime, I find that vocabulary items and phraseology in those passages come to mind as I read elsewhere, even after I’m pretty sure I couldn’t simply recite the entire passage.

    As I said earlier, the key here is to use tools such as this to drive your learning rather than to substitute for it.  Unfortunately, having both taught Greek and Hebrew (infrequently) and tutored students, I have found that many don’t have that discipline.  My warning here is that if you don’t, you’ll make this into a crutch.

  • Another Reason to Hate Study Bibles

    Thomas Nelson has release The American Patriot’s Bible: The Word of God and the Shaping of America*, which is a Bible so lousy in concept that one can dislike it without even bothering to read it.  (HT: Christ my righteousness.)  You’ve probably heard the cliche, “It’s a really bad book, that’s why I never read it?”  OK.  I’m caught.  But I’m still not going to read it.

    I don’t really hate study Bibles.  I’ve reviewed some of them before.  They can provide valuable background information and ideas.  But in too many Bible classes I see students reading the footnotes in place of the Biblical text, and assuming that the notes are correct, rather than interacting with what the Bible text (you know, the part normally printed on the top half of the page) actually says.

    But the Patriot’s Bible goes a step further by simply mating two sets of concepts.  It is really quite rare that American patriotic stories and symbols go directly with the passage of scripture one is reading.  In many cases, the text might just go quite contrary to these symbols.

    But by putting information on a particular page of the Bible, one suggests (to the suggestible, at least) that the Bible in that particular place actually embraces what is contained in that extraneous information.  Unfortunately, I know people in churches who are just careless enough to believe this without actually checking.

    The first rule of interpretation should be to actually read the words of the text you’re interpreting, even if only in translation.

    * Note that I provide this link for information purposes only. I do not in any sense recommend buying the book to which the link leads you.

  • Expectations follow Encounter

    I haven’t been posting on Leviticus for some time because I have been busy preparing books for publication.  All that paying work sure does interfere with one’s hobbies!

    Today I encountered this quotation in my continuing effort to read through Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy alongside the Cornerstone Biblical Commentary on those books.

    … It is important to remember, both in the case of God’s dealing with his people in the past, as well as with his people today, that God first encounters his people in history, and only after a relationship has been established are the expectations derived from the relationship presented.  Expectations follow encounter.  — p. 57, emphasis mine

    And that is how grace is manifested throughout the Bible–before we call, so to speak.

  • Leviticus 5:14-6:7

    I’m still following the division of David W. Baker’s commentary on Leviticus in the Cornerstone Biblical Commentary on Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.  Today’s passage equates to Leviticus 5:14-26 in the Hebrew text, and the Hebrew text is indeed better divided than the English or the LXX.

    While the section is indeed properly grouped together, the priests have snuck in a pretty major doctrine into the passage.  The first part deals with violation of holy things (through 5:19), along with the possibility that one has done so but doesn’t know.  I think there’s good reason to believe, with Milgrom and others, that this also involves that horrible sense of guilt that has no known source; one feels that one has done something very wrong, but can’t be sure.  The early part of this passage provides an opportunity to deal with that guilt.  One can pity the bank account of someone who had a guilt complex, however!

    Some call this a guilt offering.  I prefer “reparation” offering, again following a number of commentators.  The offering accompanies a reparation.  It is this reparation portion that presumably connects the violation of sacred things at the end of chapter 5 with the violation of one’s neighbor at the beginning of chapter 6.

    I recall quite vividly how I encountered this chapter when reading Leviticus with Milgrom’s AB commentary.  I read the passage ahead in Hebrew before reading the commentary and so I had studied through the previous chapters and noted the sacrifices for inadvertent sins, but no sacrifices for intentional sins.  There was no statement that these sins were intentional, but it’s hard to imagine finding someone’s property and then lying about it as “inadvertent.”

    Baker notes this, but the best discussion comes from Milgrom (373-378) in a section titled “The Priestly Doctrine of Repentance.”  In his words, “…The Priestly authors took a postulate of their own tradition, that God mitigates punishment for unintentional sins, and empowered it with a new doctrine, that the voluntary repentance of a deliberate crime transforms the crime itself into an involuntary act.”  NISB emphasizes the voluntary part of this repentance, i.e. one must repent without being caught.

    The passage also provides the elements of repentance:

    1. A realization of feeling of guilt; one acknowledges that what was done was a wrong.
    2. Payment of reparation
    3. Confession
    4. Desire for atonement and sacrifice
    5. Forgiveness

    These days we frequently forget the first part and often the second.  I doubt one gets to #5 without going through those elements.

    The OSB notes that the sacrifices here for damage done to another are not gradated, unlike the previous sacrifices.  The poor must offer the same thing as the rich.  Being poor, they note, does not provide the right to steal (p. 124 on 5:15, 21, 25).

    Abbreviations:

    OSB – Orthodox Study Bible

    NISB – New Interpreter’s Study Bible

    Milgrom – Milgrom, Jacob.  Anchor Bible:  Leviticus 1-16.

    Baker – Leviticus portion written by David H. Baker, of the Cornerstone Biblical Commentary on Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

    Chapter 6 deals with sacrifices for sins that appear to be quite deliberate.

  • Leviticus 4:1-5:13

    It is not entirely helpful to include these two sections under the same heading, but there is certainly a break between 5:13 and 5:14, so the division is understandable as Baker does it.

    We’re moving here to sacrifices that are required, first for inadvertent acts in chapter 4, and then for acts of omission that result in prolonged impurity (Milgrom: 307ff), only some of which are inadvertent in chapter 5.  Milgrom maintains, I think convincingly, that the distinction in chapter 5 is that the acts in question result in prolonged impurity, and prolonged impurity gets worse.

    Baker does well in presenting the major lesson I think we can take from these chapters, that wrongs are not just a personal thing, but they have a lasting impact on others.  We have a tendency to think that if something was a mistake there is no real guilt attached.  “I goofed,” is supposed to forgive all.  Here errors, most notably amongst the leadership, even if inadvertent, are highlighted as damaging the entire congregation and particular as polluting the sanctuary, and thus the congregation’s relationship with God.

    There is a secondary point, in that chapter 5 provides gradated levels of offerings and includes one even the poorest could bring–a grain offering.  I think this should be discussed in terms of atonement, in which we regularly quote Hebrews 9:22, which in turn quotes Leviticus 17:11.  Perhaps while blood provides the strongest metaphor for atonement, it is not the absolute requirement that some make it.  An exception to the blood sacrifice as in Leviticus 5:11-13, would not in that case be a minor point.  I’ll discuss this further when we get to Leviticus 17:11.

    The OSB emphasizes the difference between the sins of the priesthood and the laity, and quotes St. John Chrysostom thus:

    Wishing to show that sins receive more serious punishment by far when they occur in the case of the priest than in the case of the laity, Moses enjoins as great a sacrifice to be offered for the priest as for the whole people, and this amounts to a proof on his part, that the wounds of the priesthood need more assistance, that is, as great as those of all the people together.”

    OSB further applies this to the modern priesthood as well.  I could wish they would both quote the fathers more and would indicate the particular work.  In this case I have been unable to find the reference by search at CCEL–I’m probably doing something wrong.

    Again, I commend Baker for providing the elements that a preacher would need quickly and with the minimum of fuss.  You will frequently find you want to know more, but there are other reference works for that purpose.

    Abbreviations:

    OSB – Orthodox Study Bible

    NISB – New Interpreter’s Study Bible

    Milgrom – Milgrom, Jacob.  Anchor Bible:  Leviticus 1-16.

    Baker – Leviticus portion written by David H. Baker, of the Cornerstone Biblical Commentary on Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

  • Biblical Studies Carnival XXXIX Posted

    … at Dr. Platypus.  There’s always good stuff in this carnival, though I never get around to reading everything I intend to!

  • 100 Enlightening Bible Study Blogs

    According to ChristianColleges.com (link removed due to odd request by linked site), and since they include this blog, how could I argue?

    Well, besides including me, there are a number of others on the list that are on my blogroll, and several other sites that I use regularly in study.  If I have time, I’ll look over the entire list, but that won’t be a very fast process.