Threads from Henry's Web

Category: Bible Study

  • The Danger of Serious Bible Study

    The Danger of Serious Bible Study

    I believe it’s important to study the Bible. Many approaches are useful in this, and I’ve discussed them elsewhere. But the idea of serious Bible study can become a problem.

    I’m sure some readers are scratching their heads. How can it possibly be a problem to study the Bible seriously? Isn’t that obviously the right thing to do. Well, yes and no. Yes, if you understand serious Bible study to involve a variety of approaches that help you get an overview as well as deal with details. No, if by serious you mean spending hours over each word or phrase and never getting beyond looking at the text under a microscope.

    It’s important to do fast reading, so as to get a good overview. It’s important to read multiple texts. These days I’m listening to the Bible using Audible as I walk on my treadmill. Now one thing I can tell you is that it’s very easy for me to get distracted and miss things. It’s also hard for me to remember where things are because I’m listening and not seeing chapter and verse numbers. It’s also impossible for me to stop and go over some little item over and over rather than continuing to get the big picture.

    Do I miss some things? Certainly. But I also see some things that I wouldn’t see if I was reading directly from the Hebrew text, for example.

    Once at a table in a church office I was reading from the Contemporary English Version, a translation designed primarily for those for whom English is a second language. It’s easy reading. Someone stopped to see what I was reading and immediately asked, “Why would you read that when you can read Greek?”

    The answer was simple. Because I read English approximately 4x as fast as I read Greek. It’s easier for me to get an overview of an entire book and also of the entire Bible.

    I once set about to see how quickly I could read the entire Bible. I had a great deal of work, but I’m a reader and almost always have some book. I simply decided that when I wanted to read it would be the Bible until I had completed it. I finished it in about 10 days. Again, people would ask why. Surely I couldn’t give the text the attention it deserved.

    My answer would be that while reading slowly and agonizing over each detail, you can’t give the overall picture the attention it deserves.

    Right now I’m writing daily meditations on one verse per day from Psalm 119. Thus I read one verse and then spend the day on it. That’s not quite the opposite extreme, because I’m meditating on it through my work day, not spending hours working through lexicons and commentaries. But it’s close. That’s also an important part of Bible study.

    Each verse has a context. Too often we regard that as the verse before and the verse after or something similar. But that verse resides in a section of a book that might or might not be equal to a chapter, and that section resides in a book. That book is part of our canon of scripture, and we can see that canon divided into different sections. Is this among the wisdom books, the prophets, history? That is also context.

    Because the Bible was given to the community of faith, we also have to look at the entire canon of scripture and what a particular text means in that canonical context.

    “Seriously” in this context means at every level from every angle in every possible way. There is no one way. If we think the scriptures represent God’s word, a message from God to God’s people, then it’s rather important. If you don’t believe that, it’s another matter. But if you believe that “seriously” is very, very serious indeed!

    So read your Bible fast or slow or anything in between. Spend hours on a single verse of minutes on a whole chapter. Try to combine these and get a picture of what God’s word is in your mind so as you look at a verse, you see it fitting into a larger picture automatically because you are so well acquainted with that larger picture.

    You’ll be rewarded!

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)

  • Psalm 119:60 – Obedience without Delay

    Psalm 119:60 – Obedience without Delay

    I hurried, and didn’t delay
    in obeying your commands.

    The Message has an interesting way of expressing this:

    I was up at once, didn’t drag my feet,
    was quick to follow your orders.

    Psalm 119:60 (The Message)

    Some might like me to talk about what seems like a rash statement. Who can claim to have always been quick to do everything God says? But I think the Bible is fairly balanced on this. It presents a nice combination of claims and practical stories of its characters so we can see them in all their humanity and also see their relationship to God and how all that works.

    What I actually was meditating about was on this “hurry.” Do what God says quickly. The word used in this verse most commonly is used to refer to God’s individual commands rather than a body of law. I took another step and was thinking of an ongoing relationship with God. One of the things that gets me labeled as charismatic is that I believe anyone can hear from the Lord.

    I’m not talking (necessarily) about hearing a voice. I’ve heard so many ways in which God has directed one person to another. I married Jody because God practically hit me over the head with a clue-stick and said, “Not only are you not to stay single, you’re going to marry this one.” God had to speak similarly to Jody because neither of us were looking in the other’s direction. I’m going to come back to this regarding the word “hurry” in a moment.

    In an ongoing walk with God one may receive many directions. These may be simple things, or complex things. These things never replace either the study of the written word or the experience of being in community as part of the Body of Christ.

    Let me give a couple of examples of really simple things. A couple of weeks ago I was coming back from church and passed a sign that said “Fresh Shrimp.” On the other side of the four lane highway was a pickup truck with a canopy off the back. I got the distinct thought that I was to turn around, go back, and buy a pound of that shrimp for Jody, who really likes them steamed. So I did. It was a pleasant contact. I suspect I’m going to be sent back for further contact with the young man who sold me the shrimp.

    Oh, and Jody said the shrimp were excellent. After I steamed them!

    On an occasion some years ago I was in an equally inconvenient situation with a man at the side of the road with a sign asking for money. I don’t make a habit of stopping, but what I heard was that I was to stop and give the man the $20 bill in my wallet. I didn’t have specific plans for that particular bill, but I would rarely hand $20 to somebody at the side of the road.

    I asked to pray with him and he lit up. It turned out he was himself a missionary, traveling roads and reaching out to minister to those who were homeless. We had an enjoyable chat and then I went on.

    Now neither of these events could be presented as evidence for miracles. I don’t feel inclined to argue with anyone who would suggest other causes. I don’t have to be right about this.

    But what I have found is this: When I follow these promptings, which others might see as whims, good things happen. The result has always been positive. I don’t know what would happen if I ignored them. But I’m going with the results.

    Now there’s something important to remember about hurrying. Being alert and willing is good. But there is also a matter of God’s timing.

    To return to the way Jody and I got together, timing was an issue. We were both teachers in the church, both involved in the prayer team, working together. There were a number of people who had an interest in what we were doing. We got every kind of advice.

    “You need to go slowly and be careful.”

    “You should get off the dime and ask her to marry you!” (to me)

    Now the thing is God’s timing isn’t necessarily slow or fast. We kept praying all the way through. I asked her after about a week of prayer, seeking what God wanted me to do. There were many arguments for delaying further. There were a few to get moving. I ignored them all. When I felt peace that now was the time I asked. When I did so I told her, “I’ve been praying about this for a week, so I’m not asking for an answer on the spot. I expect you need time to pray as well.” And she did. and the answer was “Yes.”

    I regret not one moment of our courtship, nor any of the time spent in prayer. I am glad that I ignored all the pushing one direction or another and didn’t hurry in my very human way, or delay and dither, as is much more my own way. Rather, I waited for my best understanding of God’s timing.

    Remember this: God’s way is not to select a point on our timeline, or to select a speed from our personal speed-o-meter, or to choose a theological position from our mental list of options. God’s way is to take us God’s divine distance at God’s divine speed. When you know God is leading you, that’s the time to move.

    Will you be sensitive for something God wants to bring to your attention today?

  • The Bible, Literally

    The Bible, Literally

    I frequently note that if I could take just one line away from liberal/progressive/mainline Christians it would be “we don’t take that literally around here.” And if I could take one line away from conservatives/evangelicals/fundamentalists, it would be “the Bible plainly teaches.” To the first group I would simply ask, “How do you take it?” Saying “not literally” really doesn’t tell us much. To the second I say, “If the Bible teaches it so plainly, why don’t you show your work?” There are many “clear” things that are very controversial among Christians.

    Craig Adams has a good blog post. I would quibble that “literally” will mean, in practice, what people mean by it, and that the way it is understood is very foggy. I’d like it if the definition in practice was more like he proposes. But his comments on interpretation are well-taken.

    Check his work out at Craig L’s Blog, What Does It Mean to Take the Bible Literally?.

  • Psalm 119:59 – Consider

    Psalm 119:59 – Consider

    I considered my ways
    and turned my feet to your testimonies.

    As I translate it, this looks a bit like a mixed metaphor, but “turning my feet” is a idiom for “changing my ways.” I’ve been following more older translations. (See my post on Psalm 119:58). In this case there’s not a huge amount of difference, though I’ll note that in the second line the Peshitta uses a word for “pathways” that makes a nice synonymous parallel with “ways” in the first line. In another interesting variant, the LXX says, I considered your (God’s) ways.

    What I thought of during the day, however, was this matter of considering one’s own ways (sorry LXX!). It made me think of two of my own experiences.

    The first was while traveling across Virginia, south to north. I could have taken an interstate, but I chose instead to stay on back roads. I like to do this when I have time, and I had the time. Now driving time is thinking time, letting my mind wander on various subjects. I took a look at the map and figured I had my route in mind. This usually works for me if the route is not complex.

    Suddenly I brought my attention back to the present, and a road sign told me I was on a road that I couldn’t recall. I pulled over and studied the maps (and the clock, for that matter) and realized I had missed a turn and had driven on for more than an hour out of my way. Given the nature of back roads, I ended up losing almost two hours. My day was relaxed enough that I could handle it, but it was quite a shock to the system.

    The second was while leading a mission team to Hungary where we (or rater “they,” as in the rest of the team) ran a children’s camp. Due to odd routing and timing I missed a connection in Atlanta, and ended up on a flight several hours behind my team. It was a bit disconcerting as I had to send two team members who had gotten in that long line ahead of me on their way, and they had never been on a mission trip before.

    I was several hours behind and had to get a hotel room in Budapest. I got Jody (my wife) to get the travel agent to get me a hotel near the airport and definitely on the eastern side of the city, and change my rental car reservation to Budapest rather than Debrecen, our destination. This was because the van from our hosts would have been there the morning before to pick up my team, and wouldn’t be back to get me.

    The travel agent apparently had no idea where anything was in Budapest, and got me a hotel room to the north and west of the airport, well away from my route to Debrecen–east. The rental car agent uttered those fateful words, “It’s not problem! I’ll give you directions! You can’t miss it!” Off I went.

    Now note that while I have studied a number of languages, at least to the point of getting directions on the road, Hungarian is not one of them. I knew about a dozen words to the level of skill that results from reading a bit from a word book. About 20 minutes later I was looking out at the Danube River from a bridge I was crossing east to west. I knew I had a problem. Two hours and about half a dozen stops for directions I arrived at the hotel.

    In the first instance, I had a ready means of considering my ways. In the second, I was subject to others, and was unable to comprehend the instructions well enough to successfully consider my ways.

    I was able to use that story throughout the trip. In a church in a Roma community in western Ukraine I was asked to give the children’s moment. I was also to give the sermon for the adults. I spent many hours preparing the message for the adults from 1 Peter. It was a complete flop. But I told the story of being lost in Budapest to the children, who received it was gales of laughter. I used the text “There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end of it are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12). At each point, I told them, I headed out on a way that seemed right to me, but in each case it turned out that it was no such thing.

    I found the hotel because all of a sudden I saw it as a drove by on the far side of the road. It only took another ten minutes or so to get around the block and find the hotel entrance.

    At the end of the service, nobody said anything about my sermon. It was a flop. But the head elder of the church was copying the rough maze I had drawn on the chalk board as an illustration and taking notes on my text.

    There is a sermon that seems right to the preacher or Bible teacher, but the end of it may be a dead end. It may not reach the folks who need a message.

    The last minute, unplanned children’s message may be precisely the word that the congregation needs to hear. Young or old!

    “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it” (Psalm 127:1). Might I paraphrase it as: “Except the Lord give the message, he labors in vain that presents it”?

    What “way” do you need to consider today?

    (Featured image is a picture of Budapest, Hungary, a beautiful city, from Adobe Stock By Horváth Botond. Licensed. Not public domain.)

  • Psalm 119:56 – Mine!

    Psalm 119:56 – Mine!

    This has become mine,
    for I have kept your precepts.

    There’s an interesting translation of this verse in The Message, which may very well go back to a suggestion by Mitchell Dahood, though I don’t know that Eugene Peterson got it from that source.

    Still, I walk through a rain of derision
    because I live by your Word and counsel.

    There’s a single word that makes the difference between my translation (and most others) and Peterson’s, the Hebrew word zo’th which I have translated in the traditional way, “this.” There is a suggestion, expounded by Dahood, that this same word can mean “derision.” I don’t see that here, but again, I like us to think about the effort that goes into translation, and the reasons there are differences.

    When translated “this,” we have to ask to what “this” refers. I’m simple minded on this one. “This” here is feminine, and there’s a rather important feminine noun which is the very last word of the previous verse: “Torah.”

    This, God’s instruction, God’s self-revelation as I have been saying, belongs to the Psalmist. It also belongs to me and to you.

    I was listening to Isaiah 15 on the treadmill a few minutes ago. Isaiah 15 begins with “An oracle against Moab.” What could possibly be less edifying? What do I need with an oracle against the Moabites, a group of people no longer existing. And the chapter is pretty much a downer. But what’s most interesting to me is that God actually has an interest in this, and that this interest is expressed by including this chapter in the collection of oracles in Isaiah, and then that collection in scripture. God’s interest in lands beyond Israel will become even clearer in what is called 2nd Isaiah, starting in chapter 40.

    [H]e says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.

    Isaiah 42:6 (NRSV)

    So even though God’s Torah was not addressed directly to me, it was intended as a light to me and to everyone.

    I’m pretty sure “this” that the Psalmist is claiming is the Torah. It is his, because he observes it. Now we have this continual reference to obedience providing the claim. But remember that the Psalmist regularly calls on God to help him, to make this possible.

    As a Christian, I cite Philippians 2:12-13:

    With fear and trembling work out your own salvation, for it is God who works in you both to desire and to accomplish his good will.

    If God’s self-revelation is yours, it is yours as God’s gift, but it will also be a cause of action, because God isn’t passive about God’s children.

    Is it yours?

  • Psalm 119:55 – Remembering

    Psalm 119:55 – Remembering

    I remembered your name in the night, Lord,
    So I followed your instruction.

    Dahood (Anchor Bible Psalms III) again has an alternate suggested, based on repointing the word translated “And I kept/guarded/followed.”

    I remember your name in the night
    YHWH,
    and during the watch, your law.

    I won’t discuss the arguments for his rendering, which I consider possible, but not the most probable, but it emphasizes the parallel the Torah, and God’s name. God’s character, his reputation, is closely tied to his Torah, which in this case should be read broadly. It’s not just a list of rules, but rather God’s self-revelation.

    But what I thought about most today was remembering, including the fact that I had to go back to the verse multiple times because it slipped my mind. Weakening memory is considered a sign of old age. As we grow older, we often have trouble remembering things. Just today, I went to get something from the pantry and when I got there, I found myself wondering why I was there. On the other hand, I can remember my zip code from a place I lived 50 years ago.

    My memory has been somewhat odd as long as I can remember(!). People might wonder why I remember things that seem unimportant to them, and cannot remember things they deem critical. But I have had this sort of memory for a long time. Many friends have referred to me as a human concordance, because they’ll just ask me where a verse is, and I often know, at least down to the chapter. The reality is that I can locate far fewer verses than I would like, and I find my Bible software very helpful.

    But when I think about what I notice and what I remember, two very closely aligned lists, they don’t seem at all strange to me. I notice the sort of things I really care about. Well, except when I don’t.

    I don’t remember when some other thought pushes the first thought out of my mind. That’s where lists are useful, though sometimes I forget to look at them.

    Relying on my memory, even in areas where I have a reputation for it, such as Bible verses, is suboptimal.

    If I could always remember the things I would like to imitate in life and the sorts of things I’d like to have in my character, I would surely make every effort to live up to them. But my memory is not that reliable.

    That’s why it’s important to look around, look forward, and ask the Lord to remind you of things that need remembering.

    Give some time to thinking of thoughts you may have laid aside. There are likely some gems in there worth another look. If you’re wakeful in the night, that’s as good a time as any!

    (Featured image generated by Adobe Firefly.)

  • Psalm 119:54 – Songs

    Psalm 119:54 – Songs

    Your statues have been my songs
    In my home away from home.

    Mitchell Dahood (Psalms III in the Anchor Bible), suggests: “Your statutes have been my defenses, / in the house of my sojourning.” He gets the translation “defenses” via Ugaritic. It’s interesting to see some alternatives in the way we translate Hebrew poetry. It is very difficult to translate poetry, because words are often used with special nuances, and the context is less helpful. In this verse, if you admit the possible translation suggested from the Ugaritic cognate, it would be hard to argue against that by context.

    So let’s look at a couple of other translations.

    Your decrees are the theme of my song
    wherever I lodge. (NIV)

    No matter where I am,
    your teachings fill me with songs. (CEV)

    Note that both lines are subject to variations in translation. This is natural in translation of poetry and should be expected. Reading poetry in multiple versions is very helpful in getting more of the feel of a poetic text. It’s important to recognize when you are reading poetry, because principles of interpretation can function somewhat differently due to the nature of the text.

    I think it is very difficult for us to think of “statutes” or “decrees” as something to sing about. We see laws in general as a burden, and not a blessing. And there are many ways in which statutes, even divine statutes are not friendly at all. If you see God’s statutes as a checklist to complete so that you can find favor with God, you’ll likely find it very depressing. At least until you encounter God’s grace and the fact that that was never the purpose of any law.

    But looked at from another perspective, law can definitely be a cause of rejoicing, and I think the Psalmist is looking at it in that way. He is already one of God’s people. He is not working on a checklist to get God to accept him. What he is seeing is that there is a way of life and stability as he lives in this world, which he calls a “house of sojourning.”

    This can be read two ways. I think it should be read in both. The first is as a word spoken from exile away from one’s home on earth to another land. You could picture a Jew singing this very verse as an exile in Babylon, far from home. Yet there far away from home, he has God’s statutes to remind him both of who he is and who his God is.

    Even by the rivers of Babylon, God is there.

    The second is the sense in which we have a spiritual home that is not here. Yes, we’re fully engaged in this life, on this earth, in this place. God’s statutes teach us about the glory of the eternal home while at the same time offering guidance for living in this home, in a spiritual sense our home in exile.

    And by the rivers of earth, anywhere on earth. God is there.

    The following is a YouTube video I created 16 years ago back when I was running Pacesetters Bible School (now closed).

    Where will you come to realize that God is always with you today?

  • Psalm 119:50 – Experience

    Psalm 119:50 – Experience

    This is my comfort when I’m afflicted:
    Your word to me has given me life.

    What do you hold onto when living through difficult times?

    During times of great difficulty, theological conclusions, no matter how well thought out and firmly held, can let you down. It’s very difficult to continue believing in a God of love, when that love is not evident.

    I know this from experience. When our son James was dying of cancer, Jody and I had plenty of teaching to rely on. We were both teachers in the church who had taught weekend seminars on prayer. We had plenty of stuff in our heads. We did not teach that God always resolves problems in the way that we would prefer. If you’ve read Job, you can understand that God may call on you to remain a witness when things look as dark as possible.

    So what did sustain us?

    Our experience with God, experience that gave reality to what we had learned and what we taught. We knew that God could act, because we had experienced this. We also knew that the result might not be what we preferred, because we had the experience of the church and our own experience that matched again with what we taught.

    But even more, living through the experience required a continued sense of God’s presence, and a continued conversation with God. Knowledge could fail us. Friends could fail us. We could feel alone, beset on every side. But when we would spend time with God, when we would listen for the still small voice (KJV) or the sound of sheer silence (NRSV), a quietness in which you know God is there, we could find the strength to sustain us.

    Our comfort in our affliction was that God, through God’s powerful, creative Word, gave us life, sustained that life, and held that life in Divine care.

    How can you experience God’s comforting and empowering presence today?

    (Featured image is from Adobe Stock by By Romolo Tavani. Licensed. Not public domain.)

  • Psalm 119:49 – Remember!

    Psalm 119:49 – Remember!

    Remember your word to your servant,
    upon which you have caused me to hope.

    We have another imperative, but this one is addressed not to us, but to God!

    My wife sometimes is hesitant to remind me of things. She doesn’t want to say, “Henry, you forgot …” or “Please remember my ….” She especially wants to avoid nagging. That’s because she and I are both–shock!!!–human, and neither of us really likes to be reminded of something we remember. I’ve told her that it’s not nagging when I don’t remember the first time she said it, but she is still careful about this.

    God is not thin skinned. You can remind God of God’s own word. God’s ego is not fragile.

    One of the key things I like to say about prayer, and one I think is both true and important, is that you don’t need a particular format to talk to God. Often we’re afraid to express what we’re really feeling to God. Possibly, we imagine that a prayer that’s strongly worded might offend the Almighty. A good antidote to this is to read the Psalms, and this verse is one of the tamest examples.

    You can tell God you’re angry. You can tell God you’re sad. You can remind God of all the promises you’ve read. You can mention that you’re getting impatient. God already knows, so not only do you not need to hide it, it won’t do you any good.

    And in reminding God, it’s just possible you may actually remember those promises yourself.

    What promise do you need to call to God’s attention?

    (Featured image from Adobe Stock By Azovsky. Licensed. Not public domain.)

  • Psalm 119:48 – Meditating

    Psalm 119:48 – Meditating

    And I lift up my hands to your commands which I love,
    and I will meditate on your statutes.

    I haven’t been entirely consistent in how I translate the first word of each couplet in this section, but they begin with the Hebrew letter vav (or waw as is sometimes taught in classical Hebrew). This would be “and” or some sort of connective in English. Verse 48 is the end of the eight-verse section. Tomorrow we start on the letter zayin, which sounds like the English ‘z’.

    The first word in verse 49 is zekor, the imperative ‘remember’. Addressed to God. We’ll talk about that tomorrow!

    But the word ‘remember’ came to me as I thought about my project of meditating on this chapter. My practice has been to read the verse just before I go to bed, setting the subject for my mind for the following day. I read it again in the morning. It’s interesting to me how many times I can’t remember which verse I’m to meditate on when I get up, or how many times I might have to remind myself during the day. My mind doesn’t just wander. It charges berserkly from subject to subject and often doesn’t want to settle anywhere. I have quick practices I use to restore my focus.

    So what as it meant to meditate on these verses?

    First, because I intend to write something, I have had a focus for my thinking. What would it be good to say about this particular verse?

    Second, it has become part of the way I focus my activities of the day. If I find myself needing moment to refocus, reading the verse or remembering it and thinking about it provides me with a punctuation point for my day.

    I could have a worse way to restore my focus!

    This is also a different way of handling scripture, and I think it’s valuable. My normal focus is very factual. I started studying biblical languages because I wanted to get the meaning of scripture as precise as possible. I still value a precise reading of scripture and the attempt to understand what a passage meant to the person who first wrote it and those who first heard it.

    That process of exegesis, and critical analysis of every possible aspect of the text remains an anchor point. In studying these verses, I consult the original languages and ancient translations. I look at possible relationships between these words and those in other ancient languages. I always want to start with what the psalmist was likely thinking as he wrote these words.

    I cannot know that precisely. That’s one reason I call it an anchor point. It’s easy to conclude that if I can’t understand something perfectly and precisely I might as well not try. I compare this to the building of an aircraft. There are always tolerances in measurements. Nothing is perfect. But the builders can never forget working to those standards, or disaster will follow. History has shown us how that works!

    But scripture is not limited to being a source of data. It provides a way of thinking and a basis for thinking. That’s where meditation on scripture is so valuable. A scripture can shape your thinking about something that the original author didn’t even conceive. (I realize that God conceives of everything. I’m talking about the human author.)

    The process of deciding can point the way to how other decisions are to be addressed or to principles one can apply in many areas. The text can also simply provide the catalyst for other ways of thinking. Scripture is a written form of the powerful, creative Word of God, and that Word can empower things that previous readers or the original writers were unaware of.

    In reading from and meditating on God’s Word, you can provide the opportunity for you to hear God speak.

    What new approach could you take to benefit from God’s Word?

    (Featured image from Adobe Stock By Sensvector. Licensed. Not public domain.)