As part of VLI, we are reading “How to Read the Bible for
All Its Worth” by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart – two well know Bible Scholars.
On page 92 of their book the authors list the three things
that the OT Narratives are not. The
second item on this list stopped me – “Individual Old Testament narratives are not
intended to teach moral lessons. The purpose of the various individual
narratives is to tell what God did in the history of Israel, not to offer moral
examples of right and wrong behavior.”
Did this statement seem out of place to anyone besides me?
For centuries, stories or narratives have been past down
and written for two reasons: history and moral lessons. To say that the narratives of the OT are
only there to show what God did in history seems a little extreme. If God was
just writing a history book, why did He put in so much detailed
narratives?
I don’t know – I just have a hard time thinking the OT
narratives were not intended for moral lessons.
Any thoughts?
[@more@]
yeah, that does seem a little screwy. perhaps you could find examples of things that don’t seem terribly moral in there as an example. i know there’s things i’ve read that i’ve questioned and that explanation would cover it. whether or not its a good or right explanation… i don’t know. it does hit me the wrong way though.
question- what blog software or whatever are y’all using on this site? i want to put my blog on my website rather than where it currently is and i’m looking for something.
(lauren at fewx dot com)
True – the authors may explain things more as I read the book. If I find out anything I will post it. =/
I have asked my VLI class and teachers the same question so we will see what they say. =)
The whole OT is a moral lesson! God is so complex, and so far above us, that it takes the whole Old Testament to provide a foundation for the New Testament.
and even with the Old Testament, and the New Testament, we still don’t know what in the world he’s doing.
Is the OT a moral lesson? Or do we overlay our morals upon the stories in the OT and say their God’s morals?
Yes – the OT does include teaching about morals. Sometimes the author may state that the reason for the story is a moral one. But is not the OT mainly a history of God working among His people?
These are the questions I’m asking myself… Maybe there something to them.
God’s laws dictate what our morals are supposed to be. The beginning of the OT is showing how God created the world, and up until the time that he gave Moses the Law, I could almost say that, yes, its a history lesson, but after that, what we see is not just a history lesson, but how man acts in accordance with God’s laws. How can they say its not a moral example when so often, there are consequences in the OT for immoral behavior?
I think I’d need a much further explanation of what they mean before I’d take that statement at face value.
Leslie, I think you hit the nail on the head. We are to get our morals from God’s laws, not from the narratives. .
For many years I have heard preachers and teachers give out morals based upon OT narratives (ie. so-and-so did this and God blessed him, so we should do it too). Right now, I’m leaning to the view that if we are to use the narratives as examples of morals, we need to reference them back to the explicit verse were God set that moral (or law). Otherwise we are using other people’s examples as our moral compass instead of God’s law.