Tips for Interpreting Old Testament Narrative

Colin Adams offers 10 tips for interpreting Old Testament narratives.

1. Try and grasp the overall point of the book.
2. Read in big chunks – narrative often tells you ‘a little, in a lot.’
3. Narratives tell you what happened, not what SHOULD have happened.
4. OT narrative is first and foremost about God: his holiness, grace, salvation and justice.
5. Moralise…but not too much.
6. Repetition is a clue to what the passage is about.
7. Don’t get bogged down in what the narrative DOESN’T tell you.
8. Place names and people names are always important.
9. When the writer’s “point of view” is revealed, you’ve just found gold.
10. The New Testament ultimately fulfills whatever narrative you are in and is the supreme ‘commentary’ on your passage.

He illustrates each point briefly from the book of 2 Samuel. Check it out!