Knowable Word - Bible study help

How Structure Conveys Meaning

November 30, 2018 By Peter Krol

What is the difference between the following statements?

Because the Bible is the authoritative word of God, I must submit every area of life to its instruction.
God doesn’t just want me to work on the Bible; he wants the Bible to work on me.

The first statement is obviously more precise. But I bet most would consider the second statement more inspirational. More memorable.

And why is this? Because structure conveys meaning. In this case, the structure of the sentence itself packs a persuasive punch. The sentence makes use of a “concentric pattern” or “chiasm” to drive its point:

Me … work … Bible

Bible … work … me

The symmetry of the phrases catches your attention. You can feel the hinge in the middle that unwinds until the tension finally lands with force on the final “me.” The very structure of the sentence conveys additional inspirational or persuasive meaning that goes beyond what the first, more precise, statement could ever communicate.

Biblical authors do this very thing, when they embed their primary emphases, their authorial intentions, within the very structure of the texts they compose.

Observe the Structure

Before we can talk about interpretation, we must first develop the skills to observe the structure. I wrote on this topic a few weeks ago, so I just want to underscore the need to do this well.

Get your chapter and verse divisions out of the way. Drop the extra headings that most Bibles put in. Get a reader’s version, use software such as Logos, or print a numberless manuscript from Bible Gateway. Get yourself looking at the naked text so you can actually observe the literary signposts the author drops in like paint blazes on a wilderness trail.

Identify the constituent units. Then take note of how those units are arranged. If your structural observation is poor, your interpretation won’t be any better.

But once you’ve discovered the units, and you’ve mapped their arrangement (typically parallel, symmetric, or linear—again see the previous post for explanation), you are ready to consider what this structure communicates about the author’s intended meaning.

But how do you do that? David Dorsey (chapter 4) explains 3 main ways that structure conveys meaning.

George Pankewytch (2014), Creative Commons

Overall Structure

Sometimes historical narratives follow a linear pattern to simply communicate the progress of time. But at other times, they follow a cyclical pattern to communicate, through the structure itself, the spiraling up or spiraling down of the protagonists’ fate. For example, Judges gives us 7 cycles of Judges, following the pattern established in Judg 2:11-19, which clearly spiral downward into greater fallenness. But the book of 1-2 Samuel gives us 3 main overlapping narrative arcs: Samuel’s, Saul’s, and David’s. Those three arcs advance from one degree of glory to another, yet all three are ultimately tragic in their shape (narrating a rise, a peak, and then a fall).

Another example of the overall structure conveying meaning is the book of Lamentations. Hebrew poetry often works in parallel lines with parallel stresses (A-B-C/A-B-C). For example, “Serve (A) the LORD (B), with gladness (C)/Come (A) into his presence (B) with singing (C)” (Psalm 100:2). But scholars of ancient literature have pointed out that laments cut this pattern short. The second line loses one of the stresses, yielding a 3-2, or something like an A-B-C/B-C pattern. For example: “O my God (A), I cry by day (B), but you do not answer (C)/and by night (B), but I find no rest (C)” (Psalm 22:2).

Lamentations takes this pattern of laments and drops it into the book’s overall structure. Not only do we see a 3-2 pattern in almost every verse (for example: “She (A) weeps bitterly (B) in the night (C)/with tears (B) on her cheeks (C)” (Lam 1:2a). But we also see this pattern across the chapters.

Chapter 1: long acrostic with 66 lines

Chapter 2: long acrostic with 66 lines

Chapter 3: long acrostic with 66 lines

Chapter 4: shorter acrostic with 44 lines

Chapter 5: even shorter acrostic with 22 lines

The whole book takes on the 3-2 shape of lament that visually and audibly peters out by the end, leaving the sadness hanging heavily.

Structured Repetition

When you observe matching units in parallel or chiastic structures, you should investigate why and how they match. Do they present a comparison or contrast? Is a promise in the first section fulfilled in the second? Does one section better explain the other? Is some sort of reversal taking place?

The Gospel of Mark divides into two main divisions: 1:1-8:30 and 8:31-16:8. The first verse outlines the structure: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” The first half of the book concludes with Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ (Mark 8:29). The second half concludes with the centurion’s confession that Jesus is the Son of God (Mark 15:39). By comparing the closing sections of each half of the book, we see that Peter gets part of Jesus’ identity (chapter 8), but he doesn’t understand all of it (chapter 14-15). By the end, Peter is denying that he even knows this man (Mark 14:71), while a Gentile military officer grasps something remarkable about the nature of Jesus’ suffering. “When the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said…” (Mark 15:39).

The parallel between Jonah’s prayer in chapter 2 and his prayer in chapter 4 leads us to question the sincerity of his repentance in the belly of the fish.

When you observe these repetitions, these matching units, you are well prepared to ask “Why” and better uncover the author’s intentions.

Positions of Prominence

The final way structure conveys meaning is through positions of prominence.

This is neither mechanical nor foolproof, but often the most prominent part of a parallel structure is the end. And the most prominent part of a chiasm is the center.

Don’t apply that principle woodenly, but you should at least investigate the matter.

For example, Mark 6-8 follows a parallel structure, surrounded by an inclusio (bookends):

Intro: When Jesus sends out the twelve, Herod fears John the Baptist has risen from the dead. But others think he’s Elijah or one of the prophets (Mark 6:7-29).

A. Feeding a multitude (Mark 6:30-44)

B. Crossing the sea (Mark 6:45-56)

C. Disputing with the Pharisees (Mark 7:1-23)

D. Discussing bread with a follower (Mark 7:24-30)

E. Healing a malfunctioning sense—deafness (Mark 7:31-37)

A. Feeding a multitude (Mark 8:1-9)

B. Crossing the sea (Mark 8:10)

C. Disputing the Pharisees (Mark 8:11-13)

D. Discussing bread with followers (Mark 8:14-21)

E. Healing a malfunctioning sense—blindness (Mark 8:22-26)

Conclusion: When Jesus questions the twelve, they claim people think he’s John the Baptist or Elijah or one of the prophets. But Peter (who used to be deaf and blind—Mark 8:18) now sees clearly enough to know “You are the Christ” (Mark 8:29).

What is Mark’s point here in chapters 6 through 8? Jesus is healing his disciples’ own deafness and blindness so they can hear and see who he is.

And what is my point with this little exercise? If you find yourself fretting over why Jesus would call someone a dog (Mark 7:27), what the disciples failed to understand regarding the number of baskets of leftovers (Mark 8:19-21), or why it took Jesus two tries to heal the guy’s blindness (Mark 8:23-25), you need only take yourself to the position of prominence. In this case, the end of the parallel sequence gives us the author’s emphasis and intention: to help Jesus’ disciples perceive who he really is. When we get this, the rest will make more sense.

Conclusion

Observing structure is hard work. But it bears fruit thirty-, sixty-, and a hundred-fold when it comes time to interpret the author’s meaning.

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Should We Read the Bible Literally?

November 28, 2018 By Peter Krol

Writing at Stand to Reason, Greg Koukl addresses the common question of whether we ought to read the Bible literally. He demonstrates the complexity of the question, highlighting the fact that nobody reads anything literally 100% of the time. In the process he shows how important it is to grasp the author’s intentions. We must read a Bible text the way the author would have wanted us to read it.

Koukl addresses some common objections and then ends with practical tips on how to best understand metaphors.

His counsel is both sound and practical, and I commend it to you. Check it out!

HT: Ron Malone

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Logos 8: The Speed We Need

November 23, 2018 By Peter Krol

I use Logos Bible software every day. I am impressed by the sheer power of what it can do. It does for my Bible study what an automobile does for my personal transportation: It gets me where I want to go, when I need to go, by whatever route makes most sense at the time.

With Logos installed on my laptop, my iPad, and my smart phone, the only time I use a physical Bible any more is when I want to sit and read at length. Now I could also do that with Logos, but why would I when there are so many fantastic reader’s Bibles these days?

The good people at Faithlife gave me a complimentary upgrade to Logos 8 in exchange for an honest review. So this review will focus on the new features in this version of the software. If you’d like to see what I think of Logos in general, see my reviews of earlier versions:

Speed

The biggest and best improvement is the speed of the software. This has always been my biggest complaint, and I’m far from the only one to have lodged it. Logos has typically been slow and ponderous, like an obese Moabite king oppressing the people of Benjamin.

They claim Logos 8 is 10 times faster than Logos 7. This doesn’t make it quite as zippy as Jehu, the maniacal charioteer. But it does make it such that I no longer have to find something else to do between the time when I click to open Logos and the time when I can get down to business.

There’s not much more for me to say, but this is quite a big deal.

Markup

A new feature called “Canvas” enables you to take a text and mark it up however you see fit. You can color-code repeated words. You can move clauses around to visualize sentence structure. You can underline, circle, draw arrows or insert graphics.

I’m not the most visually-oriented guy, but this feature shows much promise for those who want to mark up their text

Workflows

The feature that has my greatest interest is “workflows.” Workflows are templates for common tasks—such as studying a passage, preparing a sermon, etc.—that simplify your process. I used to look things up myself, find the right Scripture and supplemental resources, record my notes haphazardly, and move toward a finished product on my own.

But now, I can set up a workflow to capture all the steps I always try to follow. Logos then takes me through the template, step by step, each time I come to a new passage.

Logos 8 comes with quite a few built-in workflows, including basic Bible study, character study, word study, topic study, passage exegesis, and expository sermon preparation. I find these built-in templates to show off the power of what Logos 8 and its workflows can do. But I also find these built-in templates rather unhelpful for the proposed tasks. The biggest issue is that the built-in workflows are doing a great job showing off all Logos 8 can do! In the process, they take you far and away from the text and into the bowels of research and commentary about the text.

But have no fear, Logos 8 enables me to create a custom workflow that does what I want it to do. The “Inductive Bible Study” workflow in Logos 8 is way too quick to bring in commentaries and cross-references—without offering enough help to first wrestle through the text and its train of thought.

So I created my own custom workflow called “OIA Bible Study (Focus on the Text).” This workflow walks straight through the Bible study principles in Knowable Word, presenting a series of questions that require you to toil over the text.

If you decide to use Logos 8, you can find my workflow here to try out for yourself. And if you don’t like it, Logos 8 lets you create your own.

Conclusion

If I knew 20 years ago what I know today, I would have acquired Logos Bible software at the start of my career as a missionary and preacher. This exceptional tool has proven to be a faithful companion and a valued guide. Perhaps it can serve this role for you as well.

Here is a link if you would like more information.

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Teaching Bible Study to Teenagers

November 21, 2018 By Peter Krol

In answering a question about how to train teenagers to study the Bible, John Piper highlights a critical goal:

…the goal of this teaching is a lifelong habit of mind and heart to approach the Scriptures in a certain way. In other words, being able to do a particular technique is not the goal. Trying to reproduce Piper lab experiences is not the goal. But the habits of mind and the habits of heart that you inculcate, or that you build into your children while working through those techniques — that’s the goal.

I would explain that goal to my children. I’d say, “That’s what we’re after here. I’m not trying to make a little John Piper out of you (or a little whatever out of you). I just want to build into you certain habits of mind and habits of heart so that you will approach the Scriptures fruitfully for the rest of your life.”

Piper describes the importance of creating a cultural setting where you can develop habitual skills with your teens. Then he proposes 7 skills to focus on:

Define the terms.
Find the propositions.
Clarify the relationships.
Determine the main point.
Compare texts.
Face reality.
Apply the text.

The OIA method provides a simple way to package such skills so they sink in and are memorable. Then Piper concludes:

Keep in mind the aim is not to master a technique like arcing or lab with John Piper. That’s not the aim. The aim is lifelong habits of mind and heart that humbly and eagerly ask and answer questions from the Bible.

Agreed. Agreed. Agreed. May the Lord give us and our teens grace to pursue and acquire such lifelong habits.

Check it out!

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OIA Bible Study is Not Just for Adults

November 14, 2018 By Peter Krol

You might like to know we’re not the only ones who promote OIA Bible study. And we’re not the only ones who believe this method works not only for adults but also for children. Over at the Gospel Coalition, Shawna Duvall winsomely explains that “Inductive Bible Study is Not Just for Adults.” While I have a minor quibble with her use of the term “inductive,” she explains briefly and compellingly how to teach the OIA method to children.

And she gets this just right:

We’re a resource-rich generation with a trove of family-focused, theologically sound materials. But while such supplemental materials are valuable, many parents and caregivers still feel inadequate when it comes to simply opening the pages of Scripture with their children.

With our own kids, my husband and I have utilized a simple Bible study tool: observing, interpreting, and applying the text. This inductive method is already widely trusted and familiar in the church today. In our family, it provides a framework basic enough for our younger kids to grasp and yet is able to grow with them, even into adulthood.

I particularly appreciate the hand motions Duvall describes to help children remember the purpose of each step.

Check it out!

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Announcing our 2019 90-Day Bible Reading Challenge

November 9, 2018 By Peter Krol

We’re giving away a copy of the ESV Scripture Journal: New Testament Set and a one-volume reader’s Bible. To win one of these prizes, you simply have to prove you’d know what to do with it.

If you’ve been with us for the last few years, you might be caught unawares by this post. Here I come—like a thief in the night, like a landowner returning to check on his unprepared stewards, like a bridegroom catching those virgins with insufficient oil, like the lightning that flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other—to announce this year’s Bible reading challenge earlier than you anticipated.

Have no fear. I do this not to leave you behind but to bring glad tidings of great joy. I do it because many have spoken, and we have listened.

The last few years, we issued a 90-day Bible-reading challenge that had to begin on January 1 and end by March 31. But many folks have told us they would like to be able to get started over the holidays. While many are eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, or chasing a spirit of stupor, we hear that you—the readers of this blog, the champions of the covenant, the heroes who shine like stars in the midst of a present evil age—would prefer to redeem the time when you already find yourself away from your usual responsibilities.

And so we grant your request. This year’s Bible reading challenge may commence immediately. In fact, perhaps it already commenced for you, and you’re just now realizing it.

Here are the rules:

You must have a United States mailing address to win one of the stated prizes. Residents of other countries will receive a $30 (US) Amazon gift card via email.
You must read (not scan or skim) all 66 books of the Protestant Bible. You may choose the translation and reading plan (canonical, chronological, etc.). You don’t have to stop and meditate on every detail, but we’re trusting you to be honest about reading and not skimming. Listening to an unabridged audio Bible is acceptable. You may also use any combination of audio and visual reading, as long as you’ve read or listened to the entire Bible within the allotted time period.
You must read the entire Bible within a 90-day period.
That 90-day period must end by March 31, 2019. If you’d like to understand why we recommend such fast-paced reading, see our Bible reading plan for readers.
To enter the drawing, you must fill out the survey below, letting us know the dates you read and what you thought of the speed-reading process. Your thoughts do not have to be glowing, but they should be honest; you’ll still be entered into the drawing if you didn’t enjoy your speed-read.
In the first week of April 2019, we will randomly select 2 winners from those who have submitted the form. We will email the winners to get their shipping addresses.
The first prize winner (if US) will get their choice of the ESV Scripture Journal: New Testament Set or a one-volume reader’s Bible in the translation of their choice. (Reviews: ESV, CSB, NIV.) The second prize winner (if US) will get whichever option the first prize winner didn’t choose. Any winner outside the US will receive a $30 Amazon gift card via email.
Unfortunately, missionaries with DiscipleMakers are not eligible to win the drawing.

We will occasionally post links to the submission form on the blog between now and March 31. But you might also want to bookmark this page for easy access when you’re ready to submit your entry.

If you’d like a checklist to help you stay on pace, here are three. I won’t bother to update the dates, as I don’t know which day you plan to start.

You may now begin any time, and may this be the ride of your life.

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A Time to Read, and a Time to Stop Reading

November 7, 2018 By Peter Krol

Everything on this site is here to help ordinary people learn to study the Bible. But from time to time, for the sake of balance, it is appropriate for us to remind you that there are extreme or extraordinary times when reading or studying the Bible is not the most important thing to do. In fact, there are times when doing it could be harmful or counterproductive.

David Murray, with help from puritan Richard Baxter, highlights one of those exceptional times: depression.

One of the strangest steps of faith I’ve ever taken as a pastor was telling a depressed Christian to stop reading the Bible. This Christian was in a terrible dark hole of depression and was tormenting herself every day by spending long periods ransacking the Scriptures for a verse that would cure her depression. She was frantic and desperate in her search and every day her “failure” only deepened her depression as she concluded that she must have been abandoned by God. It also left her mentally and even physically exhausted. Bible reading seemed to be harming rather than helping her.

I felt that her mind needed a rest and that she would never recover unless she stopped this daily self-torture. That’s when I said that she should stop reading the Bible for a short time to let her mind rest and to rebuild her emotional reserves. Then she would hopefully be able to read the Bible again with profit.

Murray goes on to quote Richard Baxter who counsels those with “melancholy” to refrain from “fixed, long, and deep meditations that will only hurt you” so that “you may later do what you cannot do now.”

I’m reminded of Ecclesiastes 3:1-15, where we’re told that life as God’s creatures in a fallen world means there is a time for every matter under heaven. God has made this to be so, that we cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. There is, in fact, a time to stop reading the Bible. Please consider Murray’s and Baxter’s helpful insights.

Check it out!

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How to Observe Structure

November 2, 2018 By Peter Krol

Perhaps you’re persuaded that structure is something you ought to observe in a Bible passage. And perhaps you believe in the value of observing structure. But you’re just not sure how to do it. Those who can outline a passage or an argument seem to you like wizards drawing on sinister secret arts unavailable to the general populace. How do they do it?

A preliminary step is to hold only loosely to what you learned in school about outlining. Remember, the Bible is ancient literature. And the ancients may not have thought about hierarchical outlines the way we do. They weren’t writing term papers, so they may not have been automatically thinking in a format such as:

I. First main point

A. First sub-point

B. Second sub-point

II. Second main point

And so on…

Different Genres

Often we must observe the genre before we can observe the structure.

Logical literature (epistles) will be driven primarily by the argument. Once you can trace the argument (premises, conclusions, illustrations, etc.), you will have a decent outline of the passage.

Poetry is often logical as well, so tracing the argument can help. But the poet typically signals his ideas by means of metaphors. If you notice when the chief metaphor shifts, you likely can identify literary units.

Narrative is driven primarily by plot, though setting and characters can also be used as structuring devices. The main things you want to look for, though, are opening setting, conflict, rising tension, climax, resolution, and new setting. Trace this arc, and you will grasp the structure of a narrative.

Macro-Structure

Now those tips will help you on a micro level, with isolated passages or episodes. That’s often the easy part. Greater difficulty lies in identifying the structure of an entire book, or a book’s major division. But we need to interpret the passage at hand in light of the larger persuasive structure, so we must be able to discover that larger structure within which we find our text.

How do we do that?

As I’ve done before, I will rely on David Dorsey, The Literary Structure of the Old Testament, for help. Dorsey has done clear and important work on this topic, which I am happy to present to you.

Primary Steps in Observing Literary Structure

Dorsey gives three main steps for grasping larger literary structures:

Identify the constituent units of a composition.
Analyze the arrangement of those units.
Consider what this structure communicates about the author’s intended meaning.

I find the first step to be the most challenging and to require the most work. And I often have to cycle through steps 1 and 2 a few times before the structure really pops, like one of those Magic Eye 3D pictures that you can’t unsee after you have seen it.

1. Identify Constituent Units

Dorsey give three sub-steps to help you identify literary units:

Beginning markers
End markers
Internal cohesion

Beginning markers are introductory phrases that signal a new section. For example, in my study of the tabernacle instructions in Exodus 25-31, I observed seven narrative statements: “Yahweh said to Moses…” The narrator uses these “markers” to structure God’s instructions into seven speeches. We see Genesis use a similar technique, dividing the book into ten sections that begin with: “These are the generations of…”

End markers are conclusive statements that signal the end of a section. For example, early in Mark’s gospel the narrator uses a general narrative summary statement to signal the end of his major sections (see Mark 3:7-12, 6:6b). The book of Psalms uses concluding doxologies to signal the ends of each of the book’s five major divisions (Ps 41:13, 72:18-20, 89:52, 106:48, 150:1-6). Job gives an end marker to signal a major shift from Job’s interactions with his 3 friends to Elihu’s interaction with Job (Job 31:40b).

Internal cohesion refers to the many techniques an author uses to signal that a passage hangs together as a single unit. Dorsey lists 14 techniques biblical authors use to create this cohesion, but his list can be boiled down to one thing: change. Changes in scene or setting, characters, topic, genre, pace of action, literary form, or grammatical forms (such as a shift from second person to third person pronouns) can all suggest the boundaries of a literary unit. As can inclusio or chiasm, keyword repetition, or recurring motif.

For example, Isaiah’s chapter divisions in English Bibles are notorious for screwing up the author’s structure. Isaiah 7:1-9:7 hangs together as one section, beginning with the promise of Immanuel and ending with the Mighty God being born among humanity as a child. Then Isaiah 9:8-10:4 is a single cohesive unit, containing four stanzas, each with an identical, repeated end marker: “For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still” (Is 9:12b, 9:17c, 9:21b, 10:4b). If you read just Isaiah chapter 7, then chapter 8, then chapter 9, then chapter 10 (assuming each chapter to be its own unit), you will miss Isaiah’s structure, and therefore his point.

2. Analyze the Arrangement of the Units

Once you can list, with reasonable confidence, the main units of a book, you can examine how the author has chosen to fit them together.

Sometimes he uses a linear arrangement, which is the most straightforward approach. The units have little to do with each other, except that one leads to the next. The outline looks like: A-B-C-D-E-F-G. I can’t prove this, but my hunch is that this is the least common arrangement in the Scriptures. For oral cultures, a linear arrangement is just too difficult to hear and remember. We see a linear arrangement in Proverbs 10-29, where the author wants us to stop and think after almost every verse.

Sometimes biblical authors use a parallel arrangement, which involves giving a sequence and then repeating it one or more times. The outline looks like A-B-C-D//A-B-C-D. We see this in the book of Judges, where the sequence laid out in Judges 2:11-19 repeats 7 times, before we get two closing epilogues (Judges 17-18 and 19-21) that match the book’s two prologues (Judges 1:1-2:5 and 2:6-3:6). Mark uses a parallel arrangement in Mark 6:30-8:26, where he takes his disciples through the same sequence of events (feed a multitude, cross the sea, dispute the Pharisees, discuss bread, heal someone’s malfunctioning senses) two times.

Sometimes biblical authors use a symmetric arrangement, which involves moving the action or argument forward to a hinge point, then unwinding the action or argument in reverse order. The outline looks like A-B-C-D-E-D-C-B-A. This arrangement is often called a chiasm, because the outline looks like one side of the Greek letter chi (an X). We see this in the Aramaic section of Daniel (Dan 2-7) which tells of:

a vision of 4 kingdoms (Dan 2),

a martyr/rescue story (Dan 3),

judgment on a king’s pride—restored (Dan 4),

judgment on a king’s pride—not restored (Dan 5),

a martyr/rescue story (Dan 6),

and a vision of 4 kingdoms (Dan 7).

Conclusion

I’m out of space for now and will have to return to the third main step in another post. That’s where all this work of observation starts to pay off, as we grapple with the interpretive question: “Why did the author arrange his material in this way?”

Amazon links are affiliate links, which support our blog so we can continue supporting you. There is no extra cost to yourself. We’ll try to help you see chiasms like the one in this paragraph, by blogging more about such topics. But only if you click the affiliate links that take you to Amazon.

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We Must Not Discard the Old Testament

October 31, 2018 By Peter Krol

In “Why We Can’t Unhitch from the Old Testament,” Michael Kruger reviews Andy Stanley’s latest book Irresistible: Reclaiming the New that Jesus Unleashed for the World. Stanley’s claims include the following:

“when it comes to stumbling blocks to faith, the Old Testament is right up there at the top of the list”
using the Old Testament has led to “prosperity gospel, the crusades, anti-Semitism, legalism, exclusivism, judgmentalism,” and more.
when people wrestle with trusting Christ, “the Old Testament is usually the culprit”
the church fathers “ignored [Paul’s] warning against mixing and matching”
when we look for Jesus in the Old Testament Scriptures, God’s Word is being “hijacked” by Christians who are “ignoring original context”

Kruger clearly and biblically addresses these and other claims in his helpful review. He’s happy to celebrate what Stanley gets right, but he’s also not afraid to show where Stanley’s thinking veers off course.

What I most appreciate about Kruger’s review is that he shows us how our thinking about the Bible must derive directly from the Bible. It’s worth checking out to see an example of how to do that well.

Check it out!

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The Value of Observing Structure

October 26, 2018 By Peter Krol

Observing structure is a lost art in much Bible study. We fixate on a few verses, and we fail to look for larger literary patterns in larger portions of text. But most Bible books would have been read orally, and authors used larger literary patterns to help people retain information. Public speakers do the same thing today when they repeat and reiterate and reinforce their points through rhythmic patterns of variation. (Just think of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous “I have a dream” speech.)

In his wonderful book, The Literary Structure of the Old Testament, David A. Dorsey enumerates 10 benefits gained by observing structure:

1. Appreciation of literary artistry

Les Haines (2012), Creative Commons

God’s word is not simply true; it is also beautiful, just like he is.

2. Identification of unit boundaries

Knowing the structure might help you break up the passage sensibly for your Bible study or sermon series.

3. Discovery of the rationale behind a unit’s overall layout

When you can’t figure out why events are in such a strange order, perhaps the author arranged them purposefully to make a certain point.

4. Clarification of the relationship of the parts to the whole

Tracking structure will help you to keep the smaller episodes or stanzas connected to the main point of the whole book.

5. Accounting for repetitions

For example, why does Genesis 6-9 keep repeating the names of Noah’s sons (Gen 6:10, 7:13, 9:18)? They serve as markers for the structure.

The world is bad (sons named)
- God gives Noah instructions
  - A sampling of all living things (sons named) get on the ark
    - Waters rise
      - God remembers the ark’s inhabitants
    - Waters fall
  - The living things (including the sons, unnamed this time) get off the ark
- God gives Noah instructions
The world is still bad (sons named)

6. Accounting for apparently misplaced units

Some scholars don’t know what to do with passages like Genesis 38 or Nehemiah 5 or Isaiah 36-39 that seem to be completely misplaced (way out of order) within their books. But these placements make more sense when we consider the outlines of those books.

7. Clarification of a unit by comparison with its match

For example, Jonah’s prayer in Jonah 2 appears pious and repentant until you consider the parallel prayer in chapter 4. Suddenly his repentance doesn’t look very repentant.

8. A check on redaction-critical theories

For a hundred and fifty years or so, unbelieving scholars spent their time picking apart books of the Bible and showing how all the parts couldn’t have been written by the same person. However, this approach isn’t so common anymore, as the unity and beauty (see point #1 above) of each book speaks a more compelling truth.

9. Discovery of a unit’s main point

Here is something truly worth getting pumped up for. Sometimes a passage’s main point is more implicit than explicit, and the author tucks that point right into his shaping of the composition.

10. Discovery of a composition’s theme

A theme is an idea woven into the fabric of a book. That theme might not be clear until you’ve seen it crop up in many sections. Observing structure brings themes into the foreground.

So much for the principles. To see them in action, look at how much difference structure makes in each gospel’s telling of the feeding of the 5,000. Through the context and structure of each Gospel, we see that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John can use the same event for a different purpose.

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