Michael Heiser | Knowable Word

When “Literal” Interpretation is Not as Straightforward as it Seems

October 30, 2019 By Peter Krol

Michael Heiser makes a helpful point in his article on “How to (Mis)Interpret Prophecy”:

“There’s no shortage of advice on how to interpret the Bible. One maxim … advises, “When the plain sense makes sense, seek no other sense.” I’ve heard it quoted when it comes to biblical prophecy—encouraging people to interpret literally, at face value. Although that sounds like good advice, some New Testament writers didn’t get the memo.

Heiser then analyzes James’s use of Amos 9 in the Jerusalem council, recorded in Acts 15, where James (and Luke, the narrator) appears to take a non-literal approach to the fulfillment of Amos’s prophecy.

There are textual and translation issues involved as well, which Heiser briefly sorts out. But Heiser does well with this example to show us that “Interpreting biblical prophecy cannot be distilled to a simple maxim, and everything cannot be taken literally. The New Testament shows us otherwise.”

Check it out!

The Most Important Context for Interpreting the Bible

May 15, 2019 By Peter Krol

We’ve written much over the last few months about the importance of context. And Michael Heiser has an important article at the Logos Talk blog entitled “What is the Proper Context for Interpreting the Bible?”

Historical, cultural, and literary context all matter. And the context of orthodox Christian interpretation over the last 2,000 years matters. But more than any of that, Heiser argues that the most important context to which we must pay attention (and with which historical, cultural, and literary context only “flirt”) is the context of the biblical writers.

We must do all we can to get into their heads, to understand their worldview, to grasp what factors led to the production of the literature contained in the Bible.

Heiser writes:

As certain as this observation is, there is a pervasive tendency in the believing Church to filter the Bible through creeds, confessions, and denominational preferences. That’s not a bad thing. It’s a human thing. Creeds are useful for distilling important points of theology. But they are far from the whole counsel of God, and even farther from the biblical world. This is something to be aware of at all times.
Lest I be misunderstood, I’m not arguing that we should ignore our Christian forefathers. I’m also not saying that we’re smarter. They were prodigious intellects. The problem isn’t their brain power—it’s that they were simply too removed from the world of the biblical writers and had little chance of bridging that gap.
It might sound odd, but we’re actually in a better position than any of our spiritual forefathers in that respect. We live at a time when the languages of the major civilizations that flourished during the lifetimes of the biblical writers have been deciphered. We can tap into the intellectual and cultural output of those civilizations. That output is enormous—millions of words. We can recover the worldview context (their “cognitive framework” in scholar-speak) of the biblical writers as never before. The same is true of the New Testament writers because they inherited what had come before them and were part of a first-century world two thousand years removed from us.

In conclusion:

I know firsthand this is a hard lesson. It isn’t easy to put the biblical context ahead of our traditions. But if we don’t do that, we ought to stop talking about how important it is to interpret the Bible in context lest we be hypocrites. I can honestly say that the day I decided to commit myself to framing my study of Scripture in the context of the biblical world instead of any modern substitute was a day of liberation. It’s what put me on a path to reading the Bible again—for the first time. You can do that, too.

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Making Sense of Prophecy

October 3, 2018 By Peter Krol

In his article “How to (Mis)Interpret Prophecy,” Michael Heiser illustrates one weakness with over-generalizing our interpretive principles. He mentions the principle: “When the plain sense makes sense, seek no other sense.” And then he examines the use of Amos 9 in Acts 15 to show one place where the principle needs more nuance.

He concludes:

Comparing these passages illustrates important lessons: Interpreting biblical prophecy cannot be distilled to a simple maxim, and not everything can be taken literally. The New Testament shows us otherwise.

His concise analysis is worth your time. Check it out!

Yes, the Bible Really Had Editors

March 7, 2018 By Peter Krol

Sometimes conservative evangelicals get nervous when scholars start talking about the Bible’s “editors.” But there can be no doubt that it was so. Michael Heiser explains it briefly at the Logos Talk blog:

Consider the first four verses of the book of Ezekiel:

In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. On the fifth day of the month (it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin), the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the Chebar canal, and the hand of the Lord was upon him there. As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming metal.

The first two verses use the first person (“I”), which leads us to believe that Ezekiel himself is writing. But then there is a switch to the third person in verse three, as though the writer was not the famous prophet (“to Ezekiel”; “him”). Then it’s back to the first person (“I”) again in verse four. What’s going on? Can’t Ezekiel decide if he’s writing or not?

There’s no multiple personality disorder here. The switch between grammatical persons is simply the tell-tale sign of an editor. Someone other than Ezekiel inserted verse three to make it clear that the prophet wasn’t crazy: The prophet saw God and was led by the Spirit to describe what follows in the book.

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Why Would Chronicles Whitewash David’s Sins?

December 6, 2017 By Peter Krol

Logos has a short article from Michael Heiser in which Heiser wonders, “Did the Write of Chronicles Try to Scrub Away David’s Dirty Past?” In his brief article, Heiser does a great job showing how to compare parallel stories (such as Chronicles and Samuel) to understand the author’s agenda. Heiser also explains the historical circumstances for the audience of 1-2 Chronicles, which circumstances warranted a high, though not deceptive, view of King David.

I’m not going to answer the question from my title. As you compare the passages and consider the background Heiser explains, see if you can figure it out for yourself.

Check it out!

What We Might Miss When We Discuss the Bible’s Context

March 22, 2017 By Peter Krol

Writing for the Logos Talk blog, Michael Heiser makes an important point about the Bible’s context. When we study the Bible “in context,” we tend to focus on the literary context (surrounding passages) and historical context (what was going on in Israel’s culture at the time).

But another context is just as important, yet often overlooked: The socio-religious context. In other words, what was going on in the surrounding nations at the time? What did those nations believe about their gods and how to serve them, and how does the true God’s revelation to Israel relate or stand out?

The profound contextual overlaps between Israel and her pagan neighbors was a wise theological tactic on God’s part. When divergences in Israel’s theology appear in the text—and there are some dramatic, stark points of contrast—they scream for attention on the part of the ancient reader. Unlike the pagan deities, Israel’s God could not be cajoled like an idol; Yahweh could not be brought down to earth and tamed. Laws about sacrifices were set in specific covenant contexts, giving them a unique theological dimension. Yahweh would rather have faith and loyalty than sacrifice.

We can miss the punch of what the Bible says when we don’t grapple with how it would have sounded to the ancients in their social context. Heiser gives a number of examples of the similarities and differences that help our interpretation.

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Even the Bible Needed Upgrading

August 12, 2015 By Peter Krol

Though God’s Holy Spirit breathed out the very words of Scripture (2 Tim 3:16-17), he did so through the skills and creativity of human authors (2 Pet 1:21). And as the generations passed, and the original readers of a Bible book had come and gone, scribes would update the text to make sense for a new era.

This fact is not something Bible-believing Christians should fear or cover up. It does not threaten the doctrines of inspiration or inerrancy. If God can speak through human authors, he can also speak through human editors. Some alleged errors or inconsistencies in the Bible can be reasonably explained through this editorial process.

We understand the practice today. It often takes as few as 10 years for a publisher to release a “revised and updated” second edition of a successful book. This doesn’t necessarily mean the first edition was in error, but that when times change, some things need updating. Important ancient literature worked the same way.

Writing for Bible Study Magazine, Michael Heiser speaks of such evidence of “upgrading” in Genesis 14 and Psalm 51. We could find many further examples where terminology, people or place names, or turns of phrase must have been updated for later generations. God wants people to know him through his word. His word will last forever, and his main points don’t change, but the text must always be translated and explained for each new generation and culture.

Heiser gives two reasons why details may have been updated over time:

To make the stories more familiar to new readers (by avoiding archaic names and terminology they wouldn’t understand).
To re-purpose something already written to “make it preach” to a new community.

Heiser’s brief article gives a few examples and much worth considering. Check it out!