Reading and Applying the Bible
Week Five
Cultural, Historical, and Physical Setting
Context is King:
Guideline: Base the study on historical. Physical, and cultural
setting.
The context of the Scripture must needs be based on the immediate
and cultural setting that the original message was written. By doing
this we can be certain which passages, precepts, and passages are
universal to we the individual Christian, and collective Christians
the church. This will also help us be exact in what God is saying
and to whom He is saying it to, for proper application in our own
lives and the church. Which promises belong to the church, to
Israel, and the world.
For example, does the 23rd Psalm apply to me, to us, or
only the Hebrew people? A deeper understanding of the cultural
setting of sheep and shepherds will help us understand our Good
Shepherd in the way God wants us to understand. It will help us
understand how we are sheep that have wandered astray. In short,
this helps us know exactly what God is saying, and how it applies to
we individual Christians in the 21st century.
The Book of History
How many books in God’s Word are
Historical books? Tanakh is an acronym of the first
Hebrew letter of each of the Masoretic Text's three traditional
subdivisions: Torah ("Teaching", also known as the Five
Books of Moses), Nevi'im ("Prophets") and Ketuvim
("Writings")—hence TaNaKh.
Let us consider the facts:
The Torah, the first five
books of the Bible are historical. All
of these for the most part, with the exception of the books of
Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, and Proverbs are all Ketuvim or
writings; however the Psalms are in the Ketuvim, but some of the
Psalms do mention of the historical underlining of the Psalm when it
was written. A prime example is Psalm 51 which informs in the
beginning that it was written when Nathan confronted David after his
adultery with Bathsheba. The Prophets all are written with parts of
them listing the history of what has transpired in the past to bring
relevance to the why and what God is about to do because of past
events. The Gospels, Acts, and the epistles are also historical.
Explaining what exactly happened in the life of Jesus in the Gospels,
the lives of the Apostles, the history and doctrine of the Biblical
New Testament church. So
knowing the historical events of the Scriptures will help us in
understanding books such Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, all the
prophets, and Revelation. So always observing the Scripture
culturally, historically, and in context will help us hear exactly
what God is saying to us. Scripture is rooted in history, and once
we begin to read the Scriptures in light of this truth, we will begin
to notice how God has revealed Himself throughout of the world and
mankind.
The Period of history and society in which each human writer
recorded what the Holy Spirit told him does impact what God is
literally saying and what He desires us to hear as He speaks in His
word. When we consider Jesus’ model of handling Scriptures, we
can’t go wrong. Consider in the New Testament, Jesus quoted
various passages from many different books. This shows the Old and
New Testaments are in complete harmony and unison. When Jesus is in
the wilderness for forty day and forty nights during the “Temptation
of Christ” He was fasting, weary, and physically weak. That’s
when Satan attacked Him tempting Him to break the Law of the Torah,
but Jesus fought Satan’s temptations by way of twisting Scripture,
with precisely quoting the Law instead of breaking it. An example of
knowing the historical Scriptures past, comes into place when we
study the book of Hebrews. All the Old Testament laws are shown to
be filled in Christ. Also, studying Hebrews will help us know why
such laws and ceremonies were given to the Hebrew people.
Consider this: For us to grasp part of John chapter three, when
Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, we need to know a certain passage
in the Old Testament to grasp exactly what that event foretold the
Hebrew people, that Jesus explained. In the Old Testament passage
of the children of Israel murmuring, complaining, and stiff necked
disobedience God sent fiery serpents to bite, pain, and kill the
people, but God in His marvelous grace commanded the Israelis to look
upon a brazen statue on a pole in faith of what God said would save
and heal them . Jesus tells Nicodemus who was a good pharisee, who no
doubt probably new the Torah better than we Christians, that He the
Son of Man must be lifted up like the brazen serpent. For Christians
who haven’t read that historical account in the “Wilderness
Wanderings” the passage in John will not have the connection and
“wow” factor as those of us who have read and readily recall that
Old Testament story.
Understanding and knowing the history narratives in the Bible are
paramount in answering the who, what, when, where, and how questions
that helps interpret Scripture properly. During the “Mount of
Transfiguration” in the Gospel account, we know Who was the main
person in the three figures gathered, but apart from knowing the
history of the other two Saints gathered with Jesus, it hard to see
why these two Saints stood with the Lord on the “Mount of
Transfiguration.” “...Ezekiel tells us of a valley filled
with dry bones (Ezekiel 37:1-6 KJV). And earnest preachers have
subjected God’s people to marvelous interpretations of that
passage! Usually the passage is spiritualized, often referring to
a description of the new birth, when a person is brought from
death to life by the power of the Holy Spirit. Yet, for an
understanding of that passage, knowledge of of its historical
setting is of vital importance: “Now in the twelfth year of
our exile, on the fifth of the tenth month, the refugees from the
city of Jerusalem came to me saying, “The city has been
taken.” (Ezekiel 33:21) Immediately following the vision the
LORD tells the prophet, “Son of Man, these bones are the whole
house of Israel; behold, they say ‘Our bones are dried up and
our hope is perished. We are completely cut off.’ Therefore
prophesy and say to them, “Thus says the Lord God, ‘BEHOLD
, I will open your graves and cause you to come out of your
graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel.”
(McQuilkin pgs 107-108)
Needless to say, cross checking Scripture with Scripture, looking
for dates, locations in books such as Acts, will help us arrive at
exactly what God is saying in other books such as the letters from
Paul to the churches in the New Testament.
The main difference between our Bible, the True Word from God, and
other “spiritual” books and philosophies is the Bible is steeped
full of verifiable historical facts. When any person in the Bible
sins against God and his fellow man, the Bible records it. In this
way, the Bible places itself at welcomed scrutiny. Why? Because it
is true to the historical facts witnessed by the society during its
recorded history.
Another welcomed point of investigation welcomed by the Bible is the
character, faults, praises, victories and defeats the Saints and
writers themselves had to endure. Only King David could write the
23rd Psalm. Why? Because all his childhood up until he
was anointed to be king, he spent his life tending to his father’s
herd. Consider the Apostle Paul, he was an Hebrew of Hebrews, as for
the law, blameless; however, when he encountered Jesus on the way to
Damascus, God used Paul to be the Apostle to we Gentiles. Only he
could write by the power of the Holy Spirit the treatise on law
versus Grace which we call that wonderful book Romans.
Geography
Yes, geography does matter to get a full comprehension of the
message God is revealing through his human authors. Knowing the
geography of Biblical times in Biblical lands adds tremendous value
in helping us understand “Why people go ‘up’” to Jerusalem
and why the go down from Jerusalem. This also benefits us to
understand exactly where the lands were divided to the tribes after
the forty year wilderness. They are just important when
understanding Paul’s many missionary journies. In short, geography
matters!
References to plant and animal life
To aid in understanding passages that mention plant life, it
is important we research about that particular plant, its usage among
people in the Bible, then we may possibly see what God means when He
is making comparisons of people in the Bible to plants listed in the
Bible.
As for animal mentions in the Bible, the same same holds true. “What
was this animal’s purpose in everyday life to the Hebrew?” “Was
the pet a pest or danger?” coming to understand the function of
plants and animals in Biblical times will definitely draw us closer
to what God is saying.
Cultural Setting Learned From the Bible
The society in which humans
lived and functioned, their religious practices, rules governing
their society. The more we understand and learn from the culture of
Biblical times, the closer we are to arriving a perfect
interpretation of what God is saying.
In closing, we students of God’s Word must always be careful when
interpreting the Bible, and examine the historical, geographical, and
culture settings of the various times of the men God had write His
message.
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