A COMPLETE COURSE ON BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION, PART FOUR

Hello friend! It has been a great journey in this series of learning about Biblical interpretation. I’m sure you have been blessed by the previous parts of this series.

By God’s grace, we will gain more insight as we begin to wrap up this series on Biblical interpretation.

In the previous part, we considered important rules to obey during your Bible study. All these rules are still a derivative of the Human perspective of Biblical interpretation.

As we proceed in this series, we will consider the fourth rule you should obey during your study (If you missed the first three rules, check them out here).

This will lead us to consider the sections of the Bible and how to study them.

We’re gradually coming to the end of this series, pay careful attention as you’ve been doing and let’s get everything God has for us. Here we go! 

For organization and understanding, the Bible is divided into 8 major parts which are spread over the Old Testament and the New Testament.

For you to understand the Bible in an in-depth manner, you need to be sensitive to the peculiarities that come with the different sections of the Bible.

Let’s take a brief look at these divisions of Scripture and what you need to take note of while reading them.

DIVISIONS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

1. The Law

The law consists of the five books of Moses- Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

The books of the law describe how God set the nation of Israel apart for himself and gave them a special code of conduct they were to follow known as the Law or Pentateuch.

When reading the books of the law, you must realize that not all parts of the Old Testament law still apply to us New Testament believers because we are now under grace.

Be sensitive to distinguish between what part of the law applies to the modern believer and that which has been done away with in the New Testament.

Apart from this, you should also utilize the law of drawing principles out of instructions to extrapolate principles that apply to us irrespective of what dispensation we’re living in at present.

 To understand this principle more, please check the second law of Biblical Interpretation to obey during your study in the previous post.

2. Historical Books

The Historical books of the Old Testament contain history just like they sound. They include Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd Kings, 1st and 2nd Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.

Here you will find the history of Kings, prophets, Judges and specific individuals who participated in the establishment of Israel from one generation to another.

The Historical books are written in a narrative form and they’re easy to understand. You will need to apply the law of context to understand the peculiar situations that surround each story being narrated in the History books.

You can also use a Bible map that can give you a visual picture of the towns or cities mentioned since the History books involve a lot of warfare and conquest of nations.

Going deeper, you can conduct a character study on any of the individuals mentioned in the history books, for example, Joshua, Samson, Ruth, Samuel, David, Elijah, Elisha etc.

This will point you to practical lessons you can apply to your life from the stories of these Bible characters. 

3. Poetic Books

The poetic books include Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Songs of Solomon. These books take a deeper focus on the lives of specific men.

The poetic books shift the focus from the nation of Israel as a whole to record personal dealings of men with God and their emotions from day to day.

The poetic books show us the times when people of God cried and laughed, their frustrations, their afflictions and daily mediations.

 Because the poetic books are filled with a lot of emotions, you will find the use of figures of speech and symbolic representation a lot in them.

 You will need extra care and meditation to understand the poetic books therefore, you should not rush through them. Read them step by step and take pauses in the middle to meditate on what you’re reading.

One beauty of the poetic books is that it shows us the power of a personal relationship with God. It shows us that God wants to be involved in every aspect of our lives and we can discuss anything with him.

 He is with us in our darkest moments and he will deliver us in times of trouble (Psalms 46:1)

4. Prophetic Books

The books of the prophets consist of the Major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel) and Minor prophets (Hosea, Joel, Amos Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Zechariah, Malachi).

The division of the major and minor prophets was done based on the size of the books and not necessarily how important they are.

The prophetic books give a transition from the Old Testament to the New Testament. They describe the fall of Israel, the time of exile and the rise of Israel again.

Beyond the nation of Israel, the prophetic books contain prophecies that still apply to us as believers today. They contain prophetic revelation about the past, our current dispensation and the future.

You will find the fulfilment of many prophecies in these books in the New Testament. This will help you understand the infallible nature of God’s word irrespective of the passage of time.

As you study prophetic books, seek out prophecies that still apply to you, pray with them and claim their fulfilment in your life. Remember, what God does for one, he can do for all. 

Conclusion

I’m sure you’ve been blessed by this post.

Comment below and let us know how this post has been a blessing to you. Feel free to ask any questions in the comment section or reach out to us at unveilingthescriptures@gmail.com.

The next part of this series will be the final part. We will conclude by looking at the sections the New Testament are divided into and how to get the best out of them.

Tell a friend or family member to join us as we wrap things up as regards Biblical Interpretation.

Many Blessings!