Bible Journey 18: Song of Songs

Pre-understandings

·      Wisdom Literature-Poetry

·      Work of Solomon-the wisest man ever to live (1 Kings 3:12)

·      Unified work with several speakers representing different points of view:

o   The Lover, His Beloved, Friends, etc.

Directly speaking, The Song focuses on the vertical relationship between the       Beloved and the Lover-between you and God

Conceptions and Misconceptions

·      Almost always given some sort of allegorical interpretation-every detail has some hidden (deeper) meaning

Jewish Allegorical view: God’s dealing with His Beloved (Israel) through stages of history from the Exodus to the coming of the Messiah

Early Christian Allegorical view: God’s dealing with His Beloved (The Church), think Ephesians 5:22-33

Roman Catholic Allegorical view: has supposed Mary to be the Beloved of the Song

·      Interpretation by Type and Kind (think Parables) is another way to read the book-not every detail is necessarily significant, but it all paints a unified picture

o   Advice for a Christian marriage

o   Christ and His Church (The Bride of Christ)

      (Rusty read the song) as very personal and intimate

o   Individual-not corporate

o   Referring to the heart’s drive of individuals seeking the deep places of a love relationship with God-I am the Beloved and Jesus is the Lover of my Soul

How He sees Me…How I see Him

o   Dark am I, yet lovely (1:5)

o   Rose of Sharon vs. Lily among thorns (2:1-2)

o   Apple Tree found in the forest (2:3)

Song of Songs 2:10

My lover spoke and said to me, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me.

Week 17: Ecclesiastes

Bible Journey 17: Ecclesiastes

Pre-understandings

• Wisdom Literature—the best and brightest of Israel’s thinkers
• Work of Solomon—the wisest man ever to live (1 Kings 3:12)
• One work consisting of several free-standing pieces—it all holds together with unity gathered around the question of the meaning of life
• Directionally speaking, Ecclesiastes focuses on the horizontal, but only makes sense in light of the vertical

Vanity of Vanities

• Ecclesiastes is a book that demands to be read in its entirety—it doesn’t come together until the end
• Though an ancient work, Ecclesiastes shows that people haven’t changed
• The more I have—the more I want
• Nostalgia is a cruel task-master (the good old days weren’t as good as all that)

Turn, Turn, Turn . . .

• Chapter 3’s seven-stanza poem offering a statement on futility
• Celebrated as one of the greatest literary works within the Bible
• It stands as the backdrop against which God gives meaning to life

Two are Better Than One

• 4:9-12 poem extolling the value of a true friend
• The closing line of verse 12 is God’s offer to sustain us even when the two are spent

The trouble with dying . . .

• The trouble with dying is . . .  your dead
• You can’t take it with you so you have to leave it all to a bunch of ingrates
• You won’t be remembered no matter how much good you do.  You don’t remember anyone who has passed, do you?

Ecclesiastes 12:13
Here is the conclusion of the matter:

Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole [duty] of man.

The whole work of Ecclesiastes only makes sense when you come to the end of the matter.  Paul put it this way “If it is in this life only that we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.”  (1 Cor. 15:19)

The good news is that our hope in Christ is both in this life and the life to come!

The message of Proverbs is “Live life on God’s terms and you’ll know the smile of God.” 

Week 16: Proverbs

Bible Journey 16: Proverbs

Pre-understandings

• A collection of wise sayings, truisms
• Poetic forms (couplets, etc) and imagery
• Generally understood to be from Solomon (though not all)
• Directionally speaking, Proverbs are mostly horizontal—speaking of relationships within the world—but having an eye to the Lord
• Think “Book of Sayings”

Main Characters

• Wisdom personified as a woman, a mother
• The Adulterous Woman as lust personified
• Wise Father (and mother)
• Sons in need of instruction
• Kings (good and bad)
• Fools
• The Wife of Noble Character

Truisms versus Truths

• Statements of the way life works generally, not necessarily promises that declare the outcome of all behaviors
• Not everyone who works hard gets rich
• Not everyone who dies young has lived an evil life
• Trust God to work it all out in the end

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

The message of Proverbs is “Live life on God’s terms and you’ll know the smile of God.”

I like Proverbs 30:7-9

"Two things I ask of you, O Lord; do not refuse me before I die:
Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the Lord?' Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.”

Bible Journey 15: Psalms

Pre-understandings

• A collection of free-standing Psalms, each with it’s own unity and completeness
• Collection of poetry-calls for a different set of questions than prose
• A number of different settings, ap0plications, and purposes
• Directionally speaking, Psalms are mostly flowing from people of God
• Think “Hymn Book”

Main Characters: God and Me

• Questions such as date, author, and situation may be helpful-but are not the key interpretive issues
• Key questions:

How was God using this text in the life of His people (Why was it included)?

How does God want to use this text in my life, how will it help shape my life in Christ?

“US and WE” or “ME and MINE”?

• Some are very personal and private (23, 51)
• Others are corporate (90,95)

“PRESCRIPTIVE” or “DESCRIPTIVE”?

• Prescribes what I ought to think, feel, say or sing (105, 106, 107)
• Describes what I am thinking and feeling, but I am afraid to say (3,4,5,109,138)

“HAPPY” or “SAD”?

• Incredible joy and jubilation (121-126, 136, 144-150)
• Incredible hurt, misunderstanding and need (3,5,6,17,39,42,137)

Psalms 145:8

The Lord is gracious and compassionate; slow to anger and rich in love.

The good news: (Ps. 139) God knows us-all about us, and still loves us!

Search me, O God, and know my heart: test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalms 139: 23-24

Week 14: Job

Bible Journey 14: Job

Pre-understandings

·      The story of Job describes relationship with and understanding of God

Apart form the religious institutions of Judaism

·      Theology in its most basic form

·      The book presents earthly “reality” and spiritual “reality” in parallel

Have you considered My servant Job?

God’s assessment of Job “Blameless and upright-fears God and shuns evil”

1:1, 8, 22, 2:3, 10b

God brought Job to Satan’s attention-why?

Satan’s assessment of Job: he doesn’t fear God for nothing (1:9, 2:4)

Job and his Comforters

Sat silent for seven days

Job’s honest expression of a hurting heart

            Followed by a defense of God and his ways

Theology of Reciprocity

People love (serve, fear, honor) God for what we can get from Him

Good people are blessed, bad people are cursed

            Therefore: if you are blessed you must be good. If you are cursed you must be bad

Job’s response “Can I just die and get this life over with?”

The Trilemma:

God is Omni benevolent (all good), God is Omnipotent (all-powerful), Evil exists-any two can be true, but not all three

The answer is beyond our earthly reality

Job 42:3

Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.

When “Bad Things” happen to “Good People” remember this-we don’t have enough information (or any business) to decide who is “good”-and we don’t have a long enough timeline to know how God might redeem the “bad things”