9. Literary Context
Utilizing context in Bible study involves more than just looking at similar verses from near and far and bringing together older and newer statements that are related. We need to see biblical statements in terms of their literary context as well.
Hebrews 1:1 tells us that "God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways." At the broadest level, these "various ways" can include the different types of literature in which the messages were delivered or recorded. We must learn to differentiate and keep in mind these various kinds of literature if we are to successfully understand what they are saying.
Think of the phone book – it is not all printed in the same format: there are white pages, yellow pages, advertisements, all with their own format and different kinds of information. We read each section of the phone book differently – with different expectations about what kind of information we are getting.
The Bible also contains different types of information in different formats such as narratives, poetry, prophecy, messages, wisdom, laws, letters, and lists. Some biblical books are primarily one form of literature or another – just as the book of Judges is mainly narrative and the book of Psalms is primarily poetry. But there can also be different types of literature within individual books – as we find, for example, in some of the prophetic books which contain sections of narrative, poetry, prophecy, and even other literary types.
Fortunately, this situation is not as complicated as it may at first seem. Most of the different types of literature contained in the Bible are written in straightforward prose and, for the most part, can be understood literally and are not difficult to understand. It is mainly with the poetic and prophetic literary forms that we need to pay special attention to literary context.
Poetic Material While we may think of the poetry in the Bible as being found mainly in just a few books like Psalms and the Song of Solomon, in reality about thirty percent of the Hebrew Bible is written in poetic form. The book of Isaiah, for example, is almost entirely written in poetic form, and many other biblical books have sections of narrative text mixed with sections of poetic text.
Much of the time we are able to sense when we are reading such poetic material. For example, where Isaiah says that they who wait on God will "soar on wings like eagles" (Isaiah 40:31) or David says of his enemies "Break the teeth in their mouths, O God" (Psalm 58:6), it is clear that they do not mean those things literally, and that the writers are speaking poetically. We realize that such statements need to be understood as being expressive of ideas rather than expressions of facts.
It is not always obvious whether we are looking at poetry or prose, however, and modern translations can help us with that. Older translations, such as the King James Version, usually printed everything in the same format. More recent translations, such as the English Standard Version and New International Version, help considerably by printing different literary formats in different fonts and layouts so we can see the nature of a given verse in its literary context more clearly.
But there is still a potential problem. Even when it is clear what is poetry and what is prose, many people have an almost instinctive reaction to poetry – they see it as somehow less real than prose, as more imaginative and less factual. The examples we gave above from Isaiah and Psalms certainly show that poetry can be that way, but that does not mean that all poetically expressed statements cannot be understood literally. Just as we should be on the lookout for poetic sections within prose narratives, we should also watch for literal meanings within poetic sections of text.
Prophetic Material Understanding that poetic forms can include literal facts is also extremely important for Bible study because most prophecies found throughout the Bible are expressed in poetic form. Not only most of Isaiah, but also large sections of Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the Minor Prophets are written as poetry. This means that in studying prophetic sections of the Bible, we have to stay aware of the need to switch back and forth from reading what is clearly not literal to what may well be intended literally.
Even statements that might look literal at first may not be, or vice versa. In Isaiah 40:3-4 we find a prediction that valleys will be raised up and mountains made low and that rough ground and rugged places will be made a smooth plain. But Luke 3:4-6 shows that this prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled symbolically in the preaching of John the Baptist. So although they may sound like literal geographic references, we see that the leveling of valleys, mountains, and rugged areas spoken of in Isaiah 40:3-4 must be symbols of something else – the leveling away of difficulties, with the idea of making a smooth path for the promised Messiah. As we might say today, John "leveled the playing field" by calling all to repentance, not just those who were looked down on as sinners.
One of the big lessons we can learn regarding context in the Bible is the need to see biblical statements in terms of the specific literary types in which they were originally composed – so that we can look at them in that context and apply the special views they require.
This is particularly true with prophetic material. It may not always be clear to us whether a given prophecy is to be understood literally or symbolically, but understanding and remembering the possible viewpoints within different literary types can greatly increase the likelihood of our correctly understanding the words we read in these cases.
Literary Devices Literary aspects of the biblical writings can be more than just kinds of literature or types of expression, however. Many biblical writers used "literary devices" – specific ways of handling words to achieve specific purposes.
For example, you may have noticed when reading the New Testament that the Gospel writers often insert one story into another, interrupting the first story, as it were, to inject a second – and often seemingly unrelated – story. This literary technique is called intercalation, but biblical scholars often fondly refer to it simply as a "literary sandwich"! Consider the following "sandwich" from the Gospel of Mark where the inset story has been set in italic typeface:
Now the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were scheming to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him... While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume … She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, "Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor." And they rebuked her harshly… Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money (Mark 14:1-11). As we see in this example, Mark could easily have finished his story about the plot to kill Jesus before writing about the woman who anointed him. Alternately, he could have told that story first before going on to the plot against Jesus.
We know this is a conscious literary technique because sometimes we find one Gospel writer using the "sandwich" technique when another does not for the same event – for example, the story of the cursed fig tree (see Matthew 21:18-22 for the standard story, Mark 11:12-26 for the sandwiched story). In telling the stories of the anointing of Jesus and the plot to kill him, Mark chose to use the sandwich literary technique by inserting one story inside the other and in that way encouraging us, as readers, to think about the two stories together – to think about some connection they have.
This is because the purpose of Gospel sandwiches such as this one is to compare some aspect of the first story with that same aspect in the second story that is inserted in the middle. In this case, it is clearly the great contrast in attitude toward money that is evident in comparing the woman's selfless attitude of giving to the selfish attitude of taking exhibited by Judas.
Our personal Bible study is deepened when we learn to watch for and think about such sandwich stories when we find them in the Gospels – and we need to remember to always look to see what the intended contrast is in these stories. There are many such literary techniques used by the biblical writers to teach the lessons they wanted to convey. Another technique often found in the Gospels is that of "crossovers," as we see in the following case study.
Case Study: "Crossovers" in the Gospels
Throughout the Gospels we find a number of stories that are given in the form of "crossovers" (technically called "chiasms"). These are narratives in which the second half of the story reverses the order of the events in the first half – the reversal taking place after a central "pivotal" event. As we will see, this structure is important for understanding the key point of the story.
Example 1: A Sabbath Sermon (Luke 4:15-28). 1. People were pleased with Jesus' teaching 2. On the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue 3. He stood up to read, 4. and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. 5. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 6. Jesus reads from Isaiah in the synagogue. [pivotal event] 7. Then he rolled up the scroll 8. gave it back to the attendant 9. and sat down. 10. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 11. People were offended at Jesus' teaching
Example 2: Zacchaeus the Tax Collector (Luke 19:1-10, 28). 1. Jesus – arrives 2. Zacchaeus — took money from others 3. The crowd – follows Jesus 4. Zacchaeus – climbs up the sycamore tree 5. Jesus extends acceptance to Zacchaeus. [pivotal event] 6. Zacchaeus – climbs down the sycamore tree 7. The crowd – rejects Jesus 8. Zacchaeus — gives money to others 9. Jesus – leaves Example 3: A Fish Crossover (Luke 5:1-11). 1. Crowds follow Jesus 2. The boat goes out 3. Jesus speaks to Peter (Catch fish!) 4. Peter speaks to Jesus (in arrogance) [uses epistates "overseer"] 5. Miraculous catch of fish [pivotal event] 6. Peter speaks to Jesus (in repentance) [now uses kyrios "lord"] 7. Jesus speaks to Peter (Catch people!) 8. The boat returns 9. The boat on the shore 10. Disciples follow Jesus
The main purpose of crossover stories like these is to stress the changes that take place after the pivotal event at the center of the story. In the first example we see the change of attitude in the people of Jesus' hometown after he speaks to them. In the second example we see the change in Zacchaeus after his acceptance by Christ. In the final example, we see the change in Peter's attitude – and Jesus' new command to him – after the miraculous catch of fish. In each case the story is told around a pivotal point, and important changes are stressed in the second half of the narrative.
The mirror image halves of stories of this type may have originally been a result of their careful construction to aid memorization and oral telling, or the structure may have been added by the writers who recorded the events in the Gospels. In either case, by noticing and thinking about these crossover narratives, we can much better understand the thrust of each story told in this manner.
Being aware of such crossover stories in the Gospels can help us to look out not only for stories of this type, but also for other literary devices that the Gospel writers used – and through which we can better understand their messages.