Historical Narrative
Many people, myself included, sit down to read the Bible and open the pages of the book and begin reading. Some from where they left off the night before, some looking for a specific piece of information, and still others who just open it up expecting to read something profound that will help guide them through their day or answer that nagging question that has been in the back of their mind. Regardless of why the Bible was opened, there is truth to be read and lessons to be learned. The problem is that many people just open the book and begin reading without giving any regard to context, historical placement or culture, background information on the particular person or persons they are reading about and, last but not least, the reason that particular scripture was written to begin with. To get the most out of reading the Bible, one must understand the genre they are reading, the purpose for it’s being written in the first place, and the message the author intended to convey with it’s content. So how do we do that? Research, reading and more reading. One must be a student of the text just as much as they are a student anything else they want to learn more about, maybe even more so in this case.
Let’s take the Historical Narrative genre that exists in several Old Testament books of the Bible, such as; Joshua, Samuel or Ezra, not to mention many more. One must first ask these three questions before expecting to understand the text in this particular genre. 1. Who wrote this book? 2. To whom was this book written. 3. What is the genre of this book? Which might be a more important question to answer. Understanding these questions will help set the context for the passage being read.
Let’s dig a little deeper. If we were to understand the book of 1 Samuel, we need to know that the author is believed to be Samuel, but also includes writings from the prophets Gad and Nathan. Why is this important? It just helps us to understand that the information we see in 1 Samuel is collective information, partly taken from Samuel, but also taken from the records of these prophets concerning the reign of King David. Then we need to know whom the book was written to, this helps the reader understand the context of the message, and possibly provides a little more detail in terms of purpose or intended message. 1 Samuel was written to the people of Israel, and its intended purpose is for the recording of Samuels life, but also to show the transition from Israel having judges to kings.
The third question is maybe the most critical in that it will help the reader understand the purpose for the form of the book and it’s content. 1 Samuel is a historical narrative piece of literature. By knowing the genre of the book, the reader can then understand the purpose of the book is to show the big picture of a part of history. One could not sit down to a book containing the genre of historical narrative and read only a paragraph of the scripture and grasp a good understanding of what is happening in the story. A historical narrative really needs to be read in large portions so that the reader can gain a birds eye view of not only what is happening on the ground level, (individual people), but at a skyline view, which might be the Israelite people, and further yet, a horizon view which might be the bigger plan of God for his chosen people.
As we look at a book like 1 Samuel with these things in mind, we can see the book for what it is, the story of how God is sovereign over all, and the preparation of Israel for King David, which by the way was only the second king for the people of Israel. One more thing we see in 1 Samuel is the story of how Israel went from having judges, Samuel being the last, to having kings whereby Saul was the first, and David was the greatest.
No matter how you look at this genres, the main point is that to grasp fully what the text is intending or intended to say, one has to understand that, “…literary criticism depends on some amount of historical spadework in order to comprehend the customs, context and even language of the biblical texts.” (Arnold & Williamson, 2005, p. 688-9). Interpreting Literature isn’t easy, it takes time, but the digging and the time spent going over the extra information, will help the student understand what is to be communicated by the author. “For communication to occur, the reader must be on the same page as the author in terms of genre.” (Duvall & Hayes, 2005, p.121).
Resources
Arnold, B. T., & Williamson, H. G. M., (2005). Dictionary of the Old Testament historical books: A compendium of contemporary Biblical scholarship. Nottingham, England: Inter- Varsity Press.
Duvall, J. S., & Hays, J. D., (2005). Grasping God’s word: A hands on approach to reading, interpreting, and applying the Bible. (2nd ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan
