Welcome to Day 1584 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom 

Bible Study – Bible Concepts and Interpretations – Meditation Monday

Welcome to Wisdom-Trek with Gramps! Wisdom is the final frontier in gaining true knowledge. Our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, seek out discernment and insights, and boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend; this is Gramps; thanks for coming along on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy Today is Day 1584 of our Trek, and it is time for Meditation Monday. Taking time to relax, refocus, and reprioritize our lives is crucial in order to create a living legacy. For you, it may just be time alone for quiet reflection. You may utilize structured meditation practices. In my life, Meditation includes reading and reflecting on God’s Word and in prayer. It is a time to renew my mind, refocus on what is most important, and making sure that I am nurturing my soul, mind, and body. As you come along with me on our trek each Meditation Monday, it is my hope and prayer that you, too, will experience a time for reflection and renewing of your mind.

 We are continuing our series this week on Meditation Monday as we focus on Mastering Bible Study through a series of brief insights from Hebrew Scholar, Dr. Michael S. Heiser. Our current insights are focusing on accurately interpreting the Bible. Today let us meditate on:

Bible Study – Bible Concepts and Interpretations

·      Insight Sixty-Three: Tracing Concepts Through the Bible Is More Profitable than Word Study

Have you ever watched a movie where so much is happening in a scene that you invariably miss something important to the plot? That happens to me almost every time I watch a film adaptation of a Sherlock Holmes story. There are too many things to track simultaneously to think like Sherlock. There’s never just one thing that’s important to notice in any given scene. The Bible is like that—repeatedly.

Developing skills in studying biblical words is essential. But studying individual words often means only discerning one part of a set of ideas that’s important to understanding the meaning of a passage or biblical teaching. The theology of the Bible is often driven by clusters of concepts, each of which might involve one or more words. If you only do word study instead of looking for the collections, your view of biblical theology will be fragmented.

A good illustration of this problem (and the solution) is the Old Testament concept of messiah. It may shock you, but of the nearly forty occurrences of the Hebrew term Mashiach, less than a half dozen refer to a figure who would come well after the Old Testament period. This is because Mashiach means “anointed” and is used throughout the Old Testament for Israelite kings and priests. In other words, you can’t get a theology of the Messiah from the word translated “Messiah.”

This fact notwithstanding, Jews living before the time of Jesus had a well-developed profile of what God’s Messiah would be and do when he arrived. This was possible because the profile wasn’t built on a word study of Mashiach. Instead, it was built by clustering important concepts and observing how those concepts appeared together in various passages to form patterns of usage.

The concept of messiah revolves around ideas associated with the restoration of Eden, faithfulness to God’s commands, servanthood, kingship, and a priestly lineage outside Aaron and the tribe of Levi. Words associated with these themes tend to cluster in passages scattered through the Old Testament.

Careful Bible study, therefore, requires the student to detect and trace threads. Learn to observe terms that occur with other terms. Clustering patterns are often parts of a more remarkable theological tapestry. Biblical writers didn’t write unintentionally.

·      Insight Sixty-Four: The Bible Really Can Mean Exactly What It Says

Bible study can be something of an adventure. If you’ve been committed to a serious engagement with working through books of the Bible or topics that span its content, you know that what the Bible says can surprise you.

Sometimes, though, the Bible is uncomfortable, or painful, or even offensive. For example, our modern (and human) sensitivities won’t allow us to feel at ease with prayers that ask God to violently kill an enemy (Psalm 109). It’s repugnant to us that God would tell Joshua to annihilate all the occupants of a city (Joshua 6:15-21). We don’t like the fact that the Law of Moses didn’t allow women to inherit property (Numbers 27), a situation rectified only by asking God’s permission. It’s disturbing to read that people who reject faith in Christ are condemned (John 3:18). I’ve met people who’d consider themselves Bible believers but who feel compelled to explain away ideas like the virgin birth (Matthew 1:21-25). How about giants in the Old Testament (Numbers 13:32-33; Deuteronomy 2-3). How about when God might tell someone to use deception (1 Samuel 16:1-13), or that God can prevent people from repenting (Isaiah 6:8-13).

In many of these instances, we tend to look for interpretive strategies to make what the Bible says more palatable, to soften what it says, or make its claims more reasonable to our minds. Indeed, we can misunderstand a passage’s intent because the culture that produced it is thousands of years removed from us. But that cannot be an excuse for making a passage say what it didn’t intend to say. That’s dishonest. Sometimes the Bible does mean exactly what it says, and we need to live with that.

Embracing the uncomfortable in the Bible is part of serious Bible study. We are studying God’s Word as he prompted people to produce it, not as we d like it to be. When its content troubles or offends us, we need to do our best to understand such passages in their context, and from God s perspective. Letting the Bible be what it is in its time frame, culture, and setting won’t always keep us from distress, but it will ultimately make sense on its own terms. Even the harshest, most challenging passages to believe convey a theological message. Letting Scripture say what it says without changing it will ensure that we discern that message.

Joshua 1:8

Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.

That is a wrap for today’s Meditation. Next week we will continue our trek on Meditation Monday as we take time to reflect on what is most important in creating our living legacy. Thank you for joining me on this trek called life. Encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of ‘Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.’

If you would like to listen to any of the past 1583 daily treks or read the daily Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day will be downloaded to you automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most importantly, I am your friend as I serve you through this Wisdom-Trek podcast and Journal.

As we take this Trek of life together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

I am Guthrie Chamberlain….reminding you to ’Keep Moving Forward,’ ‘Enjoy your Journey,’ and ‘Create a Great Day…Everyday’! See you tomorrow for more daily wisdom!