How to Read the Bible-Discourses

How to Read the Book-Discourses

This teaching focuses on discourses. The term discourse refers to units of connected text that are longer than paragraphs. The Bible is not a collection of short, disconnected sentences or unrelated paragraphs. The Bible is a story. Themes are intertwined throughout the text from paragraph to paragraph. Much of the message of the Bible is embedded in larger units of text. The basic discipline that you developed in the previous lessons involving focused, intensive observation is exactly the skill you need to sink your teeth into longer units of text. However, in this lesson we will add a few more items to your list of things to look for-items that are more specific to reading at the discourse level. These features will be illustrated for you with some intriguing passages.

Things to Look for in Discourses

1. Connections Between Paragraphs and Episodes.

After reading carefully and observing thoroughly at the sentence level and at the paragraph level, it is important to ask how your paragraph (in the letters) or your episode (in the narratives) relates to and connects with the other paragraphs/episodes that come before and after the one you are studying.

Example: Mark 8:22-26

Let’s look at the episode in Mark 8:22-26 and see if we can determine any connections between it and the episodes that precede (8:14-21) and follow (8:27-30).

First, read Mark 8:22-26

22And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. 23And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, "Do you see anything?" 24And he looked up and said, "I see men, but they look like trees, walking." 25Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26And he sent him to his home, saying, "Do not even enter the village."

The previous episode is Mark 8:14-21:

14Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15And he cautioned them, saying, "Watch out beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." 16And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? 19When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" They said to him, "Twelve." 20"And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" And they said to him, "Seven." 21And he said to them, "Do you not yet understand?"

The following episode is Mark 8:27-30

27 And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" 28And they told him, "John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets." 29And he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Christ." 30 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.

Conclusion about the connection.

In the first episode Jesus asks his disciples some questions and realizes that they do not really understand who he is. They see only partially. By the third episode, however, they see clearly, acknowledging him as the Christ. The middle story, the blind man episode, is an illustration of the process that the disciples are experiencing. It is not so much a story about Jesus’ healing as it is about a man’s seeing. He only sees partially at first, as do the disciples. Then he sees clearly, as do the disciples. So the blind man episode is really an interruption in the flow of a section about the disciples’ understanding of Jesus. It provides a colorful, real-life illustration of what was occurring in the lives of the disciples.

2. Story Shifts: Major Breaks and Pivots

In the first three chapters of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he presents a doctrinal explanation about the Ephesians’ new life in Christ and the implications of that new life, especially regarding the unity of Jews and Gentiles in that new life. Ephesians 4:1, however, signals a major break, for Paul now begins to give practical exhortations about how the Ephesians ought to put the doctrine of Chapters 1-3 into practice. So while chapters 1-3 deal primarily with doctrine, chapter’s 4-6 focus on practical living.

In 2 Samuel the difference between the first half and the second half of 2 Samuel is striking. The strong, victorious, confident David in the first half of the book is contrasted sharply with the insecure, weak, indecisive David in the second half. What happens in the middle that leads to this change? Where does the pivot occur and what happens to bring it about?

The pivot event is in 2 Samuel chapters 11-12. David sins by sleeping with Bathsheba and having her husband Uriah killed. Prior to this episode, David cruises through life as the beloved, respected, national hero; afterwards, David’s magnificent reputation begins to unravel. It is crucial for understanding 2 Samuel to see this pivot and to note the central role it plays in changing the direction of the story.

3. Interchange

Interchange is a literacy device, used primarily in narrative, that involves contrasting or comparing two stories at the same time as part of the overall story development. Usually the narrative will move back and forth from one story to the other, often to show contrast.

The early chapters of Samuel 1 exhibit this feature. In the first few chapters the story develops two contrasting families. Eli, the fat, lazy priest, and his two decadent, disobedient sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are contrasted with devout Hannah and her pious, obedient son, Samuel. The two stories unfold at the same time, with the narrative moving back and forth from one to the other. As you read narrative, look for some purpose in the interchange. Why does the author employ this literary device in the telling of his story? In Samuel the interchange is used to underscore the strong contrast between Samuel and the corrupt priesthood he replaces.

4. Chiasm

Chiasm is a fascinating literary feature that is seldom used in English but is employed frequently by the biblical authors, especially in the Old Testament. In a chiasm a list of items, ideas, or events is structured in such a manner that the first item parallels the last item, the second item parallels the next to the last item, and so forth. For an illustration of chiasm consider the following silly example:

I got up this morning, got dressed, and drove into town. I worked hard all day, returning home, put on my PJ’s, and went to bed

To analyze the chiasm we list the events and look for parallels. We will list the first item as a and the corresponding parallel item as a’. The parallels of the story line up as follows:

a I got up this morning

b got dressed

c drove into town

d I worked hard all day

c’ returned home

b’ put on my PJs

a’ went to bed

If the middle event does not have a parallel, it functions as the main point or the focal point of the chiasm. The stress of this ridiculous example is on the narrator’s working hard all day.

Conclusion

Keep in mind that we are still only at the first step of grasping God’s Word. Later in the book we will move on to discovering the meaning and applying the meaning. These first four lessons, however, are critical, because if you bypass the careful reading step and move straight to application after only a superficial reading, you will almost certainly miss the meaning of the passage. In addition, the Bible will become boring for you because you will never see anything in it that you haven’t already seen. If you read carefully, however, and observe, observe, observe, you will be much more likely to arrive at the true meaning, and the Bible will become interesting to you because you will be seeing new things.