Specialty Bible Study Tools

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Episode 70: Tools for Study
Historical Narrative and Law

What are some directions you can go when studying the historical narrative and law sections of the Bible? This is a HUGE portion of the scriptures spanning from Genesis to Esther and from Matthew to Acts along with other portions sprinkled throughout the other books. Presented in this short episode are a handful of areas to get you started digging in these sections of God's word. I hope and pray that these are equipping to you in your studies.

Episode 73: Tools for Study
Poetry

A section of the Bible that can difficult for people to study is the poetry section from Job to the Song of Solomon. We do not want to simply break it into its parts. To do so would be like directing a butterfly. You might understand it but it won't fly any more. Instead, we want to identify the components in the poetry that accentuate the meaning. This episodes gives a few starting places to give you direction in these beautiful books.

Episode 84: Tools for Study
Exposition

Exposition is a huge portion of the New Testament because of the epistles from the apostles. Also included in this section are all the sermons in Acts, the gospels, prophecy books, and the Old Testament history books. The special tips in this episode will help you further your study in these areas of the Bible.

Episode 89: Tools for Study
Prophecy

The prophets can have some difficult sections to understand in them. In this episode, some tools are discussed to provide a little direction in the books to hopefully open some doors to clarity, not just in the prophetic books but in all areas concerning prophecy.

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Episode 93: Tools for Study
Hidden Teachings

What do parables, miracles, signs, wonders, visions, and dreams in the Bible all have in common? They are often the source of hidden teachings. Thankfully, there are tools for our study when examining these types of passages.

Text Analysis - A detailed examination of the text as a whole based on its structure.

Why you do it: The various types of text structures provide differing insights into the text. Identifying these different structures allows for a more thorough analysis leading to more questions and answers from the text.

How you do it: Identify and analyze the structure to deepen your understanding of the passage.

● Identify the type of literature: Law, narrative, poetry, prophecy, parables, and letters.
● Identify the purpose of the passage: Encourage, rebuke, or inform.
● Identify the structure: Compare/contrast, sequence, description, cause/effect, or problem/solution.

Historical Narrative - This category includes all historical stories. Most are found in Genesis through Esther and Matthew through Acts.

1) Make connections with major events, major characters, and similar stories - E.g. The post-captivity books
2) Have dispensational considerations - E.g. Joshua conquering Canaan
3) Trace people, places, things, and ideas - E.g. Levitical sacrifices
4) Locate and trace geographical references - E.g. Abraham offering Isaac on Moriah AKA Calvary

Law - This category includes the portion describing the law given by God within the first five books (Genesis through Deuteronomy).

1) Find historical connections - E.g. Bondservant with the exodus in Deut. 15:15
2) Trace people, places, things, and ideas - E.g. Laws concerning the stranger
3) Have dispensational considerations - E.g. Treatment of defeated enemies

Poetry - This category includes the poetical books (Job through Song of Solomon) and portions characteristic of Hebrew poetry or song (Ex. Exodus 15).

1) Trace people, places, things, and ideas - E.g. God helping and raising up the humble
2) Identify parallelisms (most common ones listed below), figures of speech, literary and poetic devices
a) Synonymous: Repetition of an idea with no intention of enriching or enlarging it. E.g. Ps. 24:1-3
b) Synthetic: Repetition of an idea, while adding or altering material to clarify. E.g. Ps. 19:7-9
c) Antithetical: Repetition of an idea with the presentation of an opposite idea. E.g. Ps. 1:6
3) Make historic connections (especially with the author) - E.g. Psalm 3 (David flees from Absalom)
4) Identify the character in the poems - E.g. Psalm 45 (Messiah and His bride)
5) Notice interactions with God - E.g. Ps. 23 “The Lord is my Shepherd...For You are with me”
6) Personal reflections from the author - E.g. Ps. 42 “Why are you cast down, O my soul?”

Exposition - This category is any portion of didactic teaching; most commonly seen in the epistles (Romans through Jude).

1) Make historic connections (especially with the author and audience) - E.g. Peter’s Epistles
2) Consider the audience in general - E.g. James (12 tribes)
3) Follow the thought-flow - E.g. Cause and effect of Joshua’s speech to the Israelites
4) Look for argument tactics - E.g. Romans 4 (Abraham and David)
5) Give attention to Old Testament connections (Quotes, Explicit, and Implicit) - E.g. Hebrews
6) Make connections with similar expositions - E.g. Ephesians and Colossians

Prophecy - This category is any portion of the prophetic books (Isaiah through Malachi and Revelation) as well as when God foretells the future.

1) Identify the purpose - E.g. present need, warning of judgment, Messiah’s coming, or the future kingdom
2) Distinguish historic and predictive messages, mediate and immediate parts, and perspective due to it not necessarily being chronological - E.g. “I have made you a father of many nations” (past prophetic tense)
3) Be aware of Hebrew language and idiom differences - E.g. “I gave you cleanness of teeth” = famine
4) Be aware of and identify types of fulfillment
a) Full - E.g. Psalm 22 and the crucifixion
b) Partial - E.g. Joel 2 and Acts 2
c) Double - E.g. The abomination of desolation
5) Identify when characters stand in for another character - E.g. Zerubbabel for Messiah in Zechariah 4
6) Trace people, places, things, and ideas - E.g. Elijah as the forerunner

Hidden Teachings - This category includes parables, miracles, signs, wonders, dreams, and visions

1) Look for interpretations and applications in the Bible - E.g. The parable of the soils
2) Identify all the components of the teaching - E.g. John 10 (entering vs. being the door)
3) Trace people, places, things, and ideas - E.g. Cursing the fig tree
4) Make historic connections - E.g. Pharaoh's dreams
5) Have dispensational considerations - E.g. The tarp lowered to Peter

The Overlap of Types of Literature

There are many portions of Scripture that have multiple type of literature in a single selection. For example, you may be reading a portion that is historical narrative but included in it is a miracle. You need to first identify it, study the two portions with your specialty tools, and then see how the two are connected.

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