LESSON 9 • Literary Types as Indicators of Biblical Meaning

Introduction

A. This material is intended for Bible teachers in the local church setting. Accordingly, the references listed at the end are the type I judge to be most useful and manageable for such teachers. More extensive and scholarly works are available for specialists and advanced students. Likewise, the content of this brief document is geared for those teachers who endeavor week after week to “feed the sheep” on the Word of God.
B. All literate societies have conventional ways of expressing ideas. Some of that is dictated by the grammar and vocabulary of their native language, and some of it is established by custom. If their literary productions are to be understood it is important to grasp the forms and techniques the writers employ to communicate their ideas. It is the intention here to identify and give basic explanations of the major literary types, or genres, found in Scripture.

Body

I. Literature on its own terms.
A. All literature must be taken on its own terms if it is to be understood.
1. A Korean must accept Shakespeare on his own literary terms if his writings are to be understood. It won’t work to read him through fully Korean lenses.
2. In some languages only three or four words are used for all colors. Thus, all color variations will fall into one of those categories. Imagine the problem this gives a Bible translator.
3. The Greeks used litotes, “a figure in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of the contrary” (Britannica English Dictionary, I: 1153). Example: “a citizen of no insignificant city” (Acts 21:39). But that figure of speech was evidently not used in the Hebrew Old Testament.
4. Story seems to be a universal literary form because it mirrors life, but many literary forms are not universal. The English sonnet is different from some forms of Japanese poetry as well as Hebrew poetry. Plays on words, found in the OT (e.g., Micah 1:12-13, 15) as well as in English and the romance languages, are likely not universal. 
B. This is true for larger unites of literature as well as figures of speech and other characteristic ways of saying things.
1. Noting the literary differences is part of the task of interpretation. Another part is to learn how each literary form is used to convey meanings.
2. In an ordinary newspaper article one may see a combination of both literal and figurative expressions. A person in that article may be described as “from Fargo, ND”, which is taken literally. But the article may describe a terrible self-damaging mistake he made as “shooting himself in the foot.” That last expression would be taken figuratively, even though the reality of which it is a figure is literal. These combinations of the literal and figurative are also found in Scripture.
3. Hebrew poetry has its own characteristics, and those characteristics have a bearing on interpretation of the poetry.
4. Even in our own time people write history differently, so it is important to notice how the biblical writers composed history.
5. A troublesome form of literature is “the Prophets.” Making the wrong assumptions about the nature of those books leads to multiple mistakes of interpretation. 
6. Many societies use parables. For nearly 1800 years the Christian world has treated the biblical parables as allegories. That is, they have given spiritual meanings to the various components of the brief stories. We now know this is a misunderstanding of the nature of parables.

II. The major forms of literature in Scripture. 
Note: Each of the following points is explained more extensively in the handy work by Fee and Stuart. I would urge that one keep up his or her guard especially in Fee’s treatment of Acts and the Epistles. The following notes point to the basic need to understand the different types.

A. Historical or Narrative literature.
1. Well over 40% of the Old Testament literature is historical narrative, and conservative scholars of Acts contend that that work is written in the same style.
2. While entire books are narrative in nature (Genesis, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings, etc.) several books have narrative sections (Exodus, Daniel, Jeremiah, etc.).
3. Biblical history, like all historical writing, is selective. Many times writers of Hebrew narratives mention that events they did not include are written in "the book of the annals of the kings of Judah . . . or Israel" (1 Ki. 14:19; 16:5; 2 Ki. 1:18; 10:34; etc.). It is important to look for theological indicators in each historical section to determine the purposes of the author’s selectivity. The Joseph narrative is a good case in point. In several places in the last few chapters one sees how the narrative is rooted in the promise to Abraham (Gen. 12; 18, etc.).
4. Stuart has indicated three levels of concern in Hebrew narratives.
a. The top level is concerned with the way the narrative is connected with God's overall plans for human sin, redemption, and reconciliation.
b. The middle level deals with the life of Abraham's offspring, Israel.
c. The bottom level consists of those stories of individuals and incidents that make up the larger stories and events. The details in the Joseph narrative make up the larger story of God's providence and promise-keeping. The details of the book of Ruth make up the story of the woman who was in the lineage of David and Jesus.
5. Pitfalls: in studying and teaching narrative material one must avoid the common pitfalls of allegorizing, merely making moral observations on the characters involved without relating their lives to the bigger picture, selectively dealing with events rather than putting them into their larger context, and personalizing passages without discretion.
6. The book of Acts is now widely regarded as serious history written in the tradition of Old Testament narrative material. That is, it deals with real events but the controlling interest is in Gold's work in the world.

B. Psalms
1. The Psalms of Israel are all in Hebrew poetic form. Poetic forms are found in many parts of the OT, both narrative and prophetic, and that type of literature has characteristics that have a bearing on understanding and interpretation.
2. Hebrew poetry does not rhyme, as some English poetry does. Rather, it depends on a certain rhythm and parallel expressions. At least three types of parallelism may be noted here, though there are several other types as well (Willis I, chapter 2).
a. Synonymous parallelism--where the second line states substantially the same thought as the first but it different words (Ps. 19:1; 44:22). 
b. Progressive (or synthetic) parallelism--where the second or even the third, fourth and fifth lines are a progression of thought on the first line (Ps. 1:2; 7:1; 14:1).
c. Antithetical parallelism--where the second line states the opposite of the first line (Ps. 1:6; 34:10). 
3. Hebrew poetry uses many metaphors; it is designed to appeal to and stir the emotions. The Psalms deal with practically all human emotions, and that is one reason they have a place in the heart.
4. The Psalms were to be sung, and that is one reason tune names are mentioned in both the superscriptions (24, 45, 46, etc.) and text (“Selah,” “Maskil”, etc.--largely unknown to us). However, NT writers often quote the Psalms to make doctrinal points (cf. Acts 1:20; 2:34; 4:11, 26; Rom. 3:4, 12-14, 18; 4:7-8; 8:36; 10:18; etc.).
5. Many helpful works are available on the Psalms. The challenges in teaching Psalms are to put them in their historical context as far as possible, disentangle the metaphorical expressions, settle on the type of Psalm (lament, praise, wisdom, etc.), and decide what are legitimate applications to people living under the new covenant.
6. The Psalms have nurtured both Jews and Christians for generations. Our own generation needs to uplift they can give. Some Reformed churches, like the old United Free Church of Scotland insisted on singing only the Psalms. 

C. The Prophets.
1. The OT mentions both non-literary prophets (those whose names are not attached to any of the OT literature, like Elijah and Elisha) and literary prophets. The four major and twelve minor prophetic books make up a sizeable part of the OT, so it is important to get a handle on this type of literature.
2. If one begins with the wrong set of expectations from the prophetic books one will obviously come out at the wrong place. Thus on the front end it is important to understand the nature of a prophet of God. The writings of the prophets arise out of their nature and work. They were to speak forth God's word on various subjects. Usually what they spoke and wrote amounted to sermons or oracles for their contemporaries and thus their own time. 
3. Stuart contends that "Less than 2 percent of Old Testament prophecy is messianic. Less than 5 percent specifically describes the New Covenant age. Less than 1 percent concerns events yet to come" (Fee and Stuart, p. 166). One may quarrel with him about a few percentages, but it seems to me he is largely right.
4. The base of comparison, the touchstone of concern for the prophets, apart from speaking forth the word of God, was the covenant given at Mount Sinai. Repeatedly they show a deep acquaintance with and reference to that covenant; they were chiefly "covenant enforcers", calling Israel back to covenant loyalty to God.
5. In the prophets’ sermons or oracles they used many figures of speech and several literary forms of communication. Thus, poetry, lawsuit (Isa. 3:13-26; Hos. 3:3-17), woes, parables, metaphors and so forth abound in this large literature.
6. In these books one finds a treasury of information on human nature (sin, repentance, avarice, vengeance, and righteousness) and the nature of God. Some of our brothers have written helpful materials on the prophets (Lewis; Hailey; Willis)
7. In the matter of fulfillment of prophecy, one should be careful about declaring modern events as “fulfillments” of OT passages. Even when NT writers declare an event to be a fulfillment it is not always clear what it means for a text to be “fulfilled.” For example, note the three cases in Matt. 2:6, 15b, 18. Ramm has a good discussion about the interpretation of prophecy.

D. Wisdom literature.
1. If Hebrew poetry is somewhat strange to us, then Hebrew wisdom literature is even stranger. Wisdom literature was common among Israel's neighbors and the Middle East in general, but Westerners find it different genre and are in danger of misunderstanding it.
2. Though several of the Psalms are classed as "wisdom" (1, 37, 49, 73, 112, 119, 127, 128, 133), we normally think of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job and the Song of Songs as specifically wisdom literature.
3. This type of literature is designed to help people to think correctly about situations in life and make the right choices. They are uttered in the context of the covenant and with an awareness of being before God. Indeed, the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord (Prov. 1:7; 9:10). “. . . wisdom as taught here is God-centered, and even when it is most down-to-earth it consists in shrewd and sound handling of one’s affairs in God’s world, and in submission to His will.” 
4. Common mistakes in handling wisdom literature are to
a. Read only part of a book, like Job, and thus fail to see the major points.
b. Take individual statements as the full truth on the matter at hand rather than glimpses of truth. For example, "a soft answer turns away wrath" (Prov. 15:1) is generally true, but there are exceptions.
c. Fail to notice who is speaking and thus whether they are speaking real wisdom or its opposite. Consider statements by Job's four friends or the wicked woman in the early chapters in Proverbs.
d. Define words in a non-biblical sense. A "fool" is not a retarded person but more the atheist (Ps. 14:1) or infidel.
5. Good, up-to-date commentaries and reference works are helpful on the nature of wisdom literature.
6. Wisdom literature is very appropriate for the church in our society. Many mistakes will be avoided by people in their 20s and 30s if they will pay attention to the instructions in Proverbs. Job gives a needed perspective on setbacks and suffering. Ecclesiastes is a word in season, and, depending on the approach one takes, Song of Songs is a good counter to contemporary secular views of sexuality.

E. The Law literature
1. While most Christians do not find the “law” sections of the OT particularly thrilling, “In ancient times, the Jewish child began the study of Scripture with Leviticus.” That was because Leviticus had so much to do with the ongoing Jewish life of holiness and with maintaining covenant loyalty to God.
2. The 600+ commands God gave to Israel are found in only four OT books: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Genesis is grouped with the other four to form the five books of “law.” Though Genesis contains no commands for Israel it gives the needed background for the covenant and its legislation.
3. It is important to know that Israel’s laws were presented as a part of God’s covenant with them; they were not merely laws to be enforced by the State. Thus, even laws about animals, slaves, crops, and food were to be kept as a part of one’s loyalty to God. Israel at her best did not make a distinction between the sacred and the secular, the “church and State,” and the moral and the ceremonial. All laws, not just the Ten Commandments, were matters of covenant.
4. It is useful both to understand the different types of laws involved and to compare God’s laws for Israel with other Middle Eastern law codes. The laws were both to bless the Israelites in everyday life so they would be a standing demonstration of God’s goodness, power, and glory (Isa. 60:21b; 16:3c), and to produce a holy life that approached God’s own nature of holiness (Ex 22:31; 31:13c; Lev. 11:44-5; 19:2; 20:7).
5. The laws for Israel are described as apodictic (“do” or “do not” laws; “it sets a standard by an example” [Fee & Stuart, p. 155]), casuistic (case-by-case), food laws, shedding of blood, and other more unusual regulations. 
6. Of course, in the application state of teaching the law materials it must be understood that those laws were embodied in the covenant with Israel, not with Christians. We no longer live under the law given at Sinai, a point made often in the NT book of Hebrews. Only what was specifically brought over is applicable to us. But one learns much about the nature of God, holiness, justice and love from the law. It represented a stage in God’s training people (Paul referred to the law as leading the Jews to Christ, Gal. 3:24) to live a higher life than what was found in paganism. That law was “a shadow of the things to come” (Heb. 10:1) under the new covenant that was sealed by the blood of Jesus (Heb. 9:6-28). But the law is a part of inspired Scripture (2 Tim. 3:15-16) that is profitable to Christians (cf. Rom. 15:4). 

F. The Gospels.
1. Traditionally, the four Gospels have been classed as “biographies” of Jesus. At times those four documents have been “harmonized” by blending the texts to furnish a more complete picture of Jesus. But McGarvey estimated that in all four Gospels no more than 40 to 50 days in the life of Jesus are reported, and that does not appear to be good biography. Furthermore, since the Gospels do not read like Jewish, Greek or Roman biographies of the time they are obviously not conventional biographies, if biographies at all. Fortunately, during the past fifty years NT scholars have increased considerably our understanding of the nature of the gospels. 
2. The Gospels are now regarded as “good news” pieces, each addressed to some specific church situation, and designed to meet the needs of that Christian community by using the persons, actions, and teachings of Jesus as the norm. But these Gospels are also regarded as normative for church life through the ages, especially since the direct teachings of Jesus are found mostly in the Gospels. This makes the subjects of interpretation and application very important.
3. Fee and others have suggested that one must think in terms of a triangle in this process of understanding and application, of meaning and significance. 
a. First element: There were the original events in the life and teachings of Jesus. To understand that period one will be wise to read about the Jewish situation in Palestine, including their sects, manners and customs, traditions, and the like. Happily, many good books contain collections of this type of information. 
b. Second element: Later, but in the first century, selections of these events (see Jn. 20:30-31; 21:25) were put together to meet the needs of particular groups of disciples, Christians. It is difficulty to be precise about these communities, but it seems clear that Matthew wrote to believers of Jewish background while John wrote to an audience less familiar with Jewish manners and customs.
c. Third level: Today. The Gospel of John states that it was written that people “might believe” (20:30-31), but it is a matter of dispute whether that refers to “keep on believing” (thus strengthening believers) or “begin to believe” (thus for unbelievers). However, as indicated by the teaching sections of the Gospels, Churches and Christians in every age need to be guided by the combined actions and teachings of Jesus; so the question arises, How do we relate information from the first two levels to the third level, the church of our own time? 
4. Within the Gospels one finds narratives, oracles/teachings, parables and apocalyptic types of literature, not to mention a wide variety of figures of speech. But here it is to be recognized that the Gospels as literary types are to be interpreted for what they are, viz., instructions to Christians/churches centering on the actions and teachings of Jesus.

G. The Epistles. Note: On this genre/type I am appending a fuller set of notes I have used in teaching people how to approach an Epistle. This genre/type constitutes a major part of the NT. See Appendix A.

H. The Apocalyptic literature.
1. If one reads through the entire NT it becomes clear that the book of Revelation is in a literary class of its own, called apocalyptic. No other NT book is like it, although some would regard Mk. 13 (the “little apocalypse”) and Matt. 24 as apocalyptic sections in the Gospels. Fee regards Revelation as a blending of three types of literature: apocalypse, letter, and prophecy (Fee & Stuart, p. 232).
2. This type of literature was well known to the Jews and Christians in the first century. The biblical roots of this type of literature seem to be found in the OT prophetic books like Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah and parts of Isaiah. This is especially noticeable when one consults one of those charts which list the OT references found in the book of Revelation. Multiple references are found to Ezekiel. It is important for a class to understand that this is a different type of literature that requires a different way of thinking. 
3. This type of literature is filled with strange looking creatures like one might see in a dream--animals with multiple heads or ten horns, locusts with scorpion tails, etc. It is a literature filled with symbolism, and often that symbolism comes from the OT literature, as with the word Armageddon (16:16; cf. battle of Megiddo in OT). Knowing that is helpful, but by any standard of interpretation Revelation is difficult because the literary type is so strange to Westerners.
4. Unlike most apocalyptic works, Revelation identifies its author and those to whom the book was originally written. The first three chapters take the form of an epistle in that letters were written to the seven churches of Asia Minor. The occasion was their persecution and the need to encourage them to persevere.
5. Whenever John interprets the symbols he uses it is important to take note, as with the Son of man (1:17-18), the lamp stands (1:20), the dragon (12:9), seven heads (17:9), etc. But beware of those books and articles that give the “key” to Revelation or offer a scheme for quick and easy understanding of the book. The main point can be detected, but the details are not easy.
6. A new convert in a campus ministry rushed up to his teacher one day and said with excitement, “Guess what, I read the book of Revelation last night.” His teacher almost cringed, thinking to himself, “There are a lot of things I wanted you to read before you tackled that one!” So he reluctantly asked the enthusiastic reader, “Well, what do you think?” With joy he said, “We’re going to win, aren’t we?" If we can do that for our students we will do well, but I expect many of them will be curious about 666, the harlot, the battle of Armageddon, and the thousand years. Happily, there are several helpful commentaries, like Ray Summer’s Worthy is the Lamb and Hendrickson’s More than Conquerors.

I. The Parables.
1. Actually, there are several parables in the OT, but here the focus in on NT parables and chiefly those used by Jesus. The importance of understanding them properly arises from at least two factors. First, for nearly 1800 years the parables of Jesus have been treated as allegories in which each item has multiple meanings. Second, the primary emphasis in Jesus’ teachers was the kingdom of God/ Heaven, and all of his parables are kingdom parables. Failure to understand the parables accurately results in misunderstanding His kingdom.
2. A big problem with the allegorical methods was that the scholars who wrote about those parables came up with very different lists of things represented by the parables, and usually they were not understood to be about the kingdom in spite of the fact that Jesus said they were! See Appendix B for a table that illustrates these varying interpretations. Any approach that yields so much diversity cannot be a legitimate means of extracting from those parables the meanings Jesus had in mind when He told them. 
3. In 1899 a German scholar wrote a two volume work on Jesus’ parables in which he proposed only a single meaning for each parable, insisting that it was a gross mishandling of parables to make them allegories. He was right, and that set the stage for a century of fruitful research and thought about the NT parables. Writers like C. H. Dodd, A. M. Hunter, J. Jeremias and others have produced helpful books. Culturally, the parables come out of a Palestinian context of Jewish religion, manners, and customs carried out in a country occupied by the Romans.
4. Teaching the parables can be an interesting and rewarding experience when one relates them to their main subject, the kingdom of God. They relate to the coming, nature, behavior and discipline in, and judgment of the kingdom. The very essence of parables (illustrations and comparisons) should make clear what Jesus meant by the kingdom.

Conclusion

A. These notes have to do with the nature and content of the material to be taught, the literary types and forms. It should be clear that the type of literature has much to do with understand the messages conveyed by means of those types. Consulting up-to-date Bible dictionaries and encyclopedias on the books and subjects will be valuable. Additionally, conferring with seasoned Bible teachers who have dealt with the type of material you plan to teach can be very valuable, especially in regard to resources of various types.
B. Understanding the biblical materials, while the basic concern here and always, is no substitute for teaching methodology and techniques. But that must be learned from another source. However, a teacher who has himself or herself been mastered by the biblical material, who has lived for a while in the atmosphere of the writer concerned, will be a blessing to her or his students.

References

Fee, Gordon and Douglas Stuart. How to Read the Bible for All its Worth. 2nd. edition; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1993.
Note: Perhaps the broadest and most useable work available in the various literary forms in the Bible.

Hailey, Homer. A Commentary on Isaiah: With Emphasis on the Messianic Hope. Religious Supply, Inc., 1992.

___________ The Minor Prophets. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1972.

Klein, William W., Caig L. Blomberg and Robert L. Hubbard, Jr. Introduction to Biblical Interpretation. Dallas: Word Publishing, 1993. 491 pp. + Indexes. Note: A larger work that puts the genres in a broader hermeneutical context. A useful work.

Lewis, Jack P. The Minor Prophets. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1966. Note: A very helpful introduction to each of the minor prophets. 

Ramm, Bernard. Protestant Biblical Interpretation. 3rd edition; Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House. Note: A standard work on the overall field of biblical interpretation. Helpful on parables, prophecy and types.

Ryken, Leyland. How to Read the Bible as Literature. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984. Note: This professor of English has produced a work that treats several of the literary types. 

Willis, John. Insights from the Psalms, I, II, III “The Way of Life Series.” Abilene, TX: Biblical Research Press, 1974.

_________ Isaiah “The Living Word Commentary on the Old Testament.” Austin, TX: Sweet Publishing Company, 1980.

_________. My Servants the Prophets , 1, 2, 3, 4 “The Way of Life Series.” Abilene, TX: Biblical Resource Press, 1971-1982.

xi.2004


C.Philip Slate
Murfreesboro, TN