Bible Discussion Board

Narratives “are purposeful stories retelling the historical events of the past that are intended to give meaning and direction for a given people in the present (Fee & Stuart, 2003, p. 90).” Each narrative is composed of three basic parts; characters, plot and plot resolution. One of the concerns with Biblical narratives is that the stories told throughout the Bible are not your typical story but more or less the ultimate story – God’s story. So how are you able to properly convey a story of that magnitude?

We learn that there are three levels of narratives present throughout the Old Testament. The first level (or basic level) narrative tells us of things that happened in the past. The second level describes the “story of God’s redeeming people for his name (Fee & Stuart, 2003, p. 91).” and the third level depicts the entire plan God worked out through his creation of Earth. “An awareness of this hierarchy of narrative should help in your understanding and application of Old Testament Narratives (Fee & Stuart, 2003, p. 91).” In order to understand the second and third levels, we must first understand the basic level while also evaluating how each level fits into the other.

With this type of complexity also come many misconceptions on how to perceive the “stories.” “Because the Old Testament narratives have frequently been used in some unfortunate ways in the church (Fee & Stuart, 2003, p. 92)”, we need to be careful on what not to do when reading them. Individuals should not try to locate hidden meanings among the passages, but take what you read at face value and understand that the messages conveyed were not initially intended for us but for the original hearers so the meaning may not provide the same effect. Also, the Old Testament narratives are not the foundation for our moral lessons as they were written to provide background for what we will hear later on so that we may understand what happened in the beginning.

The intentions of biblical...