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INTERPRETING SPECIFIC GENRES

A. OLD TESTAMENT NARRATIVES

• Narrative is the single most common type of literature in the Bible.

• Sometimes “narrative” and “story” are used interchangeably
• Narrative is only one of a variety of literary types in Scripture.
• Hebrew narrative is mostly prose with only occasional poetry.
• Bruce Waltke: “Narrative teaches theology through story.”

THE NATURE OF OT NARRATIVES

1. What Narratives are:
• A grand story that is true, crucially important and often complex.
• The most important purpose of the narratives is theological: to focus on God at work in creation
and among his people.
• All narratives have characters, a plot, and plot resolution.
• In its broad sense, narrative is “an account of events and participants moving over time and space, a
recital with beginning and ending patterned by the narrator’s principle of selection.” (Sidney
Greidanus, The Modern Preacher and the Ancient Text, 189)
• Leland Ryken –How narratives are often presented (ex: Gen 25)
a) Direct Narrative – Narrator tells what happened in his own words (33b-34)
b) Dramatic Narrative – Scene is dramatized like a play, with dialogue (31-33)
c) Descriptive Narrative – Details regarding character/setting offered (29)

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d) Commentary/Narrative – Explanation/s offered about the story, background information or the

story’s meaning.

2. Three Levels of Narratives. The OT story moves in 3 levels:

• The Top (“third”) Level: the whole universal plan of God. Key aspects of the plot are Creation,
Fall, Sin, Redemption, Incarnation and Sacrifice – in short, “the redemption story.”
• The Middle (“second”) Level: Centers on Israel. Key aspects: the call of Abraham, the patriarchs,
the exodus, conquest, the stories of Israel and Judah, the exile/s and restoration.
• The Bottom (“first”) Level: consists of hundreds of individual narratives that make up the above
two levels; often forming compound narratives (e.g. the Joseph narratives, Gen 37-50).
v The ultimate narrative flows into the NT. When Jesus said that the OT “bears witness to me”
(John 5:37-39) he was not referring to every individual narrative, but to the (OT) scriptures in
their entirety – the ultimate top level of the narrative – leading to his atonement and the subjection
of all creation to him as the climax of its plot.

3. What OT Narratives are NOT:

• Not just stories about people, but stories about God, “the chief protagonist” in the play. God is the
real “hero”, not the human characters.
• OT narratives are not allegories with hidden meanings. They do not answer all possible questions
we may have, rather are limited in their focus.
• OT narratives often teach indirectly and illustratively, emphasizing God’s nature and revelation.
As a Christian the OT is our “spiritual history.”
• Every narrative may not have a moral of its own; the sense and meaning comes in the general
superstructure of the narrative; often a single point is intended.
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THE CHARACTERSTICS OF HEBREW NARRATIVES

v Hebrew narratives have some distinctive features. We will illustrate these characteristics by using
the story of Joseph (Gen 37–50).
1. The Narrator: We begin our discussion with the person who is solely responsible for the unfolding
of the narrative. He is not seen nor he is mentioned in the narrative, yet he is responsible for the path
the narrative takes. First, he is the one who decides what to include in the story. Second, he is
responsible for the “point of view” of the story; in other words, the perspective from which the story
is told. For instance, as noted already, in the O.T. narratives, God is the Hero. He makes this point
clear to us by saying “the LORD was with Joseph” (Gen 39:2, 3, 21, 23) four times. At the end of
the narrative Joseph does acknowledge that God is the protagonist (Gen 50:20) and not he. So, while
reading the narratives, we have to carefully look out for the narrators “point of view’ in the story.

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2. The Scene(s): The chief method of narration in Hebrew narrative is “scenic.” The action is moved
along by a series of scenes that together make up the whole. Each scene has its own focus, yet it is
the progressive combination of scenes that makes up the story as a whole.
3. The Characters: In the scenic nature of Hebrew narrative, the characters are the absolutely central
element. Two features of characterization stand out:
(i) Characters often appear either in contrast or in parallel. In our narrative the contrast between
Joseph and his brothers that begins in chapter 37 lies at the heart of the unfolding subsequent
narrative in chapters 42 – 45.
(ii) The predominant mode of characterization occurs in the characters’ words and actions, not in
the narrator’s own descriptions. In other words, the narrator lets the Characters speak for
themselves.

4. Dialogue: Dialogue is an important feature of Hebrew narrative, and one of the chief methods of
characterization. There are three things to look for here:
First, the first point of dialogue is often a significant clue both to the story plot and to the character
of the speaker. At the beginning of the story of Joseph (Gen 37:5 – 11), Joseph’s narration of his
dreams reflects straightforward arrogance (vv. 6 – 7); and his brothers’ negative reaction to it. This
in fact sets the story into motion.
Second, contrastive dialogue often functions as a way of characterization as well. Note the length of
Joseph’s reply (39:8 – 9) to the very brief invitation of Potiphar’s wife (v. 7). In Joseph’s reply we
see his character contrasted with that of Potiphar’s wife’s. Third, very often the narrator will
emphasize the crucial parts of the narrative by having one of the characters repeat or summarize the

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narrative in a speech. This happens particularly in the speeches of the brothers (42:30 – 34) and of
Judah (44:18 – 34).
5. Plot: A narrative cannot function without a plot and plot resolution. This means, of course, that the
narrative must have a beginning, middle, and end, which together focus on a build-up of dramatic
tension that is eventually released.

PRINCIPLES FOR INTERPRETING NARRATIVES

1. An Old Testament narrative usually does not directly teach a doctrine.
2. An Old Testament narrative usually illustrates a doctrine or doctrines taught propositionally
elsewhere.
3. Narratives record what happened — not necessarily what should have happened or what ought to
happen every time. Therefore, not every narrative has an individual identifiable moral application.
4. What people do in narratives is not necessarily a good example for us. Frequently, it is just the
opposite.
5. Many (if not most) of the characters in Old Testament narratives are far from perfect — as are
their actions as well.

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6. We are not always told at the end of a narrative whether what happened was good or bad. We are
expected to be able to judge this on the basis of what God has taught us directly and categorically
elsewhere in Scripture.
7. All narratives are selective and incomplete. Not all the relevant details are always given (cf. John
21:25). What does appear in the narrative is everything that the inspired author thought important
for us to know.
8. Narratives are not written to answer all our theological questions. They have particular, specific,
limited purposes and deal with certain issues, leaving others to be dealt with elsewhere in other
ways.
9. Narratives may teach either explicitly (by clearly stating something) or implicitly (by clearly
implying something without actually stating it).
10. In the final analysis, God is the hero of all biblical narratives.

Learning from Biblical Narratives: Some Examples

Examples: See the examples of the Joseph and Ruth narratives (pp. 93-102)

One can draw hundreds of excellent illustrations from the OT narratives, of truth taught clearly in
the scriptures: some commonly used examples could be: dangers of pride (Nebuchadnezzar,
Uzziah) and discontent (wilderness journey); grace (Esau!); humility and prayer (Nehemiah);
commitment to study and teaching (Ezra 7:10); consequences of sin (David); ethnic prejudice
(Jonah); intercession (Moses) and the need for faith (2 spies).
Here are three more examples:
1. Sincere yet Wrong: The Weird Story of Micah and a Levite (Judges 17)
• Reflects the mess and anarchy that Israel is in during this period in Israel’s history
• Micah is so sincere, uses “the right language” yet so deceived

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• A carved image for Yahweh?! Having forgotten the ABCs of the faith!
• Misinterpreting circumstances as God’s “provision” (v. 13).

2. Is it always better to have God answer all our prayers? (Hezekiah, 2 Kings 18 ff; compare 2
Chron 29ff; Is 38)
• Hezekiah is a great and godly king (18:3ff); sees a miraculous deliverance of Judah from the
Assyrians (19). Became sick; God tells him to “pack up so as to leave” (20).
• Hezekiah “prays with tears”– is healed and given 15 bonus years.
• But were these extra fifteen years worth it? Look at 21:1ff. Manasseh, the wickedest king of Judah
ruled for the next half a century!

3. How good and wise was Solomon/his reign?

• Look at passages such as 1 Kings 6:2, 38; 7:1,2; 10:6-9 & 12:4f; Deut 17:16-20 & 1 Kings 4:26;
9:11; 11:1-13 etc.
• What did Solomon really seek? His life / lifestyle, and not his words, ultimately showed what he
really wanted! (True for us too!)

Biblical Interpretation | JC & CA | 2024- 2025