A Few Did-You-Knows About the Bible #2

Did you know . . .

• Some early stories in scripture are myth? Myth doesn't always mean fictional or false story. It's a type of literary genre. The Creation and Flood accounts in the Bible fall under this category. There were many other creation and flood stories permeating the world before the Hebrew versions that we now know. Gilgamesh's flood story predates the Bible's. It's true. The uniqueness of the myths in scripture is their differences from these other nonbiblical myths. These myths were often told to not so much give an account for the past like a historical record might but instead to give a picture of life itself and what existence is like. At the same time, there is absolutely a sense of saying "this is where we come from." The idea of origin is a big part but that doesn't mean it's a literal historical record. The beauty of this is that while we read these myths and acknowledge their literary genre and the fact that they aren't completely original we recognize they have originality and to them in many ways and because they stand out from the similar stories of the time and believe they are God-breathed we claim them as truth. How does this change the way you approach the Creation and Flood accounts? Does this bother you? Does it encourage you to know God took already-existing stories and showed the world where they were missing the point by giving his own?

• Parables don't always mean fictional short stories? A lot of the time we think of parables as the stories Jesus told and nothing beyond that. Perhaps you've heard that a parable is an "earthly story of a spiritual truth." While that's a fun and simple way to remember what some parables are it isn't completely true of all parables. Many things beyond short illustrative stories can fit into the category of parable. Under the parable umbrella category are things such as clever sayings, illustrations (especially used for comparisons), riddles, epigrams, proverbs, or even symbols (like in Hebrews 9). How does this change the way you approach parables? Does this make the term feel more relevant to your daily life?

• Numbers in scripture often had more to do with quality than quantity? It sounds strange to us now but a lot of the time in scripture we see an intentional use of numbers not just for mathematical reasons for emphasis in a story. Where some western thinkers read 7 days in the creation account as data entry the original Eastern audience would have heard 7 days as the idea of completion and perfect. The number was a message other than mere number, it had an idea or notion wrapped around it. The number 7 had the idea of completion or perfection wrapped around it. Look for the numbers 6, 7, 12, 40 in scripture and you'll find patterns, messages. The measurements surrounding Goliath speak not of size but of evil. Of course not all numbers are used in this way but it is not at all rare in the scriptures. How does this change the way you read scripture? Do you see numbers used this way in your life?