Last time we met, we discussed some essentials of understanding the scriptures. We challenged our students to examine the context of the passages of the Scriptures to understand them fully. This week, we examine another essential aspect of reading our Bibles: understanding genre. To start the discussion, we played a simple game where students had to tell a story about a character named Joe who was very hungry and wanted to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. To do this, we broke students into different groups, and each group was assigned a different genre of storytelling.

We had some very… INTERESTING stories. We had a very action movie-like western that ended with a cowboy riding into the sunset with his PB&J and a small town exploding. We had a comedic spy thriller ending with a clumsy spy slipping on some jelly. Lastly, we had a very SERIOUS… so serious… news report about a man who tragically made a PB&J using off-brand peanut butter.

The Lesson:

Each team was responsible for telling the same basic story, Joe making a PB&J,  but each had to do it in a specific genre. That genre dictated how we understood the story.  When we look at the scriptures, we have to keep in mind the genre of each portion so that we can accurately interpret the story.

The Bible, in its entirety, is one big story. It’s the story of God’s love for mankind, His desire and plan to restore us to the right relationship with Him, and the establishment of His Kingdom. Within the Bible, we see 3 main genres: Narrative (simply telling of a story), Poetry, and Instructional Discourse. But what makes the Bible fascinating is that there are several small stories composed of multiple genres throughout the scriptures.

In Luke 1, for example, we see a genre called Narrative (simply presenting a story) suddenly interrupted by poetry via Mary’s song. In Exodus 14, we see the story of Moses and the people of Israel crossing the Red Sea. Then, in Exodus 15, we see a poetic song about the same event.  Sometimes, a full story is broken up between two different books within the Bible. Meaning that the more you read the scriptures the more you understand it in its fullness. A great example is found in 1 Samuel 22 and Psalm 52.

Leading up to this point, King Saul disobeyed God and had grown paranoid of David. He had gone to such great lengths to kill David that David was on the run.

Ask a student to read 1 Samuel 22:6-23

In 1 Samuel 22, we see a story about King Saul ordering the execution of a priest who helped David. The only reason he knew the priest helped David was because a man named Doeg told King Saul. Not only that, but he became the very executioner of the priest. But how did David feel about this? This is where Psalm 52 comes into play.

Ask a student to read Psalm 52

Clearly, David wasn’t happy about the situation. But we wouldn’t understand the depth if we hadn’t read from the two different books. This is why taking time to read the entirety of the Bible is so important.

Most of the Bible is made up of the genre called “Narrative.” This is simply storytelling. Much of the various narratives cover the whole lifetimes of different Biblical people. Exodus covers the entirety of the life of Moses. The story of King David is found in 1 and 2^nd Samuel, 1 Kings 1, Chronicles, and the book of Ruth!

Ask: If I were to take your entire life and put it on display, would it show that you were always a kind, gracious, and amazing person? Or is it possible that we’d see where you’ve misbehaved and done things that you probably shouldn’t have?

The Bible does not sanitize people’s lives and leaves out the faults of people. If you were to read all the accounts of David, you’d see some terrible things. But you’d also see why he’s called “a man after God’s own heart.” This is why we must be careful to take into consideration the entirety of the context of a situation when we read our Bibles. If we aren’t careful, we can villainize a person for one bad moment in their lives, see a person as a saint because of one good moment in their lives, or completely miss out on the amazing grace God has on a person’s life as they try their best to serve God.

Another aspect of Biblical Narrative is that it’s often vague on purpose. The writing style of the ancient Jews was designed purposefully so that the reader would have to ponder what was truly happening.  This is a type of storytelling that God uses time after time throughout the scriptures. We see Jesus doing this type of storytelling with what is called “Parables.” These were stories that related to a bigger picture but required the hearer to really think through what was being said.

Thinking through these narratives causes us to not only understand the stories but also causes us to apply them to our lives and affect us. It causes us to understand the nature of God and thus gives us the ability to better respond to the way He interacts with us.