https://www.dennis-stevenson.com/product/study-the-bible-old-testament-bundle-paperback/Hi ,
Some verses in the Bible just sound really awesome. I mean what they say sounds like really high impact language that speaks to our hearts today. They are the kinds of verses that we like to go to for inspiration and hope in hard time.
Try this on for size…
“I sought for a man to stand in the gap and make up a hedge around the nation…” (Ezekiel 22:30)
Or how about this…
“I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not destroy you..” (Jeremiah 29:11)
I’m sure you could scour your memory and reply to this email with more verses like this. Verses that seem to bring promises and comfort to the listener. Verses that have just the right turn of phrase for when the going gets tough.
The only problem is many of those promises were for other people and don’t apply literally to us today.
In my book on studying the Old Testament, I looked at this challenge in Chapter 8: Old Testament Application Patterns. I called this challenge the “Covenant Callbacks”.
The Old Testament is loaded with lines like this. Phrases that make it onto mugs and posters and memes on Facebook. But for the Bible student who wants to rightly handle the Word of God, there is a real danger in some of these seductive verses.
Let’s look at the verse in Jeremiah that I referenced above. On the surface, this looks like God making a promise to bring good things to bear in our lives. But a closer examination reveals that it really means something else.
The context of the verse is God talking to His people who had just been conquered by Babylon, had their capitol city (and the Temple to God that it contained) destroyed, and their best and brightest carted off to a foreign land.
For the nation of Judah, that was a pretty shocking experience. They could remember that God made covenants with their nation to make them His people, give them a land and preserve a ruling dynasty forever. Promises that all seemed at odds in the face of their current circumstances.
Enter the prophet Jeremiah who had a message for them from God. He literally wrote a letter to the jews in Babylon that opened with the words, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon…”
The letter opens up addressing their current circumstances – the fact that they are exiles in a foreign land. He goes on to say that this exile is going to last 70 years. And He explains that the exile is being sent as punishment for their wicked behavior.
I’m sure that the jews reading this were bummed and shocked by it. They were supposed to be special. They were set apart by the Almighty God to be His exclusive people.
But right in the middle of this, God offered hope. “I know the plans I have for you…” I still do have plans. I haven’t abandoned you forever. Your understanding of how special you are isn’t wrong. “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you.” These are plans that you will look forward to and they will be good for you, unlike your current circumstances.
Jeremiah 29:11 reassured the Hebrew captives in Babylon that the promises they read in the scriptures were sill relevant to them and that God wasn’t stymied by their current situation.
That verse delves into the specifics of what they were worried about. It speaks to their fear that God had somehow abandoned them and they had no hope to regain their position of favor.
This verse is intimately bound up in the promises God had already made to the Hebrew people. It’s truth is found in the eventual restoration of those promises.
We can’t take that verse today and apply it to just any situation. The words weren’t uttered for any situation, they were uttered to Jews in exile. They were spoken to a specific group with a specific situation and a foundation of specific promises that needed to be fulfilled.
We can’t apply the promise of prospering to our lives today. Because it wasn’t made to us. At this point I like to think of Foxes Book of Martyrs. All the men and women of faith who could have cried out for prospering but instead got death. Clearly there isn’t a universal direct application!
Studying the Old Testament introduces challenges like this. As a Bible student, it’s important that you and I know what to do when we encounter situations like this in the text.
I do explain it all in Study the Bible: Old Testament – Chapter 8, so I won’t go into details here.
If this is a skill you would like to strengthen, I would encourage you to get a copy of the book and the companion study of Ruth Workbook and go through it. I address this as “Covenant Callbacks” – but also address several other classical challenges that you will face when studying the Old Testament. It will round out your knowledge significantly. I think you’ll be really pleased with the result!
But don’t take my word for it. Check it out for yourself:
https://www.dennis-stevenson.com/product/study-the-bible-old-testament-bundle-paperback/
Until next time,
Dennis
