The Old Testament Witness to Christ and His Kingdom, Mentor's Guide, MG09

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T H E O L D T E S T A M E N T W I T N E S S T O C H R I S T A N D H I S K I N G D O M

Go to the Ant, You Sluggard! Consider Her Ways and Be Wise!

To the uninitiated and naive reader of the Bible, it would appear obvious that it is a book of images, symbols, stories, and metaphors. Literally, on every page images of the divine are seen through the lens of the common images of human experience. Undoubtedly, the ability to communicate through the concrete images of object lessons and historical example heightens our ability to envision the truth, and not merely reason about it. The image of industry in Proverbs is the industrious insect, the ant, who provides for its needs early (Prov. 6.6ff.). The image of the Kingdom of God is a banquet thrown by a king for his subjects (Luke 14.16-24), and the Messiah illustrates the relationship between he and his followers in the relationship of a vine to its branches (John 15). The power of the concrete and the known to illustrate and illumine the abstract and the unknown could very well be the integrating principle of communication in the OT, especially in its witness to Christ through the images of the Prophet, the Priest, and the King. What do you see as the immediate benefits of God communicating about the nature of Christ through the lives and stories of individuals in the Bible? What about this method of communication (if anything) makes it more difficult to understand the nature of the Messiah through these historical examples and analogies? The OT’s focus on characters, images, symbols, and stories that point to the identity of Christ is seen in many circles as a failed method of biblical interpretation of the Scriptures. Although this method was a popular and deftly-used method in the 19th century, many modern scholars rejected it because of the many odd and weird interpretations that it produced in connection with allegories, types, and analogies. To be sure, some interpreters of types have come up with fanciful and unbiblical interpretations which neither support nor connect to the New Testament pictures of Christ. Although Jesus and the apostles often interpreted the OT in light of its direct witness to Christ through the images and types contained in it, the method of typology is rejected because of its proneness to error and abuse. What ought to be our attitude toward this method of OT interpretation, especially in light of the abuse and misuse of it by some interpreters in the past? Can we ignore it as a vital way of interpreting the OT, especially if Jesus and the apostles employed the method to interpret the revelation of Jesus of Nazareth through the images and characters of the OT? An Old-Fashioned Method, and Prone to Error

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