Herman Who?

      Although I have not had a formal study of Hermeneutics, I have learned a lot through "sermoneutics." Every pastor I have listened to developed his message using its principles of Bible interpretation. So what does this Herman guy offer as tools to understand the Bible? Here are some of the principles.

Context:

Biblical--What is the subject of the verses before and after this passage?

                Does it harmonize with other teachings of scripture? 

Historical/Cultural--What was life like at the time in which it was written?

Literary--Who is the author? What is his background? What was he trying to convey? 

Grammatical--What do the words used mean in the language in which it was written? How would the people of that time understand this passage?

 

We use the same principles to interpret other kinds of literature besides the Bible, Shakespeare for instance. But these tools are only really useful to those who take the Bible as the literal Word of God. Those who believe it is of human origin and/or merely symbolic can leave hermeneutics out of it entirely. But for my personal study, I add my own monkey wrench to Hermen's toolbox.

 

Real estate--How much space does it occupy in the Bible?

 

    The Bible is, of necessity, brief. The real estate within its pages is very limited. Adding full details to a book covering from the beginning to end of time would make it really heavy to bring to church. Instead of reading through the Bible in a year, we would be lucky to get through it in a lifetime. So when the Bible repeats itself or expands on a concept, it is significant. For instance why does Genesis repeat And there was evening and there was morning for each day of creation? Probably because the Author knew some smarty pants evolutionist was going to try to make the days of creation mean millions of years. However, a million year night would kill off everything created in a million year day and vice versa.

    I have just come through a study of Revelation where not all the members believe the 144,000 witnesses are Jews. Then why would God waste four verses of His Bible saying 12,000 and name each specific tribe? (Rev. 7:4-8) He did not say 144,000 Jews. He did not even say 12,000 from each tribe. If He took up precious Bible space with the names and numbers from each tribe, it must be because this is a literal description. Even those who believe the church has replaced Israel do not claim specific tribal affiliation. Except the Mormons, who think they are lost tribes of Israel, but none of their beliefs are based on the Bible. 

    Why describe the timeline of the tribulation as 7 years if it is an indefinite period? Why break an indefinite period into two 3 1/2 year segments? Why double down on the numbers by converting 3 1/2 years to 42 months and 1260 days? From Revelation 21, why waste the 27 verses on a detailed description of a symbolic New Jerusalem? Why would we need to know a symbol's dimensions? The Bible leaves out far more than it puts in, therefore everything written down is something we need to know. There is symbolism in the Bible, but when it gives a really detailed description, that is probably not symbolic. 

    God knows his target audience has a short attention span, that is why He gave us 10 commandments, not 110. When I was in college, I often had to spread two paragraphs worth of information into 7-10 page essays. Ever since then, I have been a word miser. Why use three when you can say it in two? Therefore, when God uses more than seem strictly necessary, I pay close attention. With apologies to Hermen and his eutics I will continue to interpolate real estate into my Bible interpretation.