Over the past few years, people from the church have written devotions on Scripture. I have wished to provide some kind of shared biblical overview. I've decided to focus my blog in the near future on the work of David Dorsey in his book The Literary Structure of the Old Testament and of Peter Leithart in his survey of the four gospels, titled The Four.
The blog posts will follow the organization of Dorsey's and Leithart's books. For instance, this post focuses on Genesis 1:1-Exodus 19:2 because that's what Dorsey does in this particular chapter. There is much more in Dorsey's book than I would get to here. This is just the tip of the iceberg. The only exception is with the minor prophets. I intend to treat the minor prophets two per post: for instance, Zechariah and Malachi will be the same post, whereas in Dorsey they each get their own chapter.
Why this type of biblical summary? I find the use of these chiasms really helpful. Ancient people really worked hard at their texts. Books were few and they were labored over really carefully. Books were written so that they could be studied. Texts were organized in such a way that, beyond the words, even the way they were organized represented something beautiful, something symmetrical. See the way the chiasm forms half the letter 'x'. 'Chi' is the Greek word for the letter 'x' This helps to understand how ancient people could remember the way that texts went even if they weren't in front of them. For in chiasms, hidden or overt themes alike often reoccur. And seeing the text organized this way can help us to remember that Exodus 13 may have a lot to do with Genesis 1. The best interpreter of the Bible is always the rest of the Bible. Not that this stuff should be in peoples' devotions! The way the text rubs up against your own life will be all the fodder you need! But we can benefit as readers from Dorsey's and Leithart's (and others') hard work and study. And the work of the Spirit? To borrow from a future post, it seems that the houses God built - such as tabernacle and temple - were built after the pattern of things above - of heaven, of what Moses saw on Mount Sinai, of Christ. In the same way, the Scripture is a dwelling place for God here where we can see the patterns of things above. The Holy Spirit dwells among us to show that this world, these lives, our words, our tables, our relationships can be used to point to the ultimate world, life, table, and relationship we have with Father, Son, and Spirit in heaven and in the eventual new heavens and earth. The Scripture shows us both: this world through God's eyes, so that we can see that other world with our own eyes.
If anyone would like more information on a text, write a comment or email me. I'm trying to keep this as short as possible. I haven't included additional text references in my summaries. These texts are often included in the Dorsey book.
a primeval history: Yahweh's power in creation and the flood (Gen. 1-11)
b Abraham: Yahweh promises numerous descendants and an exodus (Gen. 12:1-21:7)
c Isaac: strife between brothers; triumph of younger (Gen. 21:8-28:4)
d CENTER: Jacob and birth of twelve tribes of Israel (Gen. 28:5-37:1)
c' Joseph: strife between brothers; triumph of younger (Gen. 37:2-50:26)
b' exodus: Yahweh increases Israel and delivers them from Egypt (Exod. 1:1-13:16)
a' wilderness journey: Yahweh's power in the desert (Exod. 13:17-19:2)
Looking first at the 'a' pattern, we are encouraged to think of the crossing of the Red Sea as following a similar pattern to creation and the flood. God demonstrates mighty power over the sea and wind. He creates dry land in the midst of the sea at creation. He does the same when the Red Sea parts in the exodus from Egypt. The wicked are drowned in the flood and in the Red Sea. Finally, in the same way God provides food for his people in the garden and for Noah and his family after the flood, he does the same for Moses and his people in the wilderness, and in both cases, a Sabbath rest is mentioned: it is created in early Genesis; it is first implemented in the wilderness after the exodus. This all suggests that the exodus from Egypt is like a new creation, as though the world is being created again.
The 'b' pattern shows us Abraham experiencing himself much of what his descendants will eventually experience in Egypt. Just as Joseph's brothers are all driven to Joseph and his grain supply by the famine, Abraham is as well years earlier. Just as the Israelites are wrongfully retained by the Pharaoh who did not remember Joseph, Sarah is also wrongfully retained by Pharaoh in the earlier Genesis story. God speaks to Abraham of a 400 year sojourn, enslavement, punishment of the nation where they stay, and Israel's enrichment as they leave, all of which happens to Israel in Exodus. Abraham's descendants are promised to be numerous. In Exodus, they are shown to have grown from 70 people to 600,000 men. Abraham and his sons are circumcised. Moses and his son (maybe) are as well. And finally, just as Sodom and Gomorrah are punished earlier, Egypt is punished later. In both cases, the righteous are spared. This all suggests that not only did God do what he told Abraham he would; he also did it in a way that mirrored the events that occurred throughout Abraham's own life.
The 'c' pattern follows the motif of the triumph of the younger brother. The stories both follow younger sons - Isaac, Jacob, Joseph - who emerge from conflict with older siblings and are chosen by God. Though Ishmael's expulsion is part of Isaac's being chosen, Jacob and later Joseph are expelled and it is in this exile that they experience God's blessing and birthright unexpectedly. In both stories, the elder son (Esau, Judah) marries a Canaanite woman. In the first story, the cave of Machpelah is purchased and first used by Abraham for the burial of Sarah. In the later story, it is used for the last time as Joseph buries Jacob. This all suggests that the promise to Abraham is initially given in the triumph of a younger sons Isaac and then Jacob, and then the triumph of the younger son Joseph leads to a greater sign of the promise being fulfilled in Israel's multiplying in Egypt.
And at the center of all this - the d section - is the birth narrative of Jacob's children, forming the twelve tribes of Israel. This is fitting because the ultimate sign of God's presence is not simply Abraham's, or Jacob's, or Joseph's individual success, but rather that God's promise is going forward - that Abraham's seed is multiplying. This is all book-ended by the stories of God's power over his foes - in creation, flood, and the parting of the sea. God thwarts his opponents. But the positive side of all this is what is in the center: God will achieve great things through his people Israel.
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