Episode 15 – A Plan and Pattern for Studying Historical Episodes from the Bible

Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God.

Script Notes:

Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle. And they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered, and encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in line of battle against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. And he had bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders.

1 Samuel Chapter 17, verses 1 and 6, English Standard Version

As [Jesus] drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.”

The Gospel of Luke Chapter 18, verses 35 through 43, English Standard Version

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VK: Hello! Welcome to another episode of Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. I’m Victoria K in the studio today with RD Fierro, author and Founder of Crystal Sea Books. And today we’re going to start a new discussion series based on one of the most famous and beloved episodes in the Bible – the story of David and Goliath. And to help us do that we’re going to use another of Crystal Sea Books’ Life Lessons with a Laugh humor series. But just like when we did our series on Noah and the ark we want to look at this story from a slightly different perspective. Right?

RD: Absolutely correct. We want to use the Life Lessons with a Laugh sketches to start each week on a lighter note, but then I want to use the story of David and Goliath to help illustrate the basic point we’re trying to make on Anchored by Truth - that the Bible is the inspired word of God. Part of what that means is that each story, each part, in fact each word of the Bible has an important place in the overall story of the creation, fall, and plan of redemption.

VK: So tell us part of what that means before we actually get into the Life Lesson.

RD: When I read the Bible stories I always try to remember that God – through His human authors – recorded this particular episode for a reason. It wasn’t just a sort of random inclusion in a general collection of stories or anecdotes. God is a God of order, design, plan, and purpose. He doesn’t do anything without having arbitrarily or capriciously. So as amazing as it is to think about, God put every story in the Bible to teach us and help us in some way. Not only that – and this is really mind boggling – God knew every person who would read each story in the Bible so there is something that each of us can learn every time we go to the Bible, no matter how often we’ve read a particular story before. So, to help me when I read a Bible story I try to keep five attributes of Bible stories in mind as I read them or re-read them.

VK: All right, I’m sure we’re going to discuss more about those attributes after the Life Lesson, but just as an appetizer what are the attributes?

RD: History, prophecy, ancestry, unity, and relevance – or relevancy if you want to keep the endings consistent.

VK: We do like consistency – ha, ha – here at Crystal Sea. With that, here’s a humorous introductory look at the story of David and Goliath.

---- David and Goliath, Lesson 1

VK: Oh. I liked that last part. “Goliath acted like a thug, moved like a slug, and got crushed like a bug.” Even though the Bible says that Goliath was probably over 9 feet tall he was certainly no match for God – or for David when he moved out in the power of God.

RD: Yes. And that power of God is still available to us today, but to access it just like David did when he was out in the fields taking care of the sheep we have to develop our trust in God. And that takes energy and devotion on our part.

VK: True dat. So let’s get into those attributes of Bible stories that you mentioned earlier. You said that you use them when you’re meditating on what a Bible story might mean?

RD: Right. To briefly remind everyone I believe that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God but I recognize that everyone doesn’t share that belief. So part of what we want to do through Anchored by Truth is to provide evidence that supports that belief. This is essentially a part of the command given to the church in 1 Peter 3:15. So to do that in an earlier episode we offered 4 lines of reasoning that we think help support the fact that the Bible is the word of God.

VK: And those 4 lines of evidence were:

• the historical reliability of the Bible,

• the remarkable unity of the Bible given that it was written by dozens of authors over a period of 1,500 years,

• the lives of people throughout history that have been changed for the better by studying the Bible, and

• the extensive volume of accurate, fulfilled prophecies that the Bible contains.

RD: Exactly. So the five attributes of Bible stories I mentioned earlier are my approach to seeing how those lines of reasoning are represented by every episode in the Bible. But just a point of emphasis. This is an approach I use for the historical stories or vignettes in the Bible. The Bible contains other forms of literature beside history. Such as parables, poetry, and moral and ethical instruction so while some of these attributes may be helpful in looking at those parts of the Bible the extent of application will be a little different.

VK: Can you give us an example of when they wouldn’t apply or at least when one or more of the attributes would be less applicable?

RD: Well, take the 10 commandments for example.

• There are some historical aspects to it, e.g . why prohibit “graven or carved images?”

• Not much in the way of prophetic utility, though even in the 10 commandments there’s a warning about honoring your father and mother so your “days will be long in the land.”

• Obviously, though, the 10 commandments would be directly relevant to every believer and every person for that matter.

VK: That’s a good example. So let’s dive a little deeper. When you think about history what are you referring to?

RD: The parts of the Bible that are intended as literal history should be examined as such. We can look to other disciplines that have a bearing on history such as archeology or geology to see what light they can shed on the Bible story. Obviously, other disciplines will have more to contribute to our understanding in some cases than in others.

• History of the group/tribe/nation

• History of the incidental details, armor, food, animals

• History of individuals

VK: Ok. All that seems pretty straight forward. What about prophecy?

RD: Same basic idea as history but in reverse. Of course certain prophecies made at a particular point in time have now been fulfilled.

• Prophecies concerning of the group/tribe/nation – not just in the story but elsewhere in the Bible, Philistia – Zechariah 9:6

• Prophecies concerning individuals, David would have a descendent sit on an eternal throne

• Prophecies concerning future events that may arise out of that event, like when we talked about Noah and the prophecy that the world would never again be destroyed by water or a flood.

VK: Well, all that makes sense, but I guess that leads to the next question. What is the difference in your thinking between history and ancestry?

RD: When I think about ancestry I’m talking about how the person or event in the story applies to the ancestry of Jesus. The Bible is all about a grand story. Creation, fall, redemption. The creation and fall take up the first three chapters of Genesis. The rest of the Bible is about redemption. The central figure of the Bible is Jesus so we should always examine stories in the Bible in light of Jesus. We need to understand how they relate to Jesus either what they tell us about him directly or how they give us greater comprehension of the role that in he would ultimately in redemption – in our salvation.

VK: So what you’re saying is that if the central figure in the Bible is Jesus – and if Jesus is God’s son, which He is – it would only make sense that even the parts of the Bible that were written before Jesus is born would still have something to do with him or point to him in some way?

• Some of the historical figures in the Old Testament would have been a direct ancestor of Jesus like David and Ruth.

• And much of the Old Testament has to do with the Jewish nation and the Hebrew people which would be the people and nation from which Jesus would come.

• And much of the Old Testament would point to the need for a Savior and the attributes that would mark his life, purpose, and ministry like the prophecies about where he would be born and how he would die.

• Even some of the more difficult parts of the Old Testament like the Levitical Code would have important information about Jesus like his role as the Passover lamb.

RD: Exactly. So all of the historical stories in the Bible have something to do with Jesus and that’s what I mean when I’m thinking about how “ancestry” applies to a particular historical episode. What does this story have to do with Jesus?

• For stories like David and Goliath it’s pretty simple since David was a lineal ancestor of Jesus.

• For other stories it may be a little harder, like Daniel in the lion’s den, but even in stories like that there is a direct connection. Daniel’s life in the Babylonian and Persian kingdoms was part of God’s miraculous preservation of an identifiable Jewish nation from which Jesus would later arrive.

VK: What are thinking about then when you talk about “unity?”

“RD: This is referring to what you mentioned earlier about the Bible displaying remarkable unity even though it was written by dozens of human authors over a period of nearly 1,500 years. How does this story fit into the grand story and are there any potential conflicts or contradictions with any other parts of the Bible. We live in a time when there is a lot of ambient hostility to the Bible so we have to be prepared to be able to address the allegations of contradictions that will be hurled at the Bible. It’s okay not to know all the answers but it’s important to build a body of knowledge over time.

VK: What are thinking about then when you talk about “relevance” or “relevancy” if we want to be sure we’re keeping all the words with a “sea”ending.

“RD: Relevancy simply means how the story relates to the individual reading and studying it. The Bible has an irreplaceable role in the global story of creation and redemption. Its importance cannot be overstated. But God produce the Bible with just an abstract cosmic purpose in mind. He made a special revelation through the Bible both to benefit all his people as a body and us as individuals.

• The life lesson helps illustrate this. David’s life shows us that if we are going to grapple with the giants in the world and in our own life we do that best by knowing the word and name of God. David said that he was coming at Goliath in the name of the living God and that God would deliver Goliath into his hand. And God did. But if we want to have the same boldness that David displayed we have to do our preparation and develop our own trust in the Lord.

• Sometimes the Bible will give us direct practical advice like saving money, but even if it does not directly address a specific question we have, by studying the Bible regularly we will develop wisdom that will not only guide us but be a blessing to others.

VK: Well, you’re telling us that this how you approach reading and studying the historical episodes in the Bible, but obviously this is an approach that anyone can use. And even though not every attribute that we’ve discussed today is applicable in the same way to every story in the Bible just using these factors as a part of our Bible story may help us discover things in the stories that we’ve never seen before. I think that may be the most interesting part of this approach. For our prayer to day let’s listen to a prayer for persecuted Christians who need deliverance in our day just as the Hebrew Army did from Goliath and the Philistines.

---- Prayer Adoration for the Father

VK: Next time on Anchored by Truth we’re going to continue with our study of David and Goliath using the approach that RD outlined in this episode. So next time we’ll be looking at some of the historical underpinnings for this very famous story. We hope you’ll be with us then and we hope you’ll take some time to encourage some friends to tune in too, or listen to the podcast version of this show.

If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not famous but our Boss is!”

(Bible Quotes from the English Standard Version)

1 Samuel Chapter 17, verses 1 and 6, English Standard Version

The Gospel of Luke Chapter 18, verses 35 through 43, English Standard Version

https://biblecentre.org/home.php and search for this article: David: Some Things of David in the New Testament by Michael Hardt

https://www.aboutbibleprophecy.com/s64.htm