Why should we study Bible Backgrounds?
I have always been interested in history, archaeology and ancient culture, so I focused a lot on these in my graduate studies which has contributed to my focus on Bible backgrounds. But it’s not just an interest for me, it’s much more than that. Bible backgrounds are a means of understanding the Bible, and are necessary for being a faithful interpreter. The reason I say that is because in order for communication to be effective and work as intended, it requires a common ground of understanding. The thing about the Bible is that the Biblical authors wrote to their audiences assuming that they all shared this common understanding, and the problem is that we came around years later, with a different culture from a different part of the world, and we just don’t share that common understanding. Bible backgrounds is the way that we unlock that common understanding and can become faithful interpreters of the Bible. Again, we need to understand that common ground if we’re going to really understand what the Bible’s saying.
Bible backgrounds are a means of understanding the Bible, and are necessary for being a faithful interpreter.
Which Bible passages can be better understood with background information?
A good example from the Old Testament is in Judges 6, the famous story of Gideon. Sorry to shatter some of this story, but we want to be faithful interpreters! This is where Bible Backgrounds come to the rescue, because the typical understanding is that Gideon’s behavior is a model for us as Christians. We can be like Gideon, and if we want to discern God’s will and figure out what God wants us to do, we can “put out the fleece.” That is the common understanding. But we learn from Bible backgrounds that Gideon’s action of putting out the fleece is, first, pretty similar to ancient near-eastern practices of divination. They would test the gods to try to confirm some kind of divine lesson. But a second thing here is that Gideon is asking God to do something with the dew. The dew is connected with the storm god Baal, who in ancient Canaanite religion was thought to control the weather. So as he’s doing this, Gideon is wondering, is God more powerful than Baal? He’s practicing divination, something which God has told His people not to do, and he doubts God’s power.
When we look at the broader context of this story, we see that it fits. For example, Gideon is told by God to tear down the altar of Baal, but he’s scared to; so he does it during the night because he’s afraid. The other thing that shows his doubt in God is that he doesn’t act right away. God explicitly said to go attack the Midianites, and what did he do? He says No, I need this sign, I need to know that this is really You wanting me to do this and that it will all be okay. This reveals fear and doubt — not something we want to copy as Christians today. We do see in the narrative that he’s called a mighty warrior, and God certainly uses him, but I think that’s been in some way similar to the way God uses all of us today and empowers us today despite our weaknesses.
