Organic References
As I continue to have more experiences with my copy of The Books of The Bible in various Bible study and church settings, I’m finding that the passage referencing issue keeps coming up. It is so tempting—repeatedly tempting—to revert to at least a chapter reference when you want to point someone to a certain place in the Scriptures. This pattern is deeply imbedded in our Bible practice.
In the local assembly of Jesus-followers of which I’m a part, we’ve been reading and discussing the servant passages in Isaiah and exploring how the gospels use them in reference to Jesus. When I was teaching on Matthew’s telling of Jesus’ baptism, my first instinct was to simply rattle off the four references (42:1-9; 49:1-13; 50:4-11; and 52:13-53:12) and start pointing out the connections. It is so fast. Zoom. Zoom. You’re there.
But it’s actually so much richer to take a moment to see each of these in light of their setting in Isaiah. For example, I could have simply noted that when Jesus is baptized by John (in Matthew’s first main section, at the end of the part about the Baptizer, right before the temptation story), the words recorded from the heavenly voice seem to combine two key passages. “You are my son” from Psalm 2 refers to Israel’s king as the one who will rule the nations with a rod of iron. But the next part (“whom I love; with him I am well pleased”) seems to clearly pick up on language from the first servant song: “Here is my servant . . . my chosen one in whom I delight.”
OK, so the passage tells us that Israel’s promised king, God’s son, is also the servant that Isaiah proclaimed. Nice. In my notes that I handed out that day, I could have simply listed the four servant songs, we could have read them, and that would be that. But wait. Isolating Isaiah 42:1-9 and reading it alone doesn’t really cut it.
When I read “Isaiah 42” in The Books of The Bible, I can easily see that there is a lengthy oracle that precedes it. It focuses on God’s supremacy over the false gods of the nations. It’s a set-up for the presentation of the servant that follows. This chosen servant of God does not come to smash the nations with their idols, instead he is shown as the one who will bring them light. He will free them, and they can put their hope in him. The servant reveals God’s true intention, not just for Israel, but for the world.
Much more could be said. The c&v Bible is particularly bad with the last servant song: how many times have you heard people refer to “Isaiah 53,” ignoring the fact that the song begins in chapter 52? But the point is that the format can either help or hinder the likelihood that I will read in context. Yes, it’s possible (if difficult) to try and read past or over the often incorrectly placed chapter and verse breaks. But why should readers have to do that?
The Bible’s books have natural, intentional, literary breaks. Let’s start talking about them. And let’s start practicing referring to them in natural, contextual, literary ways.
-Glenn
In the local assembly of Jesus-followers of which I’m a part, we’ve been reading and discussing the servant passages in Isaiah and exploring how the gospels use them in reference to Jesus. When I was teaching on Matthew’s telling of Jesus’ baptism, my first instinct was to simply rattle off the four references (42:1-9; 49:1-13; 50:4-11; and 52:13-53:12) and start pointing out the connections. It is so fast. Zoom. Zoom. You’re there.
But it’s actually so much richer to take a moment to see each of these in light of their setting in Isaiah. For example, I could have simply noted that when Jesus is baptized by John (in Matthew’s first main section, at the end of the part about the Baptizer, right before the temptation story), the words recorded from the heavenly voice seem to combine two key passages. “You are my son” from Psalm 2 refers to Israel’s king as the one who will rule the nations with a rod of iron. But the next part (“whom I love; with him I am well pleased”) seems to clearly pick up on language from the first servant song: “Here is my servant . . . my chosen one in whom I delight.”
OK, so the passage tells us that Israel’s promised king, God’s son, is also the servant that Isaiah proclaimed. Nice. In my notes that I handed out that day, I could have simply listed the four servant songs, we could have read them, and that would be that. But wait. Isolating Isaiah 42:1-9 and reading it alone doesn’t really cut it.
When I read “Isaiah 42” in The Books of The Bible, I can easily see that there is a lengthy oracle that precedes it. It focuses on God’s supremacy over the false gods of the nations. It’s a set-up for the presentation of the servant that follows. This chosen servant of God does not come to smash the nations with their idols, instead he is shown as the one who will bring them light. He will free them, and they can put their hope in him. The servant reveals God’s true intention, not just for Israel, but for the world.
Much more could be said. The c&v Bible is particularly bad with the last servant song: how many times have you heard people refer to “Isaiah 53,” ignoring the fact that the song begins in chapter 52? But the point is that the format can either help or hinder the likelihood that I will read in context. Yes, it’s possible (if difficult) to try and read past or over the often incorrectly placed chapter and verse breaks. But why should readers have to do that?
The Bible’s books have natural, intentional, literary breaks. Let’s start talking about them. And let’s start practicing referring to them in natural, contextual, literary ways.
-Glenn
posted by Glenn at
2:32 PM
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