Joshua (Week 2) Preview
Hey folks, the following is from John in preparation for this Sunday's lesson. Please read it before class so we can have a lively (and informed) discussion.
REVIEW:
1. Geography plays an important role in the strategy of Joshua’s Conquest. Note especially the key fortresses conquered along the International Coastal Highway—Lachish and Hazor.
2. Authorship is…well, difficult. What are our options? Joshua + later editor(s). Later author + oral and/or literary tradition.
3. Audience is also difficult. The book could be written to people living shortly after the time of Joshua with editors modernizing the text to refer to events during the period of the Judges. It could also have been put together during the time of the Judges as a reflection of the conquest in relation to contemporary events. Some put it much later during the monarchy, but the literary evidence seems to point to a time earlier.
PREVIEW:
1. Dating: 1400s or 1200s? What’s the big deal?
2. Introduction to Joshua with discussion on Joshua 1. REREAD JOSHUA ONE AND GET ORIENTED TO THE TECHNIQUE OF BIBLE STUDY BELOW:)
GETTING INTO THE TEXT:
OBSERVATION: Some of us see, but we do not observe”
Grammatical observations: verbs, subject/object, dependent and independent clauses, phrases—especially prepositional, connectives
Literary observations: key persons, places, events, ideas, times, emotion, tone, figures of speech
Relationship observations: comparison, contrast, repetition, continuity, continuation, climax, cruciality (pivot point), interchange, cause/effect, purpose, instrumentation, explanation or analysis, preparation or introduction, summarization, interrogation
INTERPRETATION: Engaging the text on the terms of the text
Historical: questions about the author, audience, location, perspective of the writing, problems, purpose of writing
Culture: political, geographical, economic, legal, agricultural, military, family, dietary, architectural, clothing, social, religious
Literary: Setting, Characters (direct description, word and thoughts, actions, responses, self-characterization), Plot development (Type: physical, character, or moral plot?, What creates suspense: danger and tests, question of destiny, divine human encounters?, What are the nature of the tests or choices of the main character: strength, intelligence, resourcefulness, morality? What changes take place from the beginning to the end: plot changes—tragic, punitive, pathetic, comic, admiration; character changes—reform, degeneration, revelation? What foils, dramatic irony, poetic justice is there? Do the selected details communicate reality, morality, values?)
Grammatical: word meanings, figures of speech (similies, metaphors, metonymy, synecdoche, personification, hyperbole, irony, paradox, euphemism, rhetorical questions, etc), clause meanings (assertions, commands, questions, requests), supporting clause contributions (causal, concessional, comparative, conditional, purpose, result, temporal, local, relative)
APPLICATION: Christ in you
1. Know the Interpretation
2. Know the Applicational Situation
3. State the Application in the Form of a Principle
4. Think of the Principle in Terms of Relationships to God, Self, Others, Enemies