Rules of Interpretation

The classic Rule of Interpretation, that demands multiple passages for correct understanding, is not strong enough for villainous editors. This week's talk explains.

Rules of Interpretation

Broken Rule

If you watched the previous couple talks you might have noticed that I drew conclusions that would normally be rejected by otherwise rigorous Bible Study. The problem is that traditional Bible Interpretation is not equipped to deal with the real case of intentional fraud on the part of early editors.

The way around problems of Jezebel and her ilk who edited the inspired text is given in the chapter immediately after her letter, where she ordered Naboth's execution. In that second chapter Micah must stand up against 400 false prophets.

In this talk I introduce Rules of Interpretation as a subject, and then get to the problem rule, which involves finding multiple witnesses. This is normally a good rule, but with villains loose, it is the broken rule of interpretation.

The answer is to look for lone voices. Micah in the case of Ahab and Jezebel. Once lone voices are found, they must be weighed equally against the crowd, no matter how many voices in the crowd. Then, we must judge the character of the 2 sides of the argument. We usually judge character by comparison against Joshua's own character.

This textual interpretive strategy has many parallels in the wider world, where Jezebel style manipulation of the public happens all the time.

More Later,

Phil