is the OT a metaphor for this age?
Posted on October 8, 2007 by Gerry Beimers
Filed Under Bible Study
In a comment to the post God is love. But what is love? Reinhard said, “the OT does several important things. It acts as a metaphor for this age (the time between Christ’s ascention and return),…”
I have a great difficulty with this statement about the Old Testament being a metaphor for this age. Sure, there are places where we can allegorise the actual historical story into a spiritual application, but I very much doubt that the OT is such a metaphor. Why? Well lets see if the metaphor works for example with:
Deut 13:6-11 “Suppose someone secretly entices you—even your brother, your son or daughter, your beloved wife, or your closest friend—and says, ‘Let us go worship other gods’—gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known. 7 They might suggest that you worship the gods of peoples who live nearby or who come from the ends of the earth. 8 But do not give in or listen. Have no pity, and do not spare or protect them. 9 You must put them to death! Strike the first blow yourself, and then all the people must join in. 10 Stone the guilty ones to death because they have tried to draw you away from the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of slavery. 11 Then all Israel will hear about it and be afraid, and no one will act so wickedly again.
I’m scratching my head what the metaphor here might be.
Or let’s jump to the first 9 chapters of 1 Chronicles. That’s nine chapters of genealogy! I’m struggling to find a metaphor there too.
And on I could go, but I won’t. The Old Testament is about the history of God’s dealing with humanity moving from broad interaction to specific interaction with a nation that he had a special covenantal relationship with. Drilling down to his son who came to restore all of humanity. The cycle of creation, fall, redemption is played out in the grand narrative of our scripture.
The seriously brutal injunction of Deuteronomy 13 is about rigorous maintenance of the covenantal relationship. The genealogy of 1 Chron. radically demonstrates that our meta-narrative is well and truly anchored in history. These are not metaphorical concerns, these drill to the heart of me being able to trust the story of my faith.
Or perhaps you disagree?
About Gerry Beimers
Gerry Beimers is a Bible translation advisor currently wrapping up the translation of the Bible into Solomon Islands Pijin. That translation is due to be published in July 2008. He's also working on his PhD in linguistics. His other main area of interest is in thinking about Christian education.
Gerry's site: http://www.pijinplus.net
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7 Responses to “is the OT a metaphor for this age?”
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Gerry, I like your clarification, and it’s an interesting area - I’m pretty sure that Reinhard isn’t the only person I’ve heard espousing that particular point of view. I’m pretty sure I agree with you. But I have to ask something.
Under your understanding: how accurate do you need the bible to be historically for you to be able to “trust the story of your faith”? Can you trust the story if Jonah didn’t really get swallowed by a fish? If creation didn’t happen in 7 days? (don’t feel like you have to answer all these here - never know, there might be another post in it :))
Good points there Gerry, but I do think that in the end it comes down to, as Geoff has pointed out, your interpretation of the historical accuracy, as we would think of it, of the Old Testament. It seems to me that the Old Testament on the whole is a good representation of history, but as with many of the chronicles and histories of other cultures it is mixed with a portion of myth, and of course the histories are always written by the victors in any conflict. Admittedly, the Old Testament is somewhat different as it wholeheartedly includes portions of Israels defeats and failures as well as the victories, but I think it still holds.
In the end, the OT can be a source of good analogys or metaphors for our current society, but that is only in the same vein as any other portion of our history can be used for the same purpose. Significantly, this viewpoint leaves out the fact that the Holy Spirit is now present and with us en masse, which certainly wasnt the case in the Old Testament.
To clarify - I’m not wanting to go so far as Chris has here: I wouldn’t say with any certainly that the Old testament is “mixed with a portion of myth”. I actually just haven’t yet worked out what I believe about that. But I’d be very keen to hear Gerry’s (and anyone else’s) opinions.
I think Mr. Beimers may have assumed that in saying that metaphorical concerns are an important part of the OT’s significnace I was implying that they are the only part. A great deal of the OT is certainly factual, I do not intend to question that.
As to what precisely this metaphorical role involves is too much for me to comprehend - I am fit only to understand the most obvious and simple. The nation of Israel, for instance, is God’s people in the OT. In the era of the New Covenant, which is the one by which we ourselves are bound, we are the people of God, so poetically we can be referred to as Israel. God’s dealings with His people in the OT also give us some idea of what we can expect in this age. When they continued in disobedience, scorning His prophets, eventually He had to put a stop to the evil and caused their enemies to overpower them and remove them to captivity. This can serve as a reminder to us that in our own lives if we continue in sin without heeding God’s call to repent then He may chastise us severely so that we would return to Him.
In the case of Deutoronomy 13 we must be careful not to confuse application with metaphor. One possible application is that we should take severe action against those in the Church that attempt to lead us astray by spreading false doctrines. New Age philosophies and Astrology could be two errors, for example. So, metaphorically, with our own lives - we should take severe action against any polluting influence, be it what we read, what we hear, what we listen to, what company we keep close by.
I can’t help wondering if there isn’t a little bit of semantic confusion going on here in relation to the concept of a metaphor.
What the old testament surely is, and must be, is the contextual framework by which we understand what the new testament is for, and about.
What it is not, is a guide for living by faith in grace.
Whether you consider it rhetoric or fact, I suspect the relative differences from A to B remain the same. For the sake of juxtaposition I might crack out a bit of Mathew 5:38-42
I hope I’m not mistaken in understanding Gerry, that it was these kinds of changes in approach that lead you to suggest that the old testiment is not, and cannot be a metaphore for this age.
It certainly leeds us back to the question of how much of the loving and gracious new testament God supercedes the judgmental thunderbolt type God.
If God is indeed unchanging, does that mean He was always merciful as well as wrathful? Are sinners in the old testament covered by the Grace that is consumated in Christs death and resurrection? If Christ died once and for all, did he die for all in history with faith in grace as well as all in the future?
Reinhard, the explicit problem that I have with the picture you paint of God, is that the God you describe is nice only to ‘righteous’ people (and I have yet to meet one)… however the God I know sent his son to die for sinners. I might say that again with emphasis. The God I know sent His son to die for sinners!
The positive aspect of this is that if you are indeed mistaken: if you have underestimated how much mercy and grace have superceded judgment and condemnation, then you’re about to embark on a journey of discovery I think you will really enjoy.
I can only encourage you to look into it.
Since some of this discussion is directed at me I presume that it is not poor etiquette to reply with argument.
If the questions in your fourth last paragraph were all answerable with “yes”, which of course they are, then I have trouble reconciling the second one with this statement: “What it is not, is a guide for living by faith in grace.”
The Old Covenant is perfected and superseded in the Covenant of Grace. In a sense the two are one and the same, just as God is one and the same. The Old Covenant is merely one that looks forward to the Saviour, the New Covenant one that looks at the Saviour.
Apart from all that, consider this: are you saying the OT has no metaphorical significance? If so, why are you saying that?
Tim, the God you know is the same as the God I know. I was merely highlighting His purposes behind the judgement of the Amorites, and in no way asserting or implying exclusively that He favours only the righteous. However He is pleased when we do His will, and displeased when we go against it. The consequences of that can sometimes find us in this life, as they surely will in the next. Do not think I am saying that we are saved by works, but faith without works is dead.
Maybe it’s just your need to argue instead of discussing things that doesn’t make sense to me. Take a chill pill bro.