n exegesis is a thorough, analytical study of a biblical passage done so as to arrive at a useful interpretation of the passage. Exegesis is a theological task, but not a mystical one. There are certain basic rules and standards for how to do it, although the results can vary in appearance because the biblical passages themselves vary so much.
To do OT exegesis properly, you have to be something of a generalist. You will quickly become involved with the functions and meanings of words (linguistics); the analysis of literature and speech (philology); theology; history; the transmission of the biblical writings (textual criticism); stylistics, grammar, and vocabulary analysis; and the vaguely defined yet inescapably important area of sociology. Natural intuitive skills are helpful but no substitute for the hard work of careful, firsthand research. Exegesis as a process can be quite dull. Its results, fortunately, can often be exciting. Exciting or not, the results should always at least be of genuine practical value to the believer; if not, something is wrong with the exegesis. Although this book is a primer and hardly an exhaustive analysis of exegetical presuppositions or techniques, it ought to serve you well if your reason for learning exegesis is eventually to apply its benefits in Christian preaching or teaching.
An exegete must work from many books and sources. Four kinds are especially valuable for the methodological and bibliographical guidance they contain relating to exegesis. You should own all four kinds, of which the following are representative samples:
Tremper Longman III and Raymond B. Dillard, An Introduction to the Old Testament, 2nd ed.
(Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 2006).
J. Alberto Soggin, Introduction to the Old Testament, 3rd ed. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1989).
Both of these introductions contain lucid, concrete explanations of OT literary types and divisions, scholarly approaches, book-by-book content and criticism, canon and text. Moreover, there is much to be gained from either book’s bibliographical guidance.
Frederick W. Danker, Multipurpose Tools for Bible Study, rev. ed. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003).
Danker provides backgrounds, definitions, and explanations for all sorts of books, methods, sources, and styles in biblical exegesis. His work is a standard resource for such information.
Richard N. Soulen and R. Kendall Soulen, Handbook of Biblical Criticism, 3rd ed., rev. and expanded (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001).
John W Rogerson and Judith M. Lieu, eds., Oxford Handbook of Biblical Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006).
Handbooks offer basic explanations and collections of definitions. Most of the exegetical terms and techniques you will run across are explained. They also fill you in on many of the trendy/subjectivist interpretational schools.
Joseph A. Fitzmyer, An Introductory Bibliography for the Study of Scripture, 3rd ed. (Chicago: Loyola University Press; Rome: Editrice Pontificio Istituto Biblico, 1990). Also available in CD-ROM.
Fitzmyer’s Bibliography is one of the best annotated listings (through its publication date) of lexicons, texts, grammars, concordances, and other technical aids used by exegetes. Excellent online bibliographies also exist, which have the advantage of being updatable constantly. An example is that of
Jean Louis Ska, “Old Testament Basic Bibliography,” http://www.biblico.it/doc-vari/ ska_bibl.html.
Introduction
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We discuss several of these in chapter 4.
With these four kinds of texts in hand, you will know what the issues in exegesis are, what kind of resources are available, and where to find them.
In addition to these four sorts of books, you ought to have in your library, either in book form or electronic form or both, a “critical” edition of the Hebrew OT. For the time being, the one you want will be the BHS, the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (the fourth edition of a carefully edited Hebrew Bible published in Stuttgart, Germany). It has replaced the older BH3 (the third edition, also known by the name of its main editor as the “Kittel”) just as it will, in time, be replaced by the fifth edition, BHQ (BH5) or Biblia Hebraica Quinta. The Quinta, like its predecessors, uses the Leningrad Codex of AD 1008 as its basis, with its text carefully checked against photographs of that codex taken in the 1990s.
Unlike its predecessors, however, it includes a commentary explaining the Masorah (the medieval Jewish text notational system) and discussing the significance of the textual variants it gives in its footnotes. Moreover, it contains the Masorah magna (a compendium of medieval Jewish text notes), which was available only via a supplementary volume in the case of the BHS. Controversially, its editors cite relatively few variants from other medieval Hebrew manuscripts since the editors are convinced that such variants are of little value.
The BHQ books of Ruth, Canticles, Qoheleth, Lamentations, and Esther appeared in a fascicle published in 2004; Ezra and Nehemiah appeared in 2006, and Deuteronomy in 2007. It was originally scheduled gradually to be completed in 2010, and may, we hope, actually appear by about 2012.
You will surely want to have at hand also a Hebrew-based concordance, a Hebrew lexicon, a Hebrew grammar, a comprehensive history of Israel, a Bible dictionary, and a “critical” commentary series (if possible). Any and all of these are available in both electronic and book form. Examples of the specific works are discussed in chapter 4. The concordance, history, dictionary, and commentary series are essential even if you do not know Hebrew. Without the proper tools, an exegesis cannot go far. The more of these sorts of works you have via computer software, including online access, the faster your exegesis work can go because of the time saved in searching. On the other hand, speed is not always an advantage: searching through a book forces you to see things in context in a way that searching via search engines prevents you from doing.
Remember as you use this guide that all the steps do not apply equally to all OT passages. For example, some passages will require major attention to historical issues and little attention to their form or vocabulary;
others will be just the opposite. There is no way to be sure of this automatically in advance. As you become familiar with a passage, it will tend to become obvious to you how to assign the relative weight of each step, and the subpoints thereof.
This primer is organized into four sections. Chapter 1 provides a nontechnical format for extensive, formal exegesis projects including, but not limited to, term papers. Chapter 2 gives illustrations for the steps of an extensive exegesis. Chapter 3 gives a simple, condensed version of the longer format and centers especially on sermon preparation. Chapter 4 discusses various exegetical aids and resources, especially bibliographical, including how to access them and how to use them.