Layers of Meaning in the Bible

8/8/2019 Layers of Meaning in the Bible

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LAYERS OF MEANING IN THE BIBLE

particularly in prophecy

Extracted from the free commentary set, available for download at

http://sites.google.com/site/freecommentary (you can copy this address and paste it into the address bar)

'There are so many layers of meaning' in the Bible -- is so often said, but with solittle explicit detail.

Just what exactly are these layers?

Take for an example the first fulfilled and obvious prophecy of the Bible.Gen 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

See whether you could dismiss the presence of the following dimensions of meaning, as taught by the Bible itself. Expect a little overlap in the semanticlabelling of so many extended meanings...

~ Face-value :

God did indeed create order out of chaos ordering the light to appear, and ithappened just as He said it would.

A prophet will often make his reputation on his words having an obvious andoften immediate historical fulfillment, so that others record his words forwhatever future value they may also have . Moses for instance, who wroteGenesis, proved himself in public first, before he wrote Genesis, and peoplepreserved Genesis.If you wanted to be called a prophet by later generations, you can 'write aprediction after the event' but you wouldn't be recognised as a prophet or have your words preserved as scripture.But no-one can write a multiple layered prediction of the distant futures 'afterthe event', unless he truly is a prophet.

~ Historical :

Face-value dates and details in the Bible, are reliable.(But in this unusual case, we at least have no conflict with science. Nodefinition is given for light before the Sun and earth and stars , and no timespan is specified for the earliest 'light', other than sometime after 'in the beginning'.)The dates of face-value events in the rest of the Bible are compatible withscience and with archaeology and history, in as much as digs in the Middle-east confirm sites, dates, etc, and secular historical records confirm Biblicalclaims.


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To get a new and science-compatible slant on Adam and Eve, and on theFlood, download the whole Bible Commentary.

~ Spiritual :

i.e. the heart of the matter: 'Wow! He is Creator! He must be God. I need to beon His side...'

~ Implicative :

God is creative, orderly, powerful, transcendent, etc. He speaks to men. Hechooses prophets like Moses to write scripture for men.

~ Symbolic :

Light symbolises good and true; darkness symbolises disorder, evil, etc. All of Genesis 1 sets up foundational images used throughout the Bible -- of beasts, sea-monsters, trees, grass, birds of the air, etc -- all are later used tosignify spiritual and political things, by analogy.

~ Evangelical :

Jesus' arrival in the first century, announcing the Good News, the prophesied'evangel', was like 'light shining into the darkness'; separating good from evil; beginning the new day called 'Today'.

~ Christologic :

The Light, coming in to the world, at the beginning, is Christ, according toJohn 1. His name is 'the Word, God'. He is the Firstborn heir of all creation.

~ Prophetic :

Day One is the Christian celebration day, prophesied here by saying that theLight of the world arrived on Day One. It will likely be a Sunday at his secondcoming when the second resurrection takes place, since we learn from verses1-5 of the Bible, and from John's first five verses, that the first day of the week is the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

~ Eschatological :

i.e. prophetic of the very 'end times': When Christ finally appears as theluminous jasper capstone to the new city of God, the whole earth will walk by his glory, i.e. his 'light'.

~ Zion-centred :


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The book was written for Israel, by an Israelite prophet to Israel, about the sky and land of Israel 'at the centre of the world', prophesying a new Zion, and ason of God ruling all creation, from the new Zion, after crushing the Serpent.

~ Allegorical :

The creation week has not yet ended; we wait for the promised rest; we do not yet see the image of God ruling; we are still in day 6, the age of man.

~ Parallel:

In the book of Revelation we find a parallel 'week'. The week of destruction will target the 7 stages of creation in a Day by Day systematic dismantling of the old created order.

All of these proffered meanings are Biblical themes -- give or take particularinterpretational spins -- which suggests that the Author of Genesis is the same Author of the books of scripture which conform to Genesis, and of the history which confirms Genesis. E.g. The Son of God was struck by the Serpent and diddie.

All of these are arguably deliberate, accurate and important. This suggests thatthe Author is a Master of His craft.

It is not fuzzy. I can quote chapter and verse of other prophets saying what itmeans. The prophecies are explicit, unexpected, even outrageous, and certainly sufficient for the world and its problems.

All of these layers of meaning are deliberately implanted into all prophecy.For instance, all prophecy seems to have the three time-slots of (a) immediate,(b) first century, (c) end-times; The test of 'scripture' is whether it is 'prophetic'and 'christologic'; The methodology of multiple-layering-of-meaning demands'symbol', 'parallel', 'allegory'; And the divine authorship demands a 'spiritual'application 'implied' by the wording. The focus of all prophetic fulfilment is inZion, so it is no surprise either, to see 'Zion' behind all earlier predictions.

If you would like more insight on the figurative and spiritual aspects of the Bible'sprophecies, remember to download the 'freecommentary' from Google 'sites'.

Documents

Layers of Meaning in the Bible