Bibles:  BS191-196;   220.5

Concordances:  BS425

Books about the Old Testament:  BS1110-1830;   221

Genesis:  BS1231-1235.5;   222.11

Exodus:   BS1241-1245.6;   222.12

History of Exegesis Assignment    

Choose one of the passages listed below.  Read your passage in several translations and then write a paper with the following parts.  Parts A and B will be relatively short. C and E will be longer. D will probably be the longest. The entire paper should not be more than 10-11 pages.

A. What are the bounds of the text you will discuss?  Why do you put them where you do?

B. Are there any text-critical matters? (Please remember that text criticism is a very specific topic in biblical studies, relating to the specific letters and words on the page and not to literary matters.) If you do not find any, state that you do not find any, lest I think that you forgot this section.
 

C. What do you think are the main points of the passage? What is it about?  What is its message?  What questions do you have about the passage?  That is, what would you like to find out about it before preparing a sermon, or leading an adult study on this text?
 

D. Find four (4) “commentaries” on your text.  One must be by a non-Christian author.  The original publication dates of the other three must be at least 100 years from each other.

1. Write a synopsis of what each author says the passage is about.

2. What do you think are each author’s major concerns?

3. How well does each author address your questions from section B2?
 

E. Conclusions

What have you discovered?  What do you make of what you have found? What, if anything, does this assignment say to you about how responsible Bible study may be done in the church?
 

Genesis 32-33 Joshua 2

Exodus 15 Judges 6-7