Written by 40 men over a period of at least 1,600 years, the Bible utilizes the same idioms and symbolism are throughout-evidence that this is meant to be one unified message. Yet many today believe that one part of it is in radical contradiction with another. This could only happen if faulty assumptions were employed in the interpreting.

So how should we approach Yahweh's word? How can we recognize and avoid the pitfalls that others have fallen into?

Perhaps the most common way Scripture is misinterpreted is taking particular verses out of their immediate context. For example, Yahshua the Messiah says, "What goes into the man from outside cannot defile him." (Mark 7:18) If we had that verse and nothing else, we could surmise that it doesn't matter what we eat. But if we check the context, it's clear that He was only talking about eating with unwashed hands, and teaching that if one's heart is already defiled, washing one's hands before eating won't make one spiritually pure. Some of the Apostle Paul's statements are also taken to mean we may now eat any kind of food. But again, the context is about food offered to idols, not particular kinds of meat. Why does this distinction matter? Because taking it the other way would require abrogating commands Yahweh had said were to be statutes forever.

A major foundational principle is: "To the Torah and to the Testimony! If they do not speak in agreement with this word, they have no light..." (Isaiah 8:20) Romans, Hebrews, and Galatians are especially often taken to say that Yahweh cancelled certain commands He'd given earlier. But if we've read Isaiah, we know that if that were the case, we could not trust them.

Yahshua Himself warned that we must not understand anything He would say to mean that He was abolishing the Torah, and that anyone who did teach that would be considered least in His Kingdom. (Mat. 5:19) The Covenant could be renewed with some adaptations or added features, but not done away with. Rather, the renewed version sets the earlier on a firmer foundation.

So we also mustn't take a verse (or whole book) out of the context of the rest of Scripture.

Just because part of it was written in Greek doesn't mean it is to be read with a Greek system of logic. Greek was simply a trade language that made it easier to get the message of the restoration of the "lost sheep of the House of Israel" to those scattered into many lands. It is much more helpful to consider how the equivalent phrases were used in Hebrew than to study the ways words or phrases in the New Testament were used in other Greek writings. Bivin and Blizzard cite many examples of this in Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus. (The list of study materials on the back panel will also help, but of course the best way to understand is to learn Hebrew!)

How have the Jews interpreted Scripture? They're the ones who have preserved its language! (Not that they were always right; there was much political intrigue surrounding rabbinical authority too. But it does bring us 2,000 years closer to how the original audience heard it.) One helpful method they offer shows by an acrostic on the Hebrew word for "Paradise" that Scripture can be interpreted on several levels:

(1) Peshat: The literal, straightforward meaning is a given. Archaeology has shown ample evidence that the Bible's historical details are factual. When Daniel read that Jeremiah decreed 70 years of captivity, he expected it to mean literally 70 years, and it was-to the very day. He himself specified the exact day the Messiah would be revealed, and Yah-shua held Judah accountable for not recognizing it. So unless a passage is clearly poetic (Song of Solo-mon's "your neck is a tower"), none of the secondary interpretations preclude also taking it literally.

The overarching context of all of Scripture is the restoration of the Man with whom Yahweh spoke face to face in the Garden, through the nation of Israel. Prophesying of the Messiah, the focal point of Israel, who accomplished our redemption, David said, "In the volume of the book it is written about Me". (Psalm 40:7) Each detail of the Bible somehow points to a characteristic of Messiah or what He came (and will come) to do, which includes the restoration of the lost sheep of Israel to His covenant of holiness. If your interpretation doesn't ultimately relate to these, you may be missing the main point.

Symbolism Used Frequently in the Bible

Here are some symbols that are not self-evident and can help you connect the themes underlying Scripture: Birds and desert beasts often = demons Blue = symbolic of heaven Bread/grain = fellowship with others in community Bronze/brass = (what can withstand) fire; judgment upon sin Bull: livelihood, security Clouds = Yahweh's presence; mystery; crowd Fat = the best Fire = Judgment, zeal, motivation, or YHWH's presence Flesh = corruptible, mortal, man-made Gates = seat of judgment/decision-making Gold = purity; heavenly perfection; the highest (Animal) Horn = power, protection (on altar), military threat Incense = acceptable prayer Leaven = sin/pride (puffs up larger than life); in other cases, simply permeating influence Lion = ruler, supremacy, greatest power Living (Running) Water = ritual purification Milk = Torah as foundational to understanding Meat = deeper spiritual teaching Mountains = government, the Temple and Zion, or the threat of punishment at Sinai. North = idolatrous influence; source of judgment; exile; hidden treasure Oil = the Holy Spirit's anointing Right hand = strength, position of privilege Rock = safety, stronghold, tactical advantage Rod or scepter = rulership, protection Sackcloth/ashes = deep mourning, humbling Sea = restless Gentiles; prison of demons Serpent/dragon = Satan or counterfeit Messiah Silver = blood; redemption or its price Stones (uncut) = free from human influence Tent = sojourning or place of spiritual study Tower = Place of security; watchfulness Trumpet = warning of war; announcing feasts Water = Yahweh's Word Wine = joy or stinging, burning retribution Wood = corruptible humanity

Demystifying those religious words... We so often use abstract religious terms without really knowing their meaning. But in Hebrew they're usually very concrete. Here are some of their real meanings: amen: firmly established, well-supported, confirmed, solidly proven atonement (kippur): covering over bless (barakh): to bend the knee to faith (emunah): putting confidence in something worthy of trusting glory (kavod): weight, heaviness, authority, importance, esteem humble (anav): close to the ground--i.e., grounded, realistically appraising one's weaknesses--and strengths love (ahavah): be committed to, act in someone's best interest praise (hallel): be bright, clear, rave genuinely about something unhindered by self-consciousness peace (shalom): total well-being, completeness, maturity, perfection pray (mitpalel): make a request sanctify/holy (qadosh): set apart for an exclusive use sin (chata'ah): to miss the target in any sense soul (nefesh): life-force, motivating desire spirit (ruakh): wind, breath thank (yadah): raise the hands toward worship (hishtakhavot): bow down, prostrate oneself in homage

Important Bible Study Tools to Have in Your Library:

Aramaic Targums: Shows how the Jews just before Yahshua's day interpreted the Scriptures

Ben Mordechai, Avi. Messiah: Understanding His Life and Teaching in a Hebraic Context - Vols. 1-3. (Millennium 7000 Publishers)

Biblical Archaeology Review Magazine

Bivin, David and Blizzard, Roy. Understanding the Difficult Sayings of Jesus: New Insights from a Hebraic Perspective (Dayton, OH: Center for Judaic-Christian Studies, 1994)

Bullinger, E.W. Figures of Speech Used in the Bible. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1968)

Bullinger, E.W. Number in Scripture. (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1967)
Another important type of symbolism.

Concordances: Strong's (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers) or New American Standard have the same number key to the Hebrew or Greek root, letting you compare other ways a word is translated and see where else it appears in the Bible.
Free download of English text with Strong's numbers: Online Bible

DeVaux, Roland. Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions. (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1961) Synopsis

Keller, Werner. The Bible as History (New York: Williams Morrow & Co., 1956) Archaeological insights into Scriptural events.

Lexicons of Biblical Languages: Gesenius' for Hebrew/Aramaic and Thayer's for Greek clarify the meanings of words.

Lightfoot, John. Commentary on the New Testament from Talmud and Hebraica. (4 vol., Hendrickson, 1989)

Moore, George Foot. Judaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era. (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1997)

Peshitta: Aramaic New Testament - earlier than the Greek text and solves some of the problems in the Greek text.

Septuagint with Apocrypha. Lancelot Brenton, transl. (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1986). Greek translation of the Heb. Scriptures from before Yahshua's birth. The Aramaic Targums (Liturgical Press, 1991) also show how Scripture was interpreted in His day. The Mishnah (Yale Univ. Press, 1988) casts light on the text by detailing how ceremonies were actually carried out.

Tyndale's Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Inter-Varsity Press, Downer's Grove, IL). Easy-to-read illustrated 3-volume set culled from scholars and archaeologists.

Works of Josephus. Wm. Whiston, trans. (Hendrickson, 1987) Between Yahshua's lifetime and the destruction of the Temple, this former Jewish general recounted his people's history for the Romans, giving added details and contemporary understandings of events in the Bible. View On line version