{"id":2414,"date":"2017-05-21T17:24:29","date_gmt":"2017-05-21T22:24:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/benjaminthescribe\/?p=2414"},"modified":"2018-10-14T13:33:38","modified_gmt":"2018-10-14T18:33:38","slug":"10-things-understanding-old-testament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/benjaminthescribe\/2017\/05\/10-things-understanding-old-testament\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Things for Understanding the Old Testament"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"The
The Might of Assyria<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

My semester has ended, and now I enter into a busy summer of reading, writing, travel, research, and some public speaking<\/a>. I do hope to be writing posts a little more often than I have in the last few months; at least, I have some posts on the back burner I\u2019ve worked on sporadically, to finish off and post.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re settling down for a serious study of the Old Testament, what ten topics do you need to know? I was part of a group discussing this recently, and this was my quick list. Long-time readers will probably recognize repeated themes from my blogging. (I\u2019ve added a little bit of explanation and\/or links)<\/p>\n

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  1. Translation matters<\/strong>Everyone\u2019s first and primary interaction with scripture is in a language not their own. The Bible, of course, is translated from Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic, but even\u00a0D&C is not the American English of 2017. This means that for most people, their sole understanding of what scripture says is contingent on what the translation implies. Well, what if it\u2019s not a great translation?<\/li>\n
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