To Understand the Old Testament, Recognize Its Allusions

Somewhere on the list of stories rarely included in children’s Bible storybooks is Samuel hacking Agag, the Amalekite king, “to pieces before the LORD in Gilgal” (1 Sam. 15:33). For many, God’s command to kill all the Amalekites and their livestock raises questions about the morality of Scripture. When Saul only partially obeys and Samuel has to finish the job, anyone could be forgiven for wondering whether that violence was necessary.

Yet a story from centuries later, in the book of Esther, reveals why Saul’s partial obedience was so dangerous. Haman, who nearly succeeds in exterminating the Jews in Persia, is “the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews” (Est. 3:10). It seems that Saul spared more than the king. As a result, the blood feud that had started generations earlier, during Israel’s escape from Egypt (Ex. 17:8–16), threatens God’s covenant. When we connect multiple Old Testament passages, the basis for God’s command becomes clearer.

This is exactly the sort of challenge Matthew Swale, assistant professor of Bible and church ministry at Warner University, wants to equip his readers to address in Scripture’s Use of Scripture in the Old Testament: Three Instincts for Identifying Allusions. He sets out to provide a “workable method for determining when the Old Testament alludes to another Old Testament text,” to help us understand the Bible better (xv). The result is an approach that can help pastors and teachers explain Scripture more effectively.

Identify Allusions

When connections between texts are properly identified, they can bring clarity to difficult passages. When readers make improper connections, confusion can result. There should be clear and compelling evidence to classify allusions within Scripture.

Swale outlines three instincts that Bible teachers should develop to help identify and explain allusions between Old Testament texts. He uses the term “instinct” to avoid a mechanical understanding of the process for recognizing allusions; readers can’t “expect that inserting lexical data will spit out a vacuum-sealed conclusion on an Old Testament text’s use of Scripture” (26). It’s only through close reading of the biblical text and careful study that we can develop sound instincts.

There should be clear and compelling evidence to classify allusions within Scripture.

The first instinct is to look for shared terms between passages. If the source text and the alluding text use the same Hebrew words, a link is possible but not certain.

For example, the connection between Samuel hacking up Agag and the story of Esther comes from the repetition of names. Mordecai is described as a “son of Kish, a Benjamite” (Est. 2:5). Saul is described as the son of Kish and a Benjamite (1 Sam. 9:1–2). It was Saul’s assignment to destroy Agag and his people (15:1–9). Therefore, when it’s “Haman the Agagite” who comes up with a plot to wipe out the Jews, it seems likely there’s more than philological coincidence at play (Est. 3:1, 6).

The second instinct for recognizing allusions is to consider whether the passages share common themes. When two texts share themes like war, worship, marriage, harlotry, nature imagery, or a particular attribute of God, the connection is more likely. The more shared themes, the more probable the connection.

Mordecai’s confrontation with Haman echoes some themes of the earlier Saul-Agag encounter. In both cases, Israel’s future is threatened by a vicious enemy. Both stories highlight the conflict’s historical pedigree that amplifies the tension in the text.

A third instinct is to recognize possible intent by looking for evidence that the biblical author seems motivated to change the audience’s beliefs, behavior, or both. Allusions don’t exist merely to create a complicated web of connections between passages. Allusions are a form of intracanonical citation, where the earlier text undergirds the intended point of the alluding text.

For example, Saul’s failure reinforces the principle that partial obedience is disobedience. Swale observes that the author of Esther intentionally alludes to 1 Samuel 15 to show how “King Saul’s unfinished business left room for a blood feud that threatened his kin centuries later” (19). It also explains why Haman hated the Jews, which otherwise seems entirely irrational. The author of Esther is warning against Saul-like partial obedience in his own day, because the consequences could last for generations.

Biblical interpretation is both a science and an art. Swale doesn’t offer a simplistic checklist that will make every allusion obvious. Rather, he outlines the sort of attitude within a pastor or Bible scholar that can be cultivated over time to help deepen the delight found in Scripture.

Delight in Scripture

The purpose of good Bible study and teaching isn’t just the transfer of information; it’s the cultivation of love for God. A critical step toward that end is learning to delight in the study of God’s Word. In Scripture’s Use of Scripture in the Old Testament, Swale encourages delight in Scripture by equipping his readers to recognize the Bible’s richness.

Swale’s book is an academic volume, but it’s accessible for pastors and educated laity. As a pastor, I’ve already put Swale’s advice to work while preparing a new sermon series on the book of Numbers. It helped me identify an allusion between Psalm 68:1 and Numbers 10:35, where David’s psalm builds on Moses’s prayer. Finding that connection enriched my understanding of the text. I expect it to deepen my congregation’s appreciation for Scripture too.

Biblical interpretation is both a science and an art.

Additionally, Swale shows that scholarship needn’t be stuffy. He artfully and playfully weaves in pop culture references to help make abstract content concrete. References to The Princess Bride and Dead Poets Society serve as helpful illustrations. And once he admitted his legal thinking was shaped by reading Michael Connelly novels, I couldn’t get the image of Matthew McConaughey sitting on the hood of a Lincoln out of my head. Yet there’s still plenty of academic meat to geek out about. The footnotes show thorough engagement with scholarship in a relatively underdeveloped field (i.e., the Old Testament use of the Old Testament).

Protestants have consistently argued that Scripture should be interpreted in light of Scripture. That helps explain why Christians have spent a great deal of energy investigating the New Testament use of the Old Testament. Yet, as Paul House states in his foreword, we’re seeing a “new wave of scholarship” that can help us “read the Bible as its authors did” by connecting the Old Testament to the Old Testament (xi).

Scripture’s Use of Scripture in the Old Testament will help pastors and well-informed Bible teachers understand and explain the Old Testament’s contents better, as they lead others to love God more.

News Source : https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/reviews/scripture-use-scripture-ot/