Customer Reviews

The Word Became Fresh: How to Preach from Old Testament Narrative Texts

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

About a decade ago one of my former customers encouraged me to read the first of Dale Ralph Davis' Old Testament commentaries. It was on the Book of Judges, and subsequently, Davis produced commentaries on Joshua, 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings, all of which I acquired and read - usually more than once.

If six commentaries strike you as too much for one book review, then the solution is to check out the book Davis produced in 2006 called The Word Became Fresh: How to Preach from Old Testament Narrative Texts. While this book does focus on preaching the OT, it also gives a clear outline of Davis' approach to studying the OT, and I believe you'd be hard pressed to find a better overview of OT Bible study anywhere.

This book, like Davis' commentaries, is very readable and not at all heavy-going. Nor, on the other hand, is it lightweight; while Davis doesn't have the room here to work in detail, as he does in the commentaries, he still discusses background and structure.

Davis is no slouch: he not only preaches what he writes, but he's also a full-blown Bible scholar. His footnotes often contain the views of other commentators he disagrees with. While he's never unpleasant towards these other writers, it's plain he's done his homework, and his reasons for saying what he does are valid.

He's also a great storyteller. Both in this book and in his commentaries he backs up his arguments with stories from the American Civil War, or the Second World War (remember there are a lot of battles in the narratives!), or from his own experience. His own stories, like the rest of his writing, are full of wit and good humour.

He treats the text with great respect. If something is there, he sees it as being there for a good reason. If it's obscure he'll do his best to elucidate it, but he won't speculate just so he can give an answer. Sometimes he admits that the answers aren't easy for modern readers.

Perhaps his greatest gift is to remember that the Bible is literature. Time and again he clarifies the layout of a section or chapter by looking to see how the writer has planned the story. This is one of Davis' great skills: to be able to see the structure in the midst of what might appear to be randomness.

This is a book for preachers, teachers and lay people. I can't recommend it highly enough!

Ralph Davis has done an excellent service by providing a very readable yet challenging primer on Hebrew narrative. If you are familiar with the text of the Old Testament, it is simply too easy to pass over the nuances within the text that actually establish the tension and complexity of a good narrative. I thoroughly recommend this book for everyone who wants to read their Bible. If you are in a teaching capacity, say in Sunday School, this will challenge you to read familiar texts with fresh eyes.

The freshness Davis brings is not a quest for novelty (as is often the case for books like this), but rather a freshness of pulling out both the magnifying glass and the telescope. The tapestry of God's Word is much more exciting if you can see the individual stitches and if you can see the whole pattern. Worth your time.

Dr. Davis has written mulitple homiletical commentaries on the historical books. Having read these I was eager to read The Word Became Fresh and it did not disappoint! He has a passion for the narrative sections of the Old Testament, and that passion shows clearly in his writing. "But many simply write the Old Testament off. If it's as complicated as they have been taught, it is far too bewildering and esoteric for them to bother about, except for dipping into the Psalms for occasional funerals." (preface). Fortunately, the author is very helpful in making the OT accessible for the preacher who desires to preach "the whole counsel of God". Many of his tips and suggestions seem obvious, and yet he shows how they make the OT narratives come alive and suggest many fruitful directions a preacher can go in preaching them. Davis is also very humble and entertaining as he writes - a rare bonus! And there are little nuggets of wisdom and direction throughout the book:

"We are guilty of arrogance, not merely neglect, when we fail to beg for the Spirit's help in the study of Scripture." (pp. 1).

"In my view, however, if we omit 'application,' we fail to answer the 'So what?', we are short-circuiting the whole purpose of Scripture (and 'is profitable for..,' 2 Tim. 3:16). If I cannot rub the results of my labor into the pores of the souls of God's people (or of pagans), why am I taking the trouble to do this? If what I study won't preach, there is something wrong with the way I study what I study." (pp. 7).

This book is very helpful and practical and I would highly recommend it to any preacher who wants to faithfully preach from the OT to his congregation.

Dr. D. Ralph Davis has done a remarkable job in this book. He has shown repeatedly how to preach (& teach) through Old Testament passages in ways that are faithful to the Christian Story without going completely into an historical-redemptive approach. But he has also avoided the opposite malady of falling into the 'Nice Moral Stories' trap. Bible teachers, preachers, and just plain Bible lovers will all gain richly from this book.

Ralph Davis's The Word Became Fresh is an outstanding resource for those eager to preach from the largest chunk of their Bibles--the Old Testament narratives. In a mere 150 pages, Davis walks through all the basics that are so obvious they take brilliance to see. His style is a wonderful blend of humor and seriousness, substance and simplicity (even if a bit too punchy at points).

In this book, Davis discusses everything from getting a macro sense of whole books to how to apply individual stories to our lives today, all the while keeping the focus on God. Along with covering how to approach narrative, he discusses more specifically certain difficult OT texts and ends the book by using his methods to work through Exodus 1 and 2.

Davis manifestly loves and is unashamed of the biblical text with all its contours and textures. He encourages the preacher to stick to the text and go deep, trusting the God of the text that he knew what he was doing in inspiring it.

Maybe the most beneficial things Davis's book provides are constant examples of how he approaches and preaches OT narratives. He brims with invaluable illustration after illustration of the techniques he's teaching. (But sadly, there's no index!)

Davis nearly (though not quite) broke my heart in the end of chapter 8 when he seems to play theocentricity off against christocentricity. He says, "I do not honor Christ by forcing him into texts where he is not" (138). I agree, but I want to respond with Spurgeon, "I'd rather find Jesus where he's not than miss him where he is."

All in all this is a great resource for preachers as they preach the Bible and try to treat even the more difficult passages as inspired by God and profitable for teaching.

[This review appeared originally at [...]]

The book's content is useful as Davis outlines various approaches that can be taken to draw the intended message out of a narrative text. One particular strength in this vein is a careful attention to the original intention of a passage while still interpreting it within a covenant framework. He recognizes that the OT as a whole is Christocentric, particularly based on the comments of Jesus and the author of Hebrews, but he also recognizes that not every verse of the OT has to be wrestled allegorically to fit a preconceived messianic purpose. Thus, he provides a good balance between a Christocentric and theocentric hermeneutic.

The book's greatest weakness lies in its style. It seems that Davis would be a very engaging speaker or preacher, but unfortunately that does not translate well into a book. After having finished the book, my impression was that only about 2/3 of the book was content, with the other 1/3 being stories or humorous side comments that did not always directly support his point. Also, the book's tone or level didn't seem to be quite right. The book's casual style seemed to be written to a layperson, and several times I thought about recommending it to student leaders preparing devotionals for our college group; however, the direct statements are clearly addressed to pastors/elders and relate to full-fledged sermon preparation.

The most rewarding aspects of the book personally to me were insights Davis brought out of specific texts he used as examples. However, overall, I felt frustrated with the style of the book, and the good content was too small in quantity to overcome this.

While not solely on narrative preaching, I would recommend Invitation to Biblical Preaching: Proclaiming Truth with Clarity and Relevance (Invitation to Theological Studies Series) over this book. Its coverage of narrative is very solid.

The title is descriptive of the content. With his characteristic wit and penetrating application, Dale Ralph Davis shows us how to read the Old Testament Narrative texts and hear the voice of God from them. Buy it. Read it. Digest it. Apply it. Enjoy it.