It seems that the author’s of Scripture did not write isolated thoughts that were later collected and put together by editors. Of course, there were editors that put together the final text that we have presented to us but they did not take isolated sentences or small fragments and put them together. If that be the case then why would we won’t to isolate their greater stories into small “sound bites” and worse yet, why would we want to memorize them.
The author’s wrote stories, poetry, gospels, letters, etc., but all the the types of literature are embedded in a story, even the letters of Paul.
What is the purpose of memorizing fragments (verses) if they do not call to mind the story in which they are embedded. On the surface it looks like the author’s of the NT pulled isolated passages and quoted them at random, but that view may held because we have treated Scripture that way and we are reading our experience into the text (eisegesis). We do it, therefore, they must have done it. When Jesus quoted the first part of Psalm 22 on the Cross, he was not quoting a verse to pose a question about the presence of God forsaking him in his pain. He was reminding those at the foot of the Cross of the message of Psalm 22 which is a Psalm of victory not defeat.
What might the NT author's have been doing when they picked a passage and quoted it. Could it be that these were the well known excerpts that functioned like “keywords” in today’s search engines serving as a memory jolter of the story within which they lie.
BTS: Technically the NT authors could not have quoted verses because verses did not appear in the text until the 1500s.
Sure verses help us find things, but that is the end of their usefulness. If we want to “hide the word in our hearts” as the Psalmist says, then memorize the stories of the Bible. BTW: “word” in the Psalmist mind could not have meant verses. In short, this Psalm does not teach us to memorize verses. If anything, it is an exhortation to memorize the great stories of Scripture for whence the result of “not sinning against God” comes.
Posted by drwinn at September 1, 2004 09:46 PM