Hermeneutics
Lesson #8
By Art Wallis
Next Week Read Dungan 278 - 319; Blue Spiral Notebook p. 15 G.4 (metonymy of the subject) through p. 18, K. 6. (sarcasm)
Introduction: As we said in the conclusion of the last lesson, there are many parts of speech and we are not going to be covering all of them. But, the Bible must be properly interpreted, while you are reading it, just like you would any other book that you read. (realizing the Bible is actually made up of a collection of 66 individual books, each of which must be interpreted)(History, poetry, prophecy, the Gospels, New Testament history, the letters, and the apocalypse; they all must be interpreted in various ways to be properly understood.)
1. Metonymy of the subject –
A. the subject is named, but we are actually referring to something else related to it. -Pp.278-279
1) Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy “heart” – Deut 5:5 (affections)
2) Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them in her “heart” – Lk. 2:19 (affections)
3) What all can be said about the “heart”? (hard heart, evil heart of unbelief, upright in heart, pure heart, tender heart, faint heart, other qualities are: it loves, fears, thinks, imagines, reasons, meditates, understands, Etc.)
B. The container is put for what is contained pp. 279 - 281
1) John 3:16 “the world” (the people of the world)
2) Psalm 105:38 – “Egypt was glad they had departed” – (the people of Egypt were glad)
C. The possessor put for that which is possessed –pp.281-282
1) Psalm 129:7 is a double metonymy (Jacob means his descendents; habitation means his descendents living on the land they had owned and occupied)
2) Joshua 13:33 “the Lord” stands for the sacrifices given to the Lord.
3) Galatians 3:27 when we are baptized into Christ we put on Christ (come into His covenant, into His church)
D. The subject is named, but something else is intended – pp. 282-284
1) 2 Cor. 5:21 (the word “sin” meaning the sin offering)
2) Hebrews 9:28 (same as 1) just above)
3) on page 283 dealing with Cain and Abel, Dungan missed it completely-Genesis 4:7, where he says the “sin” crouching at the door refers to the sin-offering. Cain had already had a chance to make a sacrifice for sin, and he blew it and ended up killing his brother out of envy or jealousy. Do we think that the rightful sin-offering is crouching at the door? I think not!-a.w.
E. The thing put for the sign pp. 284-285
1) Ezekiel 7:27 – how can you be clothed with desolation? (it means sack cloth or other sign of great sorrow)
2) “to mourn” in the Scriptures is a badge of some sort of great grief
a. how do we show grief and mourning today?
F. Actions are said to have happened BEFORE they actually happen pp. 285-288
1) Hosea 6:5 - they have been told of the coming disaster as though it has already happened
2) Acts 1:18 – Judas is said to have bought a field, but the money he had been paid to betray Christ was the money used to buy the field as a burial plot.
G. Sometimes the thought is only comparative – p288-291
1) Jeremiah 7:21-23 God HAD given commandments.
2) Luke 14:26 “hate” here means to love less
H. Sometimes a word or phrase is used for someone or something else – p. 291-300
1) Genesis 42:38 – the “grey hairs” refers to his old age
2) Romans 3:30 – “circumcised” refers to Jews; “uncircumcised” refers to Gentiles.
3) thing for the container – Matt. 2:11 they opened whatever contained their treasures.
4) thing put for something done or that happened – Gen. 47:9 “days” are “evil” or “good”.
5) things put for opinions or claims – Matt. 9:13 – the wicked considered themselves “righteous”.
6) the senses put for things perceived by the senses – I Cor. 1:21- not the preaching, but the thing preached, was foolishness –Newer translations take care of this problem
7) a sign is put for that which is signified – Zechariah 10:11 – the scepter represents the power or strength of Egypt
8) names represent the things themselves – Psalm 105:1 call upon His “name” means to call upon Him. and also see Romans 7:3 –called and adulteress means she IS an adulteress.
2. Synecdoche – (to receive jointly) pp. 300 – 314
A. the whole for the part - Acts 24:5 “throughout the whole world”
B. a part for the whole – 2 Cor. 4:16 (our soul) has an outward man and an inward man
C. time is put for part of time – Gen. 13:15
D. plural is put for singular – Gen. 8:4 “mountains of Ararat” (it only landed on one mountain)
E. singular put for the plural – Ex. 15:1 (there was more than one horse and rider from Egypt drowned in the Red Sea when it closed back up over them)
F. a definite number is put for an indefinite number – I Cor. 14:19 (means very few words people could understand verses numerous words that no one could understand)
G. general name put for a particular one – Mark 16:15 (whole creation means all people)
H. special name for a general one – Matt. 6:11 (God provides the food we need daily)
3. Proverb – an old and common saying- pp. 314-316
A. Because of changes in language usage from New Testament times until today, what we would consider a proverb was at that time often considered a parable. –
B. See I Kings 20:11 for Benhadad’s proverb
C. We have the whole “book of Proverbs”
D. Peter has a proverb in II Peter 2:22
E. A shortened parable could be made into a proverb.
4. Irony – ridicule or mockery – to say one thing when another is meant – to expose the faults of others. It is usually cruel, mean and heartless, but sometimes used to bring people to their senses. - pp. 316-318
A. See I Kings 18:27 and Judges 10:14
5. Sarcasm (from Greek sarc [body] same root as sarcophagus [box to hold a dead body]) - means to tear the flesh, like dogs, to bit the lips in rage, to speak bitterly, to sneer, reproachful words uttered with scorn and contempt. It is closely akin to irony, but is mean to be more hurtful.
A. See Mark 15:31 & 32
CONCLUSION: We will continue on with our study of forms of speech to help us properly interpret the Bible.
Next week read Dungan pages 320- top page 359; Blue Spiral Notebook p. 18 L.1 (hyperbole) through p. 23 XI.7.j (prophecies concerning Christ)