Study Hack: When a New Testament Writer Uses the Hebrew Scriptures
The New Testament writers reference the Hebrew Scriptures a lot!
By the way, I like to say “Hebrew Scriptures”; many prefer the “Old Testament”.
We’ll go with “Old Testament” (OT) for now.
As I was saying… the New Testament writers reference the Old Testament all the time, and sometimes it can be difficult for us to understand the connection that the writer is trying to make.
So here’s a helpful tip on what to do when you notice a New Testament writer referencing an Old Testament passage…
Assume there’s more in there than you realize and dig deeper.
Here’s what I mean by that.
When you are reading the New Testament and you come across an Old Testament reference that raises questions or piques your curiosity, stop and take a few minutes to do these 2 things…
Look up the reference being made
Read that reference in its original OT context
If you know what I mean, then I guess you can stop here. But if you want an example, here’s one from a passage that I read this week.
It’s a passage from Matthew’s Gospel, and it’s a popular passage that comes after the birth of Jesus when Joseph and Mary had to flee to Egypt because King Herod had ordered the killing of every Jewish baby boy in Bethlehem and the surrounding region.
The passage reads as follows…
So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.” (2:14-15)
Matthew writes that this fulfills what God said through the prophet when God said, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
So this might raise questions. “Did the prophets predict that the Messiah’s family would have to escape to Egypt because of an evil king? Or is something else going on here that I might be missing?”
Well, in order to better understand what Matthew is intending to say here, and what he might be expecting his readers to get from this statement, let’s dig deeper and see what we find.
A Surface-Level Reading
If I just engage in a normal surface-level reading of this passage, I might be able to understand that Matthew is intentionally connecting Jesus’ story to the Exodus story (“Out of Egypt”). I might then make the observation that Matthew is trying to show me that Jesus’ story is a story about salvation. And if that’s all I get from this passage, that’s great.
But let’s see what happens if we take a few minutes to do the 2 things I mentioned above.
Digging Deeper
I can take my reading of this passage to a deeper level by taking a minute to look up this particular verse that Matthew is referencing in order to see exactly where it comes from in the Old Testament. In this case, Matthew is quoting the second part of something that the prophet Hosea said in Hosea 11:1.
When I look up this verse, I read this…
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
This helps me understand even more of what Matthew is trying to tell me. Not only is Jesus’ story connected to the Exodus story, but Matthew is intentionally connecting Jesus himself to the ancient nation of Israel. I might now make the observation that Matthew wants me to see Jesus’ story as a repeat of Israel’s story. Then I might start to see how Jesus is replaying the story of Israel and how he is proving to be faithful in ways that Israel was faithless. And so if I got that also from this passage, that’s even better.
But… we can keep digging even deeper.
Buried Treasure
I can take my reading of this passage to an even deeper level by looking up this particular verse that Matthew is referencing and then reading the entire literary unit in which it is originally located. This helps me understand this reference’s original context.
In this case, Matthew’s reference to Hosea comes from a beautiful poem that is found in Hosea 11:1-11. A poem that is meant to provide ancient Israel with hope for the future.
In Hosea 11:1-11, God is depicted as a loving father who has graciously taken care of his adopted son Israel. However, this adopted son rebelled against his father and decided he was going to go his own way. This of course provokes God to anger, and so he declares that he will allow Israel to suffer the consequences of their decision — exile under foreign rule. However, it also breaks God’s heart and arouses his love, mercy and compassion for his people. And so, God declares that he will not give up on his son Israel — he will forgive Israel, and he will one day come to be “with them” and to rescue them from their exile (go read it!).
Now after I’ve read all this, I discover that Matthew is intentionally connecting Jesus to God’s faithful love, mercy and compassion for his people and his promise that he would one day come to be with his people, to forgive them of their sin, and to put an end to their exile. And when I begin to understand all of that it opens up a whole new world of understanding Jesus’ life and teaching!
After discovering all of this, I might find myself wondering, “How am I supposed to see Jesus’ life, death and resurrection as the end of Israel’s exile?” And now, I will begin to look for ways that idea is developed further in Matthew’s Gospel. I’ll have new eyes as I look at familiar texts and begin to discover new layers of meaning that I had never noticed before.
Wasn’t that fun?
I hope so.
It’s definitely good practice.
And so this is my advice when you come across a New Testament writer referencing an Old Testament passage:
Assume there’s more in there than you realize and dig deeper.
Look up the reference being made
Read that reference in its original OT context
Remember, the original audience of most of these writings were Jewish and grew up in a cultural environment in which they were immersed in the Old Testament Scriptures from early childhood.
They could quote the Old Testament like we quote movies and song lyrics.
And so most of the time when a New Testament writer references an Old Testament passage, he’s expecting his readers to automatically upload in their mind the broader context from which that reference has come.
This “automatic upload” doesn’t come as naturally for us because we have not grown up in a first-century Jewish context immersed in the Old Testament Scriptures.
That’s okay.
We just have to do a little extra work.
But the more we do this the better we will get at it. And then the Bible will begin to come alive for us in ways that we’ve never seen before. We’ll go from reading in black and white… to reading in 3D!
