[Mis]Understanding the Bible

Below is a very valuable thought from Craig Broyles in his commentary on the Psalter. I have generalized his statement to expand its force, which is nonetheless true for all of the Bible and not just the particular passage under examination.

"Modern readers are bound to look at [the Bible] as prescientific naivete. But this reaction, in fact, reflects on our own naivete regarding ancient imagery." (Craig C. Broyles. Psalms, New International Biblical Commentary. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1999: 127.)

Too often we "critically" (in the negative sense of the word) read the Bible with uncritical lenses, impressing our modern standards and thought forms upon a text that resists those impressions with its own thought forms; a message communicated in specific cultures and specific times and places. The more we understand the world in which the Bible was written, the more we will understand its message.