If I had to recommend one commentary to anyone, I would recommend Dale Ralph Davis. After reading today’s book, it is my pleasure to also say that if I had to recommend one book on biblical interpretation to anyone, I would recommend Dale Ralph Davis.

Hi, my name is Terence, and I’m your host for Reading and Readers, a podcast where I review Christian books for you. Today, I review The Word Became Fresh: How to Preach from Old Testament Narrative Texts by Dale Ralph Davis. 160 pages, published by Mentor in September 2012. Available on Amazon Kindle for USD 15.83 and in Logos for USD 12.34.

More Dale Ralph Davis

Two episodes ago, I reviewed Davis’ book titled God’s Rascal. While preparing for that book review, I browsed through the Dale Ralph Davis collection, and I saw today’s delightful book. You mean to tell me that Davis wrote a book that explains how he comes out with all his wonderful books? That’s a magician giving up his secrets. And now that I have read the book, I too know the secrets to interpreting Old Testament narratives.

Before we review a book, any book, it is proper to introduce the author so that you are convinced, or not convinced, that the author is qualified to speak on the topic. Dale Ralph Davis is a professor, scholar, preacher, writer, but none of that begins to explain why I love his writings. I am indebted to the man. If you want to know more, listen to my earlier book reviews on his commentaries. I don’t want to keep repeating how he adds joy to my life.

And if you have no time to listen to the rest of this episode, then just give me one minute to sell you this book. The Word Became Fresh is the best book on Bible interpretation. There are other books that are wider in scope; Davis only deals with Old Testament. There are other books on all the genres; Davis only deals with narratives. But there is no other book on biblical interpretation that is so accessible, funny, insightful and makes you want more. As a Christian, you want to want to read the Bible. This is a book that helps you do that and be a better reader of God’s Word.

Not Your Typical Textbook

This book has nine chapters. Each chapter has a one-word title. Chapter 1: Approach. Chapter 2, Quirks. The next is Theology, then Packaging, Nasties, Macroscope, Appropriation, Center and Synthesis. These single-word titles don’t tell a whole lot, but when you have titles like Quirks and Nasties, you know that this is not your typical textbook.

No, no, no. Not your typical textbook at all. I exaggerate here for effect but imagine if Terry Pratchett the writer of the Discworld series had became a Christian Old Testament professor and had decided to write a book on biblical interpretation. Listen to this:

I think sometimes we can have—or give—the impression that there is a smoke-filled room hidden away somewhere in the Palace of Biblical Interpretation where a few hermeneutical high priests parcel out the secrets for really understanding Scripture, especially the Old Testament.

Davis dismisses this myth. He writes:

Nor do I have any tricks. I cannot offer any magical procedure which, if followed, will unlock the riches of Old Testament narrative. I only intend to highlight various angles on narrative texts which assist in interpretation for preaching and teaching. I’ll cite a bunch of examples which are either culled from my own study or hawked gratefully—and with credit—from others. I simply want to stir up the biblical juices of preachers and students, to help people walk away from the text muttering about what a delightful book God has given us.

Sarcasm in Scripture? Who Knew?!

And that is exactly what this book is. It’s a book of angles. One of the angles is humour. If you read Davis’ commentaries, I recommend his commentaries on Judges; you will be surprised by his impish relish for humour. Other preachers describe the Bible as God’s Operating System manual, and I can understand why they would say that, but nobody wakes up on a Sunday morning to read or listen to someone speak about an Operating System manual. Davis tells stories. He makes the Bible stories- the ones that we are all familiar with, and some of the ones we have no clue what is going on- and he creates a vivid sense of what was going through the biblical writer’s mind.
Listen to this:

Occasionally the biblical writer dips his pen in acid and uses mockery, derision, or put-down to drive home his point. The device may not be prevalent but likely occurs more often than a casual reader thinks.

He gives examples. In 1 Samuel 5:1-5, Dagon, an idol, mysteriously, suddenly, has its head and arms cut off before the Ark of the Covenant. Davis calls our attention to the sarcasm frothing out of the text, and he calls it out sarcastically. He writes:

not only do the Philistines have to pick Dagon up but [they] would’ve been most happy with an ample supply of super-glue.

I don’t have time here to discuss the other topics in Chapter 2. Let me instead just list the topics and move on. In Chapter 2, we have Reticence, Eavesdropping, Selectivity, Sarcasm (which I have already talked about), Imagination, Surprise, Emphasise, Intensity and Tension. After you read Davis’s books and commentaries, you want to go back and read the Bible to find all these things he says are in the text.

Unboxing the Bible

Another big part of Davis’ books is outlines. Every kid knows that you are supposed to have an outline when you write. It’s the basic idea that teachers teach in school. So outlines are not new. But the way Davis gets into it, outlines are so amazing because it just unlocks the passage. Some passages are just so difficult to understand; when you read them, your brain clogs up. On the other hand, people tell you that the Bible is so well written. It must be because God wrote it. But you look at what you are reading, and you think a kid could write better than this. What’s with the genealogy? What’s with the schematics of the tabernacle? Why do we have so much repetition everywhere?

You know what you need? An outline. You need an outline. And Davis shows you how it’s done. In the chapter on Packaging, you like that title? Packaging! It’s like those unboxing videos on YouTube. Someone buys an iPad or an iPhone and they video themselves opening up the box. It’s apparently a thing. Forget that and look at Packaging in Davis’ book.

He shows us how short passages like 1 Samuel 23 is packaged. He shows us how long passages like Daniel chapter 2 to 7 is packaged. He writes:

The literary layout of 1 Samuel 23 plays a servant role in the task of exposition. The correlation and/or parallel between the beginning and the ending of the narrative helps to highlight the contrast and irony, which, hopefully, lead to adoration.

Did you hear that? Hopefully, a better understanding of the text will lead to adoration. You don’t want to just know more, you want to adore more. In another chapter, he writes:

[So] if I had one piece of hermeneutical advice to give it is: keep your focus on God if you want your biblical interpretation to be accurate, interesting, nourishing, and relevant.

That is actually a good quote to end this book review. Let’s go to the really controversial part of the book.

Must Every Sermon be Christocentric?

To set up the conflict, let me quote from Jared Wilson’s book, The Gospel-Driven Church. This is the book I am reading for my seminary course, and when I read it, I thought this was perfect to put side-by-side with Davis.

Wilson writes:

Imagine preaching a sermon verse by verse through a passage of Scripture. It could be an Old Testament text or a New Testament text, perhaps something from one of Paul’s Epistles. Now imagine you get to the end of the message without mentioning Jesus. Could you rightly say you preached a Christian message?

Later, Wilson pushes the point. I quote:

Again: sermons that have nothing of the gospel of Jesus Christ in them are not Christian sermons. A Christian may be preaching them. The text may be a Christian text. But if the gospel isn’t there, neither is real Christianity.

Do you agree? Do you agree that every sermon must have Christ? There was a time when some preachers would have to think about the question. It would be a new thought because they didn’t realise that they were supposed to present the Gospel in every message. I think nowadays, this would be a given. And some would even wait for that moment in the sermon where Jesus is preached.

With that fixed in your head, let’s go back to Davis’ book. He has a section near the end of the book titled “Addendum (can be skipped)”. He is telling readers, you may not want to continue reading through. And he starts the section with these words:

This chapter will prove a disappointment to some who would hold that our Old Testament exposition should be not merely theocentric but clearly Christocentric. I have no desire for controversy, but I probably ought to defend myself a bit for taking what I judge to be a minority view among evangelical interpreters.

Davis considers the proof text often used to defend a Christocentric-always interpretation of the passage. In Luke 24, when Jesus was on the road with two disciples to Emmaus, we read:

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Wilson takes this verse and argues:

Therefore, every sermon has to do some serious work in showing the glory of Christ from whatever text the preacher is preaching.

Davis, on the other hand, interprets that same passage this way:

It means I think Jesus is teaching that all parts of the Old Testament testify of the Messiah in his suffering and glory, but I do not think Jesus is saying that every Old Testament passage/text bears witness to him. Jesus referred to the things written about him in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms—he did not say that every passage spoke of him (v. 44). Therefore, I do not feel compelled to make every Old Testament (narrative) passage point to Christ in some way because I do not think Christ himself requires it.

Both authors have more things to say on this topic. I will also say that both authors would have far more in common when it comes to biblical interpretation. Davis himself acknowledges that his position is in the minority.

What do you think?

I have read eight commentaries from Dale Ralph Davis. I am not poorer just because he does not always link the text to Christ. I have preached Old Testament narratives before, and most of the time it is easy to link the text to the New Testament because there will be some big theme. Redemption. Judgment. Love. But sometimes, there is something important in the Old Testament narrative, but I can’t figure out a good way to link it to the New Testament or to the Gospel without diluting the big idea. We don’t want to be clumsy. We don’t want to latch on to the Gospel at the end of the sermon because that is the formula. I would also say we don’t want the congregation to see the sermon as predictable.

“Oh, the sermon must be ending soon because the preacher just mentioned Jesus. The next thing he is going to say is, ‘Let’s pray’.” A predictable pulpit prevents people from hearing well.

Some may hear what I say and see this as an excuse to not work at finding a Jesus connection to the text. That’s not what Davis is saying. That is not what I am saying. If there is a way to connect, do it. If there isn’t any, then don’t force it. In my opinion, it is better to be true to the main passage than to be clumsy and tack on the Gospel just because we have to.

Read Another Davis Book First

As I conclude, I want to recommend a reading strategy. If you have never read a Dale Ralph Davis book, I do not recommend you read this book first. I suggest that you read one of his commentaries first. His commentary on Judges is a good place to start. After you read one or more of his commentaries, then you should read today’s book The Word Became Fresh.

Do you remember the thrill you get when you first watch a magic trick? The magician pulls a rabbit out of a hat, and you are blown away. How did he do that?! You never knew that a hat could be so exciting! That is Davis’ commentary. After you watch the trick, then it is more fun to watch how the trick works. Knowing how the trick works is today’s book.

Dale Ralph Davis would not like me calling this book a bag of tricks. He explicitly said that he does not have any tricks. But when I say reading his books is magical, what I mean is the experience. Magicians can take very ordinary things- a hat, a deck of cards, an egg- and do a spectacular performance with them. I believe that preaching is drama, because the Bible is drama; the Gospel of Christ is a drama of redemption. But too often, the Bible becomes drab and ordinary and dull when we know and profess it is not. And I think books like Davis’ help us to see the glorious wonders, the awesome beauty, of God’s Word, and to me, that’s a magical experience I wish for all. May the Word become fresh in your life.

This is a Reading and Reader’s review of The Word Became Fresh: How to Preach from Old Testament Narrative Texts by Dale Ralph Davis. Thank you for listening. Bye-bye.