Bible Passage Observations & Chart of Literary Elements Questions Exegetical Assignment: Observations & Chart of Literary Elements This assignment is wort

Bible Passage Observations & Chart of Literary Elements Questions Exegetical Assignment: Observations & Chart of Literary Elements

This assignment is worth 70 points. The assigned passage is Exodus 3:1-12.

Part 1 (40 points)

2. Pray: If you feel comfortable doing so, invite God to help you read and understand the passage.

3. Commit to living with the text: Reflect on the text over multiple days of reading and re-reading.

4. Make observations (single-spaced, bullet points) on the approved text (1-2 pages total).

The goal is to notice what the text says and how it says it. Here is an explanation of the sort of observations that are expected for this assignment. (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. Observations should reflect at least four readings of the passage. For example, the structure of your observations can be as follows:

First Reading:

Observation
Observation
Observation (etc)

Second Reading:

Observation
Observation
Observation (etc.)

Third Reading:

Observation
Observation
Observation (etc.)

Fourth Reading:

Observation
Observation
Observation (etc.)

Part 2 (30 points) See the chart below. Fill in as many of the literary elements you can find.

Character(s)

List all the characters present in the passage.

Audience

To whom does it appear that the authors are addressing their writing?

Speaker

Who is doing the “talking” in the text?

Genre

What is the genre or literary category? Some sample genres are: 1) speech; 2) narrative; 3) hymn; 4) parable; 5) dialogue; 6) pronouncement story.

Setting

Where is the passage set? What is the geographic location?

Time

Is there a season of the year in the text? What time of day? Is there a Jewish holy day involved?

Key Word(s), Phrase(s), or Theme(s)

List any key words, phrases, or themes. Key words, phrases, or themes are words, phrases, or themes that: 1) are repeated; or 2) are significant for meaning.

Historical Background

Are there references to historical background that will be necessary to understand the text?

Context

How does this pericope relate to the material before it? What is happening PRIOR to the text? How does this pericope relate to the material after it? What is happening AFTER the text?

Structure

Describe the structure of the passage. How many main parts are there? How long are the parts in relation to one another? How detailed is each part?

Interpretation

What do you think the passage MEANS? What might it show an ancient audience? (Hint: Look for the theology that is on display. How does this passage portray God? Does this passage critique something in the audience’s life or mindset?)

Application

Write a paragraph on how the text impacts your life? Does it make a difference? How? Making Observations
by Steven T. Mann
In studying a passage in the Bible, an observation is a specific type of statement. An observation
reports on something that the reader notices about what the text says and/or how it says it.
Making observations involves inductive study as opposed to deductive study. Thus observations
can be contrasted with other types of statements such as explanations, impressions, or any
type of interpretation or response that starts within the interpreter. In observations, the text is
in control.1
A general rule:
Good observations are statements on which everyone can agree about what the text says and
how it says it.
2 This agreement transcends whether or not everyone interprets the text in the
same way or has a similar commitment to the text. For example, a good observation is one on
which a Protestant, a Catholic, a Muslim, an atheist, and just someone walking by the group can
agree is present in the text. There will be a wide variety of opinions on what a text means (as
well as whether its meaning holds any significance); the observation is only in regard to what a
text says and how it says it.
Seven Tips to Making Good Observations:
1. Read the passage through once without writing any observations. This will help you to
notice aspects of the text as a whole rather than only as you go along.
2. Live with the text. Read it several times, making observations on each reading. Keep
track of the number of readings and record your observations accordingly.
3. Resist the impulse to make one observation for each subsequent verse. Let the text
come to you. If possible, print out a form of the biblical text that doesn’t include chapter
or verse numbers.
4. Have a variety in length of observations. Some should be several sentences long as they
seek to describe in great detail what is seen, while others might be brief.
5. You don’t have to understand what the text means in order to make a good observation
about it.
6. Don’t simply repeat the text as this doesn’t demonstrate that you have seen anything.
Report on what you notice about the text.
7. Don’t hesitate to state the obvious.
1 This sentence comes from Dr. John Hartley, a Distinguished Professor of Old Testament at
Azusa Pacific University
and the person who taught me how to make observations. 2 Of course, this is assuming that
everyone in question has access to the same text and can each adequately
communicate. So an observation about a biblical passage in an English translation of the Bible
such as the NRSV
can be measured by any group comprised of individuals who understand English and who have
access to an NRSV.
Why make observations?
Making observations is foundational for understanding a biblical text. We can’t research and
discuss what a text means before noticing what it says! Making observations helps us to
determine the direction(s) of our research in ways that illuminate what the text is saying rather
than simply researching the topics that interest us most. (In other words, observations are
foundational for good exegesis.) Also, making observations can empower readers to think for
themselves about a text without quickly deferring to an expert (or commentary). Such voices
often espouse an interpretation of the text that depends upon a particular perspective or
tradition. Readers who have performed their own observations on a text before consulting the
various experts will be more confident and better equipped to think critically of these voices. Of
course, some observations are better than others. For an excellent illustration of making a
variety of observations (albeit on a different topic of study), see the essay, “The Student, the
Fish, and Agassiz.”
An Exercise at Making Observations: The following passage appears in Exodus 4:24-26 (NRSV):
On the way, at a place where they spent the night, the LORD met him and tried to kill him. But
Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched Moses’ feet with it, and said,
“Truly you are a bridegroom of blood to me!” So he let him alone. It was then she said, “A
bridegroom of blood by circumcision.”
• The event described in the text occurs at a place where they spent the night. (It doesn’t say
that the event occurs at night.)
• In this story, the LORD is described as doing three things, with the first two actions
presented as happening in immediate progression and the third action presented after
Zipporah acts. First, the LORD met him and tried to kill him. (The text doesn’t specify the
recipient of these actions by name.) The last action is that he let him alone.
• Zipporah performs three physical acts and says two things in this text. Her physical acts are
that she: (1) took a flint, (2) cut off her son’s foreskin, and (3) touched Moses’ feet with it.
After doing these things she speaks. Also, the text identifies the son as her son, rather than
his son.
• Both of Zipporah’s speeches contain the phrase “a bridegroom of blood.”
• The passage ends with a quote, and the last word in the quote is “circumcision.”
• The order of the identities of the ones performing actions in this story is: (1) the LORD, (2)
Zipporah, (3) the LORD, (4) Zipporah.
• The only one who speaks in this passage is Zipporah.
You will notice that these observations do not explain the content of the passage, nor do they
offer any devotional insight. They are simply observations about this story and the way it is
told. After a few more pages of observations I would be ready to start researching terms and
concepts.

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