Previous post: Exegetical Sketches: Alexander’s Sword
On Wednesday, May 24, 1738, he opened his Testament (evidently practicing a sort of bibliomancy) at the words, "There are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, even that ye should be partakers of the divine nature." Later he read, "Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.’* At St. Paul’s in the afternoon, the anthem was "Out of the deep have I called unto Thee, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice . . . O Israel, trust in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from all his sins." In the evening he went to a society in Aldersgate Street where some one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. "About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."
The Bibliomancy of John Wesley
John Wesley picked up a trick from the Moravians which was opening the Bible at random and grabbing the first verse he saw and interpreting it in the light of his current situation. This is the ultimate Alexander’s Sword. Context is totally out the window. But is this not a possible way that God can lead his people? Proverbs 16:33 says, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.” (Wesley also cast lots and drew pieces of paper out of a hat to make decisions) There is an ancient Christian tradition of sortes sanctorum stretching back to the Middle Ages clear until modern times that involves picking out verses at random and seeing how they apply to our particular situation. Alexander’s Sword would predict that not only is God able to speak to his people in this way but that a person’s Biblical knowledge would guide them into orthodox interpretations of the particular verse. I tried this and landed on Jeremiah 13:1:
This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water.”
I couldn’t make any sense of this (but after all I wasn’t seeking in faith). My daughter said it signified that I need to lose weight. My wife said it means that I’m too skinny since my belt was hanging low enough to get wet (on the ground, I assume). Have you ever opened the Bible and hoped that it would give you spiritual guidance? Isn’t that essentially bibliomancy? Daily devotions and devotional Bibles seem to be a type of bibliomancy. There comes a time when you hit a passage that just can’t be read devotionally. I checked out biblegateway.com and they had this for the verse of the day:
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jer. 29:11
Does their verse-of-the-day ever include Jeremiah 13:1? I suspect not. Hilary was corresponding with her sister on Twitter and she said that there is a three-plop rule which says you can plop the Bible open and point three times until you get a verse you like. She also said you’re usually safe in the book of Psalms. My daughter had to plop and point four times before she got to a verse that said, “Stop acting like a fool.” Again, this sounds wacky, but isn’t it possible that God could communicate with people through this method?
That’s a real insight on the book of Psalms. They are built for trouble. The person that opens the book of Psalms will not have to browse long until they find a passage that speaks to them about their troubles. Last year I wrote about my own experience with being robbed at gunpoint and how Psalm 116 ministered to me (Speak the Word). And earlier this year I wrote about how the book of Philippians was helping me deal with anxiety (GAD: Be Anxious For Nothing). Very little if any exegesis was involved in my application of those texts to my personal situation. Instead, long years of indoctrination in the Christian worldview and our sacred writings guided my hand to those verses. While the meaning of the Bible may seldom be “plain and simple,” plain and simple people use it with benefit despite their shaky exegetical skills. Eight Christians in rural Pakistan were burned to death in their homes last week (link). Passages which we can only apply metaphorically are very real to people in situations.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the Lord, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;Isaiah 43:2-3
What I’m describing here is not so much an exegetical method as the default way in which people use the Bible with profit. In upcoming posts, I’ll share some simple frameworks for interpreting Scripture that will help guide the non-academic believer in their approach to the Biblical text.
Don’t assume too quickly that Wesley opened his Bible to 2 Peter 1:4 at random. It could have been part of a regular reading plan. Indeed I wondered if it was the Book of Common Prayer reading for the day, which as a Church of England priest he would have been obliged to read. But no: the Morning Prayer readings for 24th May are (or were – this lectionary has now been superseded) 1 Kings 18:1-17 and John 8:31-59 – and for Evening Prayer the rest of 1 Kings 18 and Titus 3.
It was a well-documented practice of Wesley and his followers. Of course, my main point is that we do something like that through claiming verses and reading devotionals and God seems to bless that despite the absent or erroneous exegesis involved.
OK. But even if Wesley did this, we have no indication here that there was “absent or erroneous exegesis involved”.
Wesley knew his Bible, and would have correctly understood from 1:1 that 2 Peter is indeed addressed to him as a Christian. (OK, I know there are those who would argue that he was not a true Christian until that evening, but in that case why are we using a non-Christian’s exegesis as a whipping stick?) So he was quite correct to apply the promises in 1:4 to himself.
Obviously “Thou art not far from the kingdom of God” (Mark 12:34?) was not said directly to Wesley, but presumably he recognised in himself the same love for God and his neighbour that the scribe originally addressed had, and so could rightly claim the same position for himself: close to the kingdom of God but maybe not quite there yet.
Surely if Bible interpretation is ever to go beyond an intellectual exercise of exegesis and be applied to lives today, these are the correct principles on which to do that.
John and Charles were fluent in Greek and Latin (they conversed and wrote in both languages), so my hat’s off to their language skills.
Perhaps Alexander’s Sword is a chimera. Wesley is maybe not the right example since I’m specifically wondering about untrained interpretation of the Scriptures.
Alexander’s sword is no chimera. I have seen it wielded in vain at many Christian gatherings, and in many blog posts and comments, for example by people who claim to know the exact meaning of Greek words but know no Greek, just the glosses in Strongs. I just don’t think Wesley is a good example.
[...] Exegetical Sketches: Alexander’s Sword in action: Douglas has been doing an experiment in bibliomancy inspired by this post. [...]