Gary Millar: Preaching OT Narrative (via St Eutychus)

Gary Millar has returned to the Queensland Theological College with lectures on preaching Old Testament narrative.
Nathan Campbell has been kind enough to post his notes at St. Eutychus.
Nathan’s listed four obstacles and five simple rules.
Here’s one of each to whet your appetite.
Obstacle 3

Genre – we don’t know what to do with stories
We treat all these stories like they’re one of Paul’s epistles. The problem is that often OT Narrative is one story – like the book of Ruth – not a series of messages. But when we’re preaching the narrative we break it up into pieces. Chapter 1 of Ruth becomes a story about sad women. Which has nothing to do with the point of the book, which at the end of the book is about preparing for the coming of a Messiah.

Simple Rule 1

Read what it says, not what you always thought it said.
Example – Daniel 1 – is really not about vegetables. They have a purpose in this story, but they aren’t the purpose. Daniel 1 is about setting up Daniel in the king’s court.

Simone Richardson has also posted a brief observation as well, which has drawn a couple of droll comments.