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Understanding Scripture
Mass Market Paperback
Published January 1, 1982
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July 2, 2026
AN EXPANSION OF THEIR EARLIER BOOK
At the time this book was published in 1982, A. Berkeley Mickelsen was professor of New Testament at Bethel Theological Seminary, and Alvera (his wife) was professor of journalism at Bethel College.
They wrote in the Preface, “In 1976 we wrote a volume entitled ‘Better Bible Study’… to help lay people understand the basic principles of interpreting the Bible. Since that time, the need for this type of book has grown with the increasing emphasis on the role of lay people in the church. This volume includes most of the material in ‘Better Bible Study,’ plus a large amount of new material… The book also includes questions for discussion and exercises…. Much of the material in this book is based on ‘Interpreting the Bible’ [Eerdmans, 1963] … That volume has been used primarily as a textbook in seminaries colleges, and … universities. This shorter volume is geared to persons who know little or no Greek or Hebrew…”
They assert, “‘Regulations for people where they were’ dealt with specific situations in a specific time and place and are not necessarily meant to apply to all peoples under all circumstances. The Bible has hundreds of such regulations… For example, Leviticus 19:19 states: ‘...nor shall there come upon you a garment of cloth made of two kinds of stuff…' most of the clothes we wear are made of at least ‘two kinds of stuff’---perhaps a combination of cotton and wool, or linen and polyester, etc. Obviously, we do not believe this regulation has a timeless and universal application. No doubt there was good reason for those regulations being given to the Hebrew people when they came out of Egypt to go to the Promised Land. What that reason was we do not know, but most Christians today are not even aware that such regulations are in the Bible.” (Pg. 26)
They point out, “In the Old Testament books of Kings and Chronicles, the writers often refer to other longer accounts of the lives of the kings. In 2 Kings 15, there are seven references to longer accounts in the ‘Book of Chronicles of the Kings of Israel’ or Judah (2 Ki 15:6, 11-36). This does NOT refer to the 1 and 2 Chronicles in the Bible but to ancient writings that no longer exist. References to the ‘chronicles of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer’ appear in 2 Chronicles 12:15 and in several other places. The ‘book of the acts of Solomon’ is mentioned in 1 Kings 11:41. These were obviously source materials for the writers of the biblical books of 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles.” (Pg. 39)
They explain, “Each of the three languages in which the Bible was originally written---Aramaic, Hebrew, and koine Greek---involves specific problems for the translator. Aramaic was used in almost six chapters of Daniel and in all or parts of four chapters of Ezra and in one verse in Jeremiah (10:11) and one verse in Genesis. The Aramaic language had been dead for many centuries. To understand the meaning of the words and the grammar and sentence structure of this language, translators must depend on ancient secular manuscripts such as the Elephantine Papyri, consisting of letters, contracts and community happenings.” (Pg. 48)
They suggest, “Some predictive prophecies, although referring to one specific event, may have additional applications. For example, Daniel 11 tells about the coming desecration of the Temple [Dan 11:31] … This prophecy was fulfilled in the terrible acts of Antiochus Epiphanes IV (170-168 BC) when he desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem, slaughtered thousands of Jews and finally set up a Geeek altar to Zeus in the place where the altar for burnt offerings had once stood. He succeeded in shutting down Jewish worship for three years. However, Jesus used the Daniel prophecy to refer to a different event when he spoke in Matthew 24:15… Apparently Jesus was then referring to the fall of Jerusalem that would occur in AD 70.” (Pg. 128)
They note, “Those who use the King James Version or the American Standard Version of 1901 or the Living Bible may not be aware of how extensive poetry is in the Old Testament, because the poetic sections are not printed in a form that permits us to recognize them as poetry. The Revised Standard Version, the New International Version and many of the other newer versions do not print poetry as poetry. The following Old Testament books are all or nearly all in poetry: Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Joel, Lamentations, Amos, Obidiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah. Other books have extensive sections of poetry, including Ecclesiastes and Zechariah.” (Pg. 149-150)
This book will be of keen interest to those wanting to go deeper into study of the Bible.
At the time this book was published in 1982, A. Berkeley Mickelsen was professor of New Testament at Bethel Theological Seminary, and Alvera (his wife) was professor of journalism at Bethel College.
They wrote in the Preface, “In 1976 we wrote a volume entitled ‘Better Bible Study’… to help lay people understand the basic principles of interpreting the Bible. Since that time, the need for this type of book has grown with the increasing emphasis on the role of lay people in the church. This volume includes most of the material in ‘Better Bible Study,’ plus a large amount of new material… The book also includes questions for discussion and exercises…. Much of the material in this book is based on ‘Interpreting the Bible’ [Eerdmans, 1963] … That volume has been used primarily as a textbook in seminaries colleges, and … universities. This shorter volume is geared to persons who know little or no Greek or Hebrew…”
They assert, “‘Regulations for people where they were’ dealt with specific situations in a specific time and place and are not necessarily meant to apply to all peoples under all circumstances. The Bible has hundreds of such regulations… For example, Leviticus 19:19 states: ‘...nor shall there come upon you a garment of cloth made of two kinds of stuff…' most of the clothes we wear are made of at least ‘two kinds of stuff’---perhaps a combination of cotton and wool, or linen and polyester, etc. Obviously, we do not believe this regulation has a timeless and universal application. No doubt there was good reason for those regulations being given to the Hebrew people when they came out of Egypt to go to the Promised Land. What that reason was we do not know, but most Christians today are not even aware that such regulations are in the Bible.” (Pg. 26)
They point out, “In the Old Testament books of Kings and Chronicles, the writers often refer to other longer accounts of the lives of the kings. In 2 Kings 15, there are seven references to longer accounts in the ‘Book of Chronicles of the Kings of Israel’ or Judah (2 Ki 15:6, 11-36). This does NOT refer to the 1 and 2 Chronicles in the Bible but to ancient writings that no longer exist. References to the ‘chronicles of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer’ appear in 2 Chronicles 12:15 and in several other places. The ‘book of the acts of Solomon’ is mentioned in 1 Kings 11:41. These were obviously source materials for the writers of the biblical books of 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles.” (Pg. 39)
They explain, “Each of the three languages in which the Bible was originally written---Aramaic, Hebrew, and koine Greek---involves specific problems for the translator. Aramaic was used in almost six chapters of Daniel and in all or parts of four chapters of Ezra and in one verse in Jeremiah (10:11) and one verse in Genesis. The Aramaic language had been dead for many centuries. To understand the meaning of the words and the grammar and sentence structure of this language, translators must depend on ancient secular manuscripts such as the Elephantine Papyri, consisting of letters, contracts and community happenings.” (Pg. 48)
They suggest, “Some predictive prophecies, although referring to one specific event, may have additional applications. For example, Daniel 11 tells about the coming desecration of the Temple [Dan 11:31] … This prophecy was fulfilled in the terrible acts of Antiochus Epiphanes IV (170-168 BC) when he desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem, slaughtered thousands of Jews and finally set up a Geeek altar to Zeus in the place where the altar for burnt offerings had once stood. He succeeded in shutting down Jewish worship for three years. However, Jesus used the Daniel prophecy to refer to a different event when he spoke in Matthew 24:15… Apparently Jesus was then referring to the fall of Jerusalem that would occur in AD 70.” (Pg. 128)
They note, “Those who use the King James Version or the American Standard Version of 1901 or the Living Bible may not be aware of how extensive poetry is in the Old Testament, because the poetic sections are not printed in a form that permits us to recognize them as poetry. The Revised Standard Version, the New International Version and many of the other newer versions do not print poetry as poetry. The following Old Testament books are all or nearly all in poetry: Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Joel, Lamentations, Amos, Obidiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah. Other books have extensive sections of poetry, including Ecclesiastes and Zechariah.” (Pg. 149-150)
This book will be of keen interest to those wanting to go deeper into study of the Bible.
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