Plot in Biblical Narrative
Summary
TLDRThis video from the Bible Project explores the art of reading biblical narratives, emphasizing the importance of understanding the plot and context. It uses the story of Gideon as an example to illustrate how focusing on individual scenes without considering the broader narrative can lead to misinterpretation. The video explains that the true conflict in Gideon's story isn't about discerning God's will but about his struggle to trust God. It encourages viewers to look at each story within the Bible's larger plotline, which builds up to Jesus, highlighting the Bible as a sophisticated literary work.
Takeaways
- đ Narratives in the Bible have characters, settings, and a series of events that form a plot.
- đ Understanding the context of each scene within the larger plot is crucial for interpreting the Bible correctly.
- đ The story of Gideon illustrates how ignoring the plot can lead to a misunderstanding of the message.
- đ The conflict in Gideon's story is not about discerning God's will but about his trust in God despite his flaws.
- đ€ Gideon's character is portrayed as hesitant and fearful, which is a central theme in the narrative.
- đ„ God's response to Gideon's requests for signs reflects a testing of Gideon's faith.
- đȘ The resolution of the conflict comes when Gideon, with a reduced army, trusts in God's plan and achieves victory.
- đ The story of Gideon is part of a larger biblical narrative, the period of the judges, which has its own unified plotline.
- đ The Bible is composed of many smaller stories that fit within their own movements, contributing to the grand plotline leading to Jesus.
- đ The video is part of a series by The Bible Project, aiming to teach how to read the Bible as a sophisticated piece of literature.
Q & A
What are the basic elements of a biblical narrative?
-A biblical narrative typically includes characters in a setting going through a series of events, which are selected and arranged by the author to form the plot.
Why is it important to understand the context of a scene within the larger plot line?
-Understanding the context of a scene within the larger plot line is crucial because it can change the perceived message of the story if ignored, as it provides the necessary background and progression that shapes the narrative's meaning.
What is an example of a biblical narrative that can be misinterpreted without considering the larger plot line?
-The story of Gideon and his request for a sign using a fleece is an example where the conflict and resolution can be misunderstood if one does not consider the broader context of the narrative.
What is the initial setting of the Gideon story?
-The Gideon story begins with Gideon and the Israelites living in fear due to oppression by the Midianites.
Why does Gideon ask for a sign from God using the fleece?
-Gideon asks for a sign from God using the fleece because he is uncertain and wants reassurance that God will help him win the battle against the Midianites.
How does God respond to Gideon's request for a sign?
-God responds to Gideon's request by performing the miracle of making the fleece wet while the ground around it remains dry.
What is the real conflict in the Gideon story according to the larger plot line?
-The real conflict in the Gideon story is not about discerning God's will but rather when Gideon will overcome his skepticism and start trusting God.
How does the resolution of the conflict in Gideon's story unfold?
-The resolution unfolds as Gideon, despite his initial hesitance, gathers an army, which God reduces to 300 men, and uses a strategy involving trumpets and torches to defeat the Midianites.
What is the overarching message of the Gideon story within the context of the Bible?
-The overarching message of the Gideon story is about God's commitment to use flawed individuals to accomplish great things beyond their imagination.
How do the individual stories of the Judges, like Gideon, contribute to the larger biblical narrative?
-The individual stories of the Judges, each with their own internal plotline, contribute to the larger biblical narrative by showing a pattern of flawed leaders through whom God works, culminating in a unified story that leads to Jesus.
What is the significance of understanding the different layers of plot lines in the Bible?
-Understanding the different layers of plot lines in the Bible is significant as it allows readers to appreciate the sophistication of the literature, how smaller plotlines overlap and build tension, and how they are woven together into the grand narrative leading to Jesus.
Outlines
đ Understanding Biblical Narrative
This paragraph introduces the concept of biblical narrative, explaining that it involves characters, settings, and a series of events that make up the plot. The importance of understanding each scene within the larger context of the plot is emphasized, using the story of Gideon as an example. Gideon's request for signs from God is often misunderstood when taken out of context. The paragraph outlines the progression from Gideon's initial fear and skepticism to his eventual trust in God's plan, despite his flaws. It concludes by highlighting the significance of reading individual stories within the broader narrative of the Bible, which is a collection of smaller stories that build up to the grand plotline leading to Jesus.
đ The Bible Project: A Non-Profit Animation Studio
The second paragraph serves as a brief introduction to The Bible Project, a non-profit animation studio that creates videos to help people understand the Bible. It mentions that the studio is crowdfunded, inviting viewers to support their work by visiting their website. This paragraph acts as a call to action for viewers to engage with the project and anticipate future content, such as an upcoming video on biblical characters.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄBiblical Narrative
đĄCharacters
đĄSetting
đĄPlot
đĄConflict
đĄResolution
đĄSign
đĄContext
đĄFlaws
đĄJudges
đĄUnified Plotline
Highlights
Biblical narratives are a fundamental form of literature in the Bible, consisting of characters, settings, and a series of events.
The plot of a narrative is determined by how the author selects and arranges events.
Understanding the context of a scene within the larger plot is crucial for interpreting biblical narratives correctly.
Ignoring the plot context can lead to misinterpretations of the message in biblical stories.
The story of Gideon is used as an example to illustrate the importance of plot context.
Gideon's request for a sign is often misunderstood when taken out of context.
The real conflict in Gideon's story is not about discerning God's will but about his trust in God.
Gideon's character is portrayed as skeptical and fearful, which is crucial for understanding the plot.
God's response to Gideon's requests for signs is part of a larger narrative about trust and divine intervention.
The resolution of Gideon's story involves a small army of 300 men, demonstrating God's use of the weak.
The story of Gideon is part of a larger biblical narrative about flawed leaders called Judges.
Each Judge has an internal plotline that contributes to the overall movement of the biblical story.
The Bible's grand plotline is composed of many smaller stories and movements that build up to Jesus.
Reading the Bible requires attention to different layers of plot to understand each story in context.
The Bible is a sophisticated piece of literature with overlapping plotlines that create tension and unity.
The video is part of an ongoing series by The Bible Project on how to read the Bible.
The Bible Project is a non-profit animation studio that creates educational content about the Bible.
Transcripts
We're learning how to read different types of literature in the Bible and
we're gonna start by talking about biblical narrative,
So narratives in their most basic form have characters in a setting going through a series of events and
how those events are selected and then arranged by an author that's called the plot
A Basic plotline begins with a character in her setting, but then something new or unexpected happens
Causing problems that lead up to some ultimate conflict
Which is then resolved and the character finds herself changed living in a new normal
Now in reading narratives, it's important to understand every scene in the context of its larger plot line
you can make the same story have a totally different message if you ignore where it occurs in the plot
this happens all the time when people read the Bible
Really
Yeah take for example the story about Gideon
There's this well-known scene where Gideon's trying to discern whether God will help him win a battle, and he requests a sign from God
Yeah Gideon lays a wolf fleece on the ground and
asks that in the morning the fleece be wet would do but the ground totally dry and God does it
Now if you look at the scene just by itself, what is the conflict?
How can Gideon know if he'll succeed
and the resolution?
test God ask for a sign and find out ?
Yeah And that's how many people will actually read this story
And it totally misses the point because it's ignoring the larger plotline
Really?
Yeah So let's start from the beginning You'll get the Context
the story begins with Gideon and the Israelites living in fear
Because they're oppressed by an invading people the Midianites
got it
then there's the call to action God Commission's Gideon to defeat the Midianites and save Israel
yeah, this is shaping up to be a good story
but then Gideon is super hesitant
So he asked God to do this magic trick, a sign
So I can know it's really you talking to me and God stoops to his level
He gives him a sign by lighting the fire on an altar
So Gideon's already asked for a sign
And that's not all in the next scene God tells gideon to tear down an altar to another god
But gideon so afraid he does it at night
So, Gideon skeptical and also a bit of a coward
Then we come to the moment where Gideon's about to face the Midianites
And he's still uncertain so he asked for another sign the fleece
He says I want to know if you'll save Israel by my hand
and God gives him that sign
And he's still uncertain so he asked for even one more sign, which is just a variation of the previous sign
Okay, So Gideon's asking for way too many signs
Exactly in the larger context
It's clear the plot conflict is not how can Gideon discern the mysterious will of God?
The real conflict is when will this guy get his act together and start trusting God
Okay, so then what's the resolution
we have to keep reading so Gideon gathers this huge army 30,000 soldiers to fight in the Midianites
and God says no, way too many men he whittles the army down to 300
why would he do that?
Well Gideon's been testing God
so now God returns the favor
He tells Gideon to arm these 300 soldiers with trumpets and torches
And then surround the Midianites at night and make all this noise in the hills
which sounds ridiculous but Gideon does it
and the noise and scares Midianites into this frenzy
They start destroying each other in the dark while gideon looks on safely from the hills
So this story isn't offering the reader tips for discerning God's will
No it's about God's commitment to use weak people with deep flaws
to do more than they could have imagined
Okay, so short scenes like Gideon in the fleece are combined with other scenes making up a larger plot line
And tracing the conflict and resolution through the plot
helps you see the message that the author's trying to get across
Now Gideon's story has been set alongside many other stories
that are also about these flawed often questionable leaders called Judges
and each of these has its own internal plotline, but then all together
They make up a full movement of the biblical story the period of the judges
and that has its own unified plotline
And there are many movements within the story of the Bible
Exactly and all the smaller stories hundreds of them they fit within the context of their own movements
and then these movements together
make up the building blocks of the grand plotline of the whole story of the Bible
So no matter where I'm reading in the Bible
I need to pay attention to these different layers of law so I can read each story in context
Exactly the Bible is such a sophisticated piece of literature and so all these smaller plot lines
keep overlapping building up the tension and
when you back up you can see how they've all been woven together
Into the unified story that leads to Jesus
Hey guys, thanks for watching this video via the Bible project
we hope you enjoyed it. It's an ongoing series on how to read the Bible
and we've got another one on character coming up soon.
We're a non-profit animation studio or crowdfunded,
which means you can help us make the next video check out our website at the Bible project com
thanks
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