Dive In: The Audience

The teenagers almost whispered their distress: “In our spare time, we even pulled weeds to help them.”

They had returned from a week-long trip to a different culture, full of love for the children there and also annoyed with the adults who displayed none of the initiative the teens expected.

They couldn’t even pull their own weeds.

That culture did not value landscaping as we do. Their time was better spent carrying soup to the elderly, playing games with the babies, painting vibrant colors on pottery.

In not examining the culture of the people, the teens missed the values of the village. Where they might have seen beauty, they saw laziness.

In examining biblical texts, we must tread carefully. We read through our 21^st century western eyes what was written to ancient eastern people.

Last week, we discussed the author’s intent in writing. Today, we look at the intended audience.

For example, the book of Psalms is a beautiful collection of Hebrew songs. We are certain, however, that an editor gathered many poems and songs into the equivalent of a hymnal, a book to be used in worship.

There are many signs of this editor’s work. Several weeks ago we looked at the beginning of Psalm 23, where David is identified as the author. It’s probable that David did not write that about his own poem, but it was added later by an editor. Editing does not diminish the inspiration of the text. In fact, if we can accept the concept of inspiration in the writing, surely we can embrace inspiration in editing as well.

But this final text of Psalms was probably completed a couple of hundred years before Jesus’ birth. By this time, Jews had been scattered throughout the civilized world. Where once the Hebrews had worshipped as one in the temple, now they had a series of synagogues in the faraway places where they lived.

Once, the priest addressed the people in one place during festivals and ceremonies. Now, many could not return to the temple easily and instead worshipped in many places.

The Psalms were collected to provide instruction in theology and worship in the synagogues.

So the editor of the Psalms brought the poems together in five books which paralleled the five books of Moses (the Torah). In doing that, the editor communicated that this book was like the Torah, a new book to instruct the people. The Torah dealt with the law, the Psalms dealt with God’s nature.

The poems were probably not changed but their purpose was tweaked. They became part of a brilliant teaching effort. The people, many far separated from the temple and its festivals, could still learn about God’s nature – from a book rather than a priest’s lips.

Psalms was copied and distributed to many synagogues. That book helped Jews learn God’s nature and worship him with wisdom.

Knowing the original audience helps us understand the intent of the work.

Once we identify the author’s idea for his intended audience, we can make application to our own life.

When we understand that the purpose of Psalms is to introduce wisdom (notice the scope of Psalm 1 as the foreword to the entire collection), we read the psalms in a new way. We can connect worship and wisdom. If we know God’s nature, we can worship more effectively.

The Psalms were written to help early Jews worship God out of knowledge and understanding. Psalms instructs. We can take the same idea and use it in our own lives.

Part of provenance is identifying the author and the culture. Another part is recognizing the needs of the original audience. How they received the text helps us understand the ideas which may also affect our lives.

We can’t read biblical texts assuming they were written by modern authors to modern audiences. Their setting was different from ours and part of the challenge is to identify that situation.

Meaning is richer when we discover it by looking through the original lens.