BibleProject Classroom

Reading the Bible well requires unlearning and relearning what the text has to say. Jonah is a microcosm of all the beauty, potential, and challenges the Bible represents to its readers. Jonah is more than a children’s story. It’s like a symphony—anyone can sit down and enjoy it, but if you want to learn how it’s composed, there are infinite layers of complexity to explore.

The Hebrew Bible, or the Old Testament, defined reality for Jesus. The story of the Hebrew Bible is fulfilled in Jesus and brings greater understanding to what Jesus did on Earth.

The Hebrew Bible is meditation literature that asks you to give a lifetime of reflection to its meaning. The Hebrew Bible is a diverse collection of literature, but it has been designed into one cohesive story.

The Hebrew Bible is messianic wisdom literature that leads us to understand our need to be rescued by the Messiah, Jesus. In 2 Timothy 3:14-17, "good works" refers to seeking the well-being of our neighbors in the name of Jesus. We need to build a skill set for reading these texts and examine how we talk about the Hebrew Bible with other people.

We’re meeting another mind when we read the Bible, so we have to work hard to make sure we’re not hearing our own voice reflecting back to us.

TaNaK is an acronym for Torah, Nevi'im, and Ketuvim, the three-part design of the Hebrew Bible. Jesus and other Jewish authors spoke about the Hebrew Bible using this three-part design. Torah means "teaching" in Hebrew and includes the same first five books as our English Bibles: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Nevi'im means "prophets" in Hebrew and includes Isaiah through Malachi and begins with Joshua through Kings. Ketuvim means "the writings" in Hebrew and is similar to the poetry section of our English Bibles, but italso includes a few other books such as Ruth and Daniel.

The structure of our modern Bibles does not detract from seeing the Hebrew Bible as foreshadowing Jesus’ rise, fall, and resurrection. Understanding that Jesus read his Bible in the three-part TaNaK structure helps us see what he sees.

The seams of the TaNaK, or the beginnings and endings of the major sections, include repeated words and phrases that show the TaNaK is telling one overarching story of Israel's need for a prophet like Moses and Elijah who will bring life to the nations. The Hebrew Bible is meditation literature (Josh. 1; Ps. 1) designed to foster (1) daily reading and pondering about the meaning of these texts, (2) a future hope in the promised prophet who will herald the messianic Kingdom, and (3) a covenantal way of life that is counter-cultural to prevailing worldsystems.

The Hebrew Bible trains us, through repeated patterns, to expect humans to fail to live up to their divine calling. This repeated pattern shows humanity's need for a divine-human rescuer who will do what only God can do. The incarnation of Jesus is not a surprise twist; it's the only possible solution.

The biblical authors often use words that are meant to recall other parts of Scripture. In this way, one word or image can be loaded with layers of meaning. The scroll of Jonah starts with the Hebrew word for "and." This signals to readers that Jonah has a bigger context and is connected to what came before.