Bible Teachers Should Be of At Least Average Intelligence

• Jacob's dreams of stars & wheat were not literal. Stars & sheaves didn't bow to him in real life.
• Pharaoh's dreams of cows & wheat were not literal. Skinny cows didn't really turn canibal by eating fat cows.
• Daniel's dreams & visions of statues & beasts were not literal. Kingdoms aren't literally chimeric beasts & kings are real people, not horns.
• Jeremiah's vision of figs wasn't literal. It was about people, not figs.
• Ezekiel's vision wasn't literally about bones being reassembled & covered in real flesh. It was about the restoration of Israel as a nation.
• Peter's vision wasn't about eating anything. It was about people.
• John's vision of beasts & bowls wasn't about beasts & bowls. It was about kings, nations, calamity, & judgment.

Visions in the Bible are almost never supposed to be interpreted in a hyper-literal sense. Metaphor is the rule, not the exception. This isn't spiritualizing the Bible or explaining away any mysteries. This is just common sense that any reasonably intelligent person should be able to discern for himself.

Anybody who says the earth is square because Revelation 7:1 says there were four angels at the four corners of the earth has no business teaching others about the Bible. It doesn't make him a bad person. It just makes him unqualified to be a teacher. Anybody who says the earth is flat because the Bible seems to say so, but won't go on to say the earth is square, is likewise unqualified to be a teacher. He can't even be honest with himself. How is he supposed to be honest with you?

Update: For more on Common Sense Bible Study see http://jaycarper.com/biblestudy.

Another update: Believing absurd things doesn't necessarily mean someone is unintelligent. I know many very smart people who are simply unable to think clearly about certain topics. 

Past Failures Are No Barrier to Future Success

There's a chiasm in Exodus 6:10-30 centered on the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, and Levi.

When God told Moses to speak to Pharaoh, Moses objected that he was a man of "uncircumcised lips," as if God didn't know what He was doing. God still used him to set His people free from Egypt. Centuries earlier, Reuben, Simeon, and Levi had disqualified themselves from the family role of Firstborn through terrible behavior, yet God still used them to found three of the twelve tribes of Israel. 

It doesn't matter what you've done or said. It doesn't matter what you think you can or can't do. God still has a use for you. There is a place for you in His Kingdom. Don't think so highly of yourself that you could ever do anything to thwart God's plans.

• V10-11 - God told Moses to speak to Pharaoh
• V12 - Moses’ uncircumcised lips
• V13 - God told Moses and Aaron to bring Israel out of Egypt
• V14a - These are the heads of their fathers’ houses
• 14b-25a - The children of Reuben, Simeon, and Levi
• V25b - These are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites
• V26-27 - God told Moses and Aaron to bring Israel out of Egypt
• V28-29 - God told Moses to speak to Pharaoh
• V30 - Moses’ uncircumcised lips

God Never Forgets or Annuls a Covenant

A: V2 - I am YHWH

    B: V3-4 - I made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob to give them the land

        C: V5 - I have heard the people groaning under the Egyptians

            D: V6 - I am YHWH

        C: V6-7 - I will rescue the people from Egypt

    B: V8a - I will fulfill the covenant I made with Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob

A: V8b - I am YHWH

This chiasm in Exodus 6:2-8 demonstrates that God cannot forget or annul a covenant because faithfulness is an inherent aspect of His character. If He is YHWH and He never changes, then He will never forget His covenants.

Even more interestingly--and one of those characteristics of the text, which testifies to its divine origins--is a second chiasm embedded within the second half of the first:

A: V6 – I am YHWH
    B: I will bring you out
        C: I will deliver you from slavery
            D: I will redeem you
                E: V7 – I will take you to be my people
                    F: I will be your God
                E: You will know that I am YHWH your God
            D: Who brought you out of Egypt
        C: V8 – I will bring you into the land
    B: I will give it to you for a possession
A: I am YHWH

A Chiasm in Exodus 4:14-31 Showing the Love of God for Israel

A chiasm in Exodus 4:14-31 that highlights faith, obedience, and God's love for Israel.

V14 – The anger of YHWH against Moses
---V14-16 – Moses and Aaron are to speak to the people
------V17 – Take your staff for the signs
---------V18 – Moses going to Egypt to visit brothers
------------V19 – Go to Egypt. All the men are dead.
---------------V20 – Moses, wife, and sons on the donkey. Messianic reference.
------------------V21 – Speak to Pharaoh. Refusal and consequences.
---------------------V22 – Israel is my firstborn son
------------------V23 – Speak to Pharaoh. Refusal and consequences.
---------------V24 – Moses, wife, and sons at lodging place. Messianic reference.
------------V25 – Foreskin, feet, bridegroom of blood.
---------V27 – Aaron going to wilderness to visit Moses
------V28 – Moses told Aaron about the signs
---V29-30 – Moses and Aaron speak to the people
V31 - YHWH visited and showed mercy on the people who believed.

The Point of Everything Is Restoration

There is a chiasm in Genesis 44-45 centered on Joseph's drawing his brothers near. In this story, Joseph is a figure of Messiah who came to suffer and die so that his brothers might be restored to a right relationship with Him. This is really the whole point of the sacrificial system, the priesthood, the Torah: to bring us close to God.

Why is it all necessary? Why can't God just fix everything to the way he wants it? I don't know. That's above my pay grade.

A: 44:18-23 – Joseph talks with his brothers

    B: 44:24-32 – Jacob holds onto Benjamin (but lets him go)

        C: 44:33-34 – Judah begs to be allowed to stay with Joseph

            D: 45:1 – Joseph sends everyone away from him

                E: 45:2 – Egyptians heard Joseph weeping.

                    F: 45:3 – I am Joseph. My father is alive.

                        G: 45:4 – Come closer.

                    F: 45:4-5 – I am Joseph. God has preserved life.

                E: 45:6 – Famine in Egypt. 

            D: 45:7-8 – God sends Joseph away from Jacob

        C: 45:9-13 – Joseph invites Jacob & company to live with him

    B: 45:14 – Joseph embraces Benjamin

A: 45:15 – Joseph weeps and talks with his brothers