Why Should We Study Context In The Bible?

“The wicked return to the grave, all the nations that forget God. But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish.” Psalm 9:17-18 NIV 1984

    What a lovely sentiment, that the wicked will simply end but God always helps the afflicted. Hope is always there for the people who call on God for help.

    Psalm 9 is another plea King David had for God to rescue him from his enemies, complete with the absolute certainty that God will deliver him and destroy his enemies. I find it interesting how context is key in the Bible. I’m no Bible expert, I’m only starting to really dig into the deeper stuff in the Bible, the meaning behind words, but reading the full chapter is a bit different from understanding the wording of individual verses. Individually, the verses in this chapter are beautiful visions of God’s power and vengeance, but taken as a whole, this psalm is buttering God up before a plea for vengeance against David’s enemy. With all the times David needed God’s help, both as an individual who made mistakes and as a king praying for his fickle people, David obviously had to mix up his pleas for help. No one likes hearing the same request time after time, but this chapter is more about how God can help David than a humble plea from a supplicant.

    Psalm 8 is similar. It’s a gorgeous poem about how gorgeous God’s creation is, except for that one verse. The literal translation of Psalm 8:5 is so blunt and seems so out of context that it can change the understanding of the lovely chapter. I decided to go with the beautiful NIV translation, but my EHV translation of the Bible seems to have turned a gorgeous psalm into a much more sad interpretation of the other verses to fit in a different translation of verse 5.

   
Why don’t you try it? Think of a favorite Bible verse you love or one you see on wall hangings a lot and read the full chapter that verse is found in. Verses such as Jeremiah 29:11 in context are just as hopeful in context as they are individually, but some actually mean slightly different from what the individual verse implies.