Lesson 3 | Vocab
How to Land a Conclusion
There is, of course, much to say on the topic of Hebrew hermeneutics—far more than can possibly be contained in a single lesson step! But at the same time, there are a few important things that must be said, like this simple, core principle:
Land on an interpretation based on the words of the text and sound reason.
We don’t want to simply accept a conclusion because a respectable theologian interpreted it that way. Otherwise, why have you learned Hebrew?!
Don’t get me wrong—we certainly should reference commentaries. But the thing that convinces us of an interpretation must not be the famous name behind the commentary notes. A commentator has a reliable interpretation if (and only if) he can show us that interpretation through sound reasoning over the very words of the text.
We also ought not to accept an interpretation simply because it is what we desire the text to mean and our new found Hebrew permits such an interpretation. Humble exegesis does not come to the text to find an interpretation that it permits, but to receive the meaning it possesses.
You’ll find using the text hierarchy method that we introduced in the previous lesson helpful in discovering the meaning a text possesses.
