Today, I was reminded of our need to “remain humble” in reading the Bible, and not use it “to seek ammunition for the side of an argument we already stand on,” because we’ll surely find one.
Instead, we must “seek the wisdom that comes when we listen humbly to all the different voices arising in the biblical library.” Brian McLaren, author of We Make the Road by Walking, wrote that this wisdom emerges from the conversation among these voices which he arranges into five broad categories:
- Voices of the priests who emphasize keeping the law, maintaining order, offering sacrifices, and faithfully maintaining traditions and taboos.
- Voices of the prophets, often in tension with the priests, who emphasize social justice, care for the poor, and the condition of the heart.
- Voices of the poets who express the full range of human emotion and opinion—the good, the bad, and the ugly.
- Voices of the sages who, in proverb, essay, and creative fiction, record their theories, observations, questions, and doubts.
And linking them all together are - Voices of the storytellers, each with varying agendas, who try to tell the stories of the people who look back to Abraham as their father, Moses as their liberator, David as their greatest king, and God as their Creator and faithful companion.
And as we hear these voices in agreement or disagreement, may we remain open to where they lead us.
jessa 
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