The Word Became Fresh: How to Preach from Old Testament Narrative Texts

About a decade ago one of my former customers encouraged me to read the first of Dale Ralph Davis’ Old Testament commentaries. It was on the Book of Judges, and subsequently, Davis produced commentaries on Joshua, 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings, all of which I acquired and read – usually more than once.

If six commentaries strike you as too much to get going on, then the solution is to check out the book Davis produced in 2006 called The Word Became Fresh: How to Preach from Old Testament Narrative Texts. While this book does focus on preaching the OT, it also gives a clear outline of Davis’ approach to studying the OT, and I believe you’d be hard pressed to find a better overview of OT Bible study anywhere.

This book, like Davis’ commentaries, is very readable and not at all heavy-going. Nor, on the other hand, is it lightweight; while Davis doesn’t have the room here to work in detail, as he does in the commentaries, he still discusses background and structure.

Davis is no slouch: he not only preaches what he writes, but he’s also a full-blown Bible scholar. His footnotes often contain the views of other commentators he disagrees with. While he’s never unpleasant towards these other writers, it’s plain he’s done his homework, and his reasons for saying what he does are valid.

He’s also a great storyteller. Both in this book and in his commentaries he backs up his arguments with stories from the American Civil War, or the Second World War (remember there are a lot of battles in the narratives!), or from his own experience. His own stories, like the rest of his writing, are full of wit and good humour.

He treats the text with great respect. If something is there, he sees it as being there for a good reason. If it’s obscure he’ll do his best to elucidate it, but he won’t speculate just so he can give an answer. Sometimes he admits that the answers aren’t easy for modern readers.

Perhaps his greatest gift is to remember that the Bible is literature. Time and again he clarifies the layout of a section or chapter by looking to see how the writer has planned the story. This is one of Davis’ great skills: to be able to see the structure in the midst of what might appear to be randomness.

A book for preachers, teachers and lay people.

Published by Mentor, a subsidiary of Christian Focus Publishing, UK. £7.99

G-d?

I'm trying to avoid stepping completely out of the boundaries of this blog, but something in several comments another blog jolted me a little, though it's by no means the first time I'd seen it.
This is the use of 'G-d'. For starters, I've no idea how you'd pronounce this, unless you do something akin to a glottal stop in the middle of the normal word.
Thus we have sentences (from several different commenters) like:
G-d certainly has proven his patience with us...all 2000+ years of it.
The only identifier is a sticker on the inside of my car that states "G-d is not a Republican. Or a Democrat." (Sojourners) The only think I think about on a regular basis is "Am I on G-D'S side?" not "Is G-d on MY side?"
As Phyllis Tickle put it so beautifully, "A nation is in the business of doing Caesar's work, not G-d's...

When I queried this usage, by saying, "Are we suddenly afraid to use the word God, or isn't it allowed in these comments? "I received this response:

I find this interesting...apparently the editors of Ur are curious too if they allowed this question to be posted.
No, I use it because I talked to Jews who found my usage of "G o d" to be...hmm, disrespectful to both the deity and to them. The alternate address is G-d, so I have grown use to using the address of G-d to show both my respect for both parties.

Is it me, or this is some kind of Christian PCism gone mad? I can vaguely understand its usage if its offending Jews, but why use it amongst Christians?