Toward an Exegetical Theology

Biblical Exegesis for Preaching and Teaching

Walter C. Kaiser Jr.

Baker Academic

Grand Rapids, Michigan

© 1981 by Walter C. Kaiser Jr.

Published by Baker Academic

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakeracademic.com

First paperback edition published 1998

Eighth printing, June 2007

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kaiser, Walter C.

Toward an exegetical theology : biblical exegesis for preaching and teaching / Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.

p. cm.

Originally published: Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, c1981.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN 10: 0-8010-2197-9 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-8010-2197-8 (pbk.)

1. Bible—Hermeneutics. 2. Bible—Homiletical use. I. Title.

BS476.K34 1998

220.6′01—dc21 98-7585

To all God’s choice servants who minister His Word to His Church and who, under God, pledge themselves to end the famine of the hearing of the whole counsel of God

And especially to Dr. Merrill C. Tenney the one under whom I first learned the analytical method of exegesis and who instilled in me an insatiable love for the Scriptures and the idea of applying the rudiments of this method to Hebrew

Preface

In 1742 John Albert Bengel observed: “Scripture is the foundation of the Church: the Church is the guardian of Scripture. When the Church is in strong health, the light of Scripture shines bright; when the Church is sick, Scripture is corroded by neglect; and thus it happens, that the outward form of Scripture and that of the Church, usually seem to exhibit simultaneously either health or else sickness; and as a rule the way in which Scripture is being treated is in exact correspondence with the condition of the Church.”1 After more than two centuries we can affirm the validity of Bengel’s warning. The Church and the Scripture stand or fall together. Either the Church will be nourished and strengthened by the bold proclamation of her Biblical texts or her health will be severely impaired.

It is no secret that Christ’s Church is not at all in good health in many places of the world. She has been languishing because she has been fed, as the current line has it, “junk food”; all kinds of artificial preservatives and all sorts of unnatural substitutes have been served up to her. As a result, theological and Biblical malnutrition has afflicted the very generation that has taken such giant steps to make sure its physical health is not damaged by using foods or products that are carcinogenic or otherwise harmful to their physical bodies. Simultaneously a worldwide spiritual famine resulting from the absence of any genuine publication of the Word of God (Amos 8:11) ...