One conviction underlying this book is that hermeneutics and doctrine need not be opposed in helping us to read well. What follows is intended as an exercise in leading the reader into some of the specific issues that arise when reading the Bible. These are issues that arise not out of the sheer ingenuity of the reader looking for something novel to talk about, but out of the text itself. In particular, they emerge out of the details and the specifics of the text as those details relate to the big