way, as though its purpose is simply to present us with interesting historical background information. We relate to the original context in at least two basic ways. Firstly, because the biggest picture of the Bible is that God is preaching himself to us, we recognise that everything the unchanging Lord reveals of his nature and character in the Old Testament text is still true for us as its twenty-first century readers. Secondly, because human nature does not change, we can only too easily see ourselves