Instructions for Reading this Series
Preparation for reading: Before starting each reading, remember to pray to God, our Creator, asking him to guide you into all truth and to help you understand his Word.
“Call to me, and I will answer you, and I will show you great and inaccessible things that you have not known.” (Jeremiah 33:3)
Making long chapters easier to read: For didactic reasons, each long post has been divided into smaller sections so that the reader will not be overwhelmed by receiving too much information at once. It is advisable for readers to pause at the end of each section to digest what they have read, reflect, and pray.
At the same time, in order not to lose the train of thought, avoid taking long breaks (like a few days) between sections. For example, if possible, try to read the first section in the morning, the second in the afternoon, and the third in the evening. Or you could read the first section in the morning, the second in the evening, and the last in the next morning.
Make sure to read the entire study: This series, along with all the others that will be published on this website, consists of expository studies that analyze the biblical book in its entirety and each verse of it within its context, following the inspired biblical writer’s line of reasoning. Because of this, it is important to read the entire series, in order, from start to finish.
Doing so will help the Bible student understand each part of the biblical book being analyzed within its context and grasp what the biblical writer intended to convey.
Having knowledge of the biblical background: In this series, posts are sometimes included between the main ones to clarify earlier chapters or prepare you for what is coming next. It is important to read these additional posts, as they provide essencial knowledge for understanding the biblical book being analyzed.
For example, the books of Daniel and Revelation reference many other biblical passages and doctrines. A lack of familiarity with these references will certainly prevent a correct understanding of the messages in these biblical books. Therefore, these additional posts ensure everyone, whether new to Christianity or long-time believers, has the necessary background for a correct understanding.
Q&A section: At the end of each post, the reader will find a Q&A section related to the chapter of the biblical book that was studied. These questions are either submitted by readers or sourced from other places.
So, if there are still questions about the chapter, please send them to the following email address: questions@thebloodstainedbanner.org
What to Expect from this Series
Authority of the Bible: The Bible is to be the sole authority in every post. Therefore, quotations that do not refer to the meaning of original words, archaeological data, or historical facts—the interpretative quotations—are included not for the purpose of citing the writer or theologian as authority, but because they afford a ready, clear, and biblical presentation of the subject.
Focus on pertinent topics: Although the production of these materials involves the study of the biblical book verse by verse and word by word, what is presented to the public is not a verse-by-verse commentary. Given the urgency of the present time, as the final pages of this age’s history unfold, there is no time to linger on less pertinent topics or provide unnecessary details about a biblical verse. And we have been commissioned to show the truths for this present time, giving “meat in due season.” Therefore, the Bible commentaries are not strictly verse-by-verse.
Historical sources: Although it may seem that the texts written by historians and quoted in this series are commentaries on the prophecies, they are not. Historians were simply writing about history, and history has been unfolding as prophesied in the Bible.
Where our sources come from: None of the texts quoted in our articles, whether from theologians, archaeologists, linguists, or historians, come from researchers who share the set of teachings extracted from the Bible and presented here. All of our sources come from impartial researchers and scholars.
On Semitic Poetry
Poetry is a very common literary feature in the Bible, so being able to understand it well is very helpful to understand the Bible.
We can find poetic elements even outside the called poetic books (Psalms, Job, Song of Songs, etc). They also appear in long sections of narrative books, prophetic oracles, and also in the works of New Testament writers (not only in their OT quotations but also in their own writings). Understanding the poetic structures found in the Bible will be very important for reading this series, Light in Babylon, as well as for the other series and Bible studies you will find on this website.
For this series, the most relevant aspect of biblical poetry is parallelism.
Synonymous Parallelism
It is easier to understand with an example: “A false witness shall not be acquitted; a breather of lies shall not be delivered.” (Proverbs 19:5)
Simplistically put, the concept is that the second line reinforces or repeats the idea of the first line using different terms: “false witness”/”breather of lies” and “acquitted”/”delivered”. Instead of rhyming sounds, as in usual poetry, parallelism creates a “rhyme” of ideas.
Another example: “Hear this, all peoples; give ear, all inhabitants of the world.” (Psalm 49:1)
And another: “I will sing to Jehovah during my life, I will sing praise to my God while I exist.” (Psalm 104:33)
Parallelism also appears in the New Testament. For example, Jesus said: “for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:30) Another example is: “Love those who are hostile to you, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who insult you” (Luke 6:27-28) Love/do good: This is the Christian love, the agapaō, which is a selfless act of doing good to others and serving them. Jesus is calling you to extend this love even to those who are hostile to you, which are those who hate you. Bless/pray: Ask God to bless and make them happy and prosperous.
Sometimes, parallel terms are not literal synonyms.
Instead, their relationship is symbolic or poetic, while other synonymous terms clarify their intended connection. For example: “Hear the word of Jehovah, you rulers of Sodom, Give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah,” (Isaiah 1:10) Purely synonymous pairs: “hear/”give ear”, “the word”/the law”, “Jehovah”/”our God”. Figurative pairs: “you rulers”/”you people”, “Sodom”/Gomorrah”.
A ruler is not literally the people they govern, and Sodom is a city while Gomorrah is another city (they are not different names for the same place).
Nevertheless, those terms are here put as synonymous.
A ruler is often used as a representative of the people they lead (we will often see this use in the book of Daniel and Revelation), making him that people, and those two cities are frequently paired in Scripture to represent wickedness collectively, as twin cities of sin. Therefore, “you rulers”/”you people” and “Sodom”/”Gomorrah.”
Antonym Parallelism
Parallelism can also use contrasting terms (antonym parallelism): “Better is a little with righteousness than abundance of increase without justice.” (Proverbs 16:8)
Chiasm
There is also the chiasm, when the outer parts of a text correspond, and the central idea forms the focus.
“The sabbath was made for mankind, not mankind for the sabbath” (Mark 2:27) The focus and purpose of the sabbath day is the benefit of human beings. The verse shows that it is for this very reason that God established the Sabbath day and commanded us to keep it.
Another example: “None is able to serve two lords, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to the one and reject the other; you are not able to serve God and Mammon.” (Matthew 6:24) The central point here is the choice of whom to love and devote ourselves. A similar thing involves choosing whom to reject and hate (hatred in the sense of rejection, as also indicated by the parallelism). The fact that we cannot serve two lords at the same time—God and Mammon—is both the introduction and conclusion of the discussion about to whom we will hold and love.
(For more about parallelism and Semitic poetry: The Art of Biblical Poetry by Robert Alter and Introduction to Biblical Interpretation by William W. Klein, Craig L. Blomberg, and Robert L. Hubbard Jr.)
Parallel terms in Bible verses will be color-coded in this series to help readers identify them more easily. Terms with the same or related meanings will share the same color. But eventually, your eyes will become trained, and you will be able to identify parallelisms at a glance in the biblical text. You will not be able to stop noticing them.
Translation Approach
A more literal translation of the biblical text often better captures the biblical author’s intended meaning, aligning with both the immediate context and the broader message of Scripture.
It also preserves the poetry of certain passages and important historical and ethnological data for a more in-depth Bible study that might be lost in dynamic equivalent or free translations. For these reasons, a more literal translation of the biblical text is prioritized in this series whenever possible, even when this approach results in language that sounds unnatural and awkward.
At the same time, a strictly literal approach to translation should not always be used, as it can sometimes lead to meanings that differ entirely from what the biblical author intended.
This is true for modern languages as well: the meanings we attach to many words and expressions in our own languages sometimes differ from their literal definitions, and languages and cultures differ in how they express ideas. To accurately know the intended meaning, the use of the knowledge of linguists and those who have studied the languages in which the Bible was written is important. This knowledge is incorporated into our studies.
