Douglas Stuart

Old Testament Exegesis

"An exegesis is a thorough, analytical study of a biblical passage done so as to arrive at a useful interpretation of the passage... 

To do exegesis properly you have to be something of a generalist. You will quickly become involved with the functions and meanings of words (linguistics); the analysis of literature and speech (philology); theology; history; the transmission of the biblical writings (textual criticism); stylistics, grammar, and vocabulary analysis; and the vaguely defined yet inescapably important area of sociology. 

Natural intuitive skills are helpful but no substitution for the hard work of careful, firsthand research. Exegesis as a process can be quite dull. Its results, fortunately, can often be exciting. 

An exegete must work from many books...and especially should own the ones valuable for methodological and bibliographical guidance... 

1. An introduction to the Old Testament (containing lucid, concrete explanations of OT literary types and divisions, scholarly approaches, book-by-book content and criticism...) 

2. Multipurpose tools for Bible study (providing backgrounds, definitions, and explanations for all sorts of books, methods, sources, and styles in biblical exegesis...) 

3. A handbook of biblical criticism (a collection of definitions. Virtually all the exegetical terms and techniques you may run across...) 

4. Basic tools (an annotated bibliography of the lexicons, texts, grammars, concordances, and other aids used by exgetes...) 

In addition...you ought to have in your library a copy of the Hebrew OT, a Hebrew-based concordance, a Hebrew lexicon, a Hebrew grammar, a comprehensive history of Israel, a Bible dictionary, and a critical commentary series (if possible)... The concordance, history, dictionary, and commentary series are essential even if you don't know Hebrew... 

Without the proper tools, an exegesis can't go very far."