A Commentary on Genesis-Malachi by David A. Dorsey reviewed by Dr. Charles E. McLain. Read Review A Bible Handbook to the Acts of the Apostles edited by Mal Couch reviewed by Dr. Charles E. McLain. It may be forgivable for laymen in the pew to be unaware of the differences between biblical and contemporary cultures and the inherent significance of those differences on understanding literary forms and interpreting God's Word. However, such ignorance in the pulpit is without excuse. First, not every culture uses the same structure in formulating communication.
Different cultures have different ways of formulating communication.
And second, without understanding the structure of a communication the meaning of the communication will be, at best, skewed and twisted and, at worst, missed entirely. The result is that we read and interpret God's Word without considering the inherent structuring devices that carried and guided the interpretation of meaning for OT audiences. In this section he discusses overall structure of a composition, repetition, and positions of prominence within structures. In the remainder of the book, Dorsey guides the reader through the application of these principles. Generally, the shorter texts such as Ruth are dealt with in some detail.