Oops, I'm such a dingbat... I mistook Khrys post as being In Christ's second post... sorry gals!
Edit to add: This is a Bible study for women on "Discretion" as found in Proverb 11:22, along with notes on how I did this study.Bible Study by ExampleExample 1: Studying a verse.Motivation:I believe it is important to start any Bible study with the intent to understand what Scripture has to say about any given subject within it's own context and apart from trends, preconceptions, and/or assumptions.
It is incorrect to approach study of anything (i.e. liver function) with the intent of proving a preconceived point. The nature of true study is to leave "I know" behind... and put on "I must learn" as your study motivation.My desire is to understand and learn Proverbs 11:22 in context, as the author intended it to be understood.
Pro 11:22 [As] a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, [so is] a fair woman which is without discretion. ContextThe first thing to establish in your study is your context. One must understand the liver in context of the human body... a liver lying on the street will not yield nearly as much information as a liver functioning inside the human body.The context of Proverbs 11:22:
1) It is in a collection of books written by a peculiar people group, who claimed to have received the laws of God: the Hebrews
2) It is in a book written by a king of the Hebrews.
3) It is written in a time period of the greatest prosperity and blessing this people group had ever known until date.
4) It is in a book of "wisdom" ... divinely given wisdom, if I understand the story correctly.
5) It is in a chapter that repeatedly contrasts the "righteous" and the "wicked", etc...
(note: at this point I skimmed the book of Proverbs (having read it many times before) and then read closely the previous chapter and following chapter, and then read with some scrutiny and intent to find patterns the chapter 11.)
Note Speaker and Audience:This step is very important... especially in doctrinally rich passages. It means to simply identify who is speaking and to whom. Make note of words like "you" "we" "they" "them" "us"... and find out who these person-tags apply to.In this case, I note that the speaker is King Solomon, and the audience is his son, as stated in the beginning of the book:
Pro 1:8 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:and possibly re-indicated in the previous chapter:
Pro 10:1 The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son [is] the heaviness of his mother.Note patterns and significant points in the immediate context:This step is self-explainatory, I think. One thing I might add is that it is very important now to make sure that I do not add content where there is none. I make sure that I don't read anything into the text, or make any assumptions. This includes not ascribing emotion, guilt, thoughts, or actions to the writer, player, or subject of the text. I just take it like it's written.Patterns I found in Proverbs 11 included contrasts between the "righteous" and the "wicked". There were multiple descriptions of what being righteous means, and what being wicked means... I also noticed a pattern of reward mentioned. For the "wicked" group the reward was almost always violent and/or fatal in nature. For the righteous the reward was usual being delivered, preserved, guided...
Sentence StructureNow I progress to analyzing the verse itself. I try to lay aside preconceptions... for instance, I heard this verse taught that the woman is the swine... but try to look at the construction myself:Pro 11:22 [As] a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, [so is] a fair woman which is without discretion. I note here that there are two phrases which parallel one another and thereby "translate" or illustrate each other. This simple observation leads me to understand that
the Jewel of Gold is the Fair Woman, and the Swine's Snout is the Without Discretion.
At this point I start laughing.
Does God have a sense of humor!?
Look Up Key WordsNext, if I want to go further, I look up other usages of "jewel of gold" "swine" "discretion" etc... yes, this can get quite detailed and take more than one day... but it's FUN and life changing, in my experience.
To look up these words I go to www.blueletterbible.org and type in each word or phrase (i.e. discretion) that I want to look at. When I hit "search" the screen shows me all the verses in which the word "discretion" is used. I will also look up "discrete" and probably click on a few verses to see their context. In looking up some of these words I learned that a jewel of gold is a decoration of beauty, and an attraction to the eye. It is a symbol of ownership and love, also wealth and status. I learned that a husband that loves his wife will adorn her with jewelry, as God adorned Israel... and thus make a statement about himself (wealth, goodness, love, power.) Taking off one's jewelry is a symbol of mourning. Paying lovers with your jewelry (given to you by the one that loves you) is the ultimate act of betrayal.
(Sorry, I have not included all the references here... )I learned that swine are the epitome of filth and an object of deep disgust. The demons may prefer to go into swine when cast out of humans.
I noted that discretion is also mentioned in Titus 2 as being one of the things the older women are to teach the younger women to do/put on. That it seems to be a active and audible form of wisdom... not being foolish in word and deed.
This is the funnest part of the study for me... I learn so much while looking up these key words, and reading the other places they occur in Scripture.
By doing this I define each word according the the Bible itself. In this way, I know what the "doctor" means when he says "your liver is enlarged" rather than what Webster meant when he said "your liver is enlarged." They might both have the same understanding... but they might not. I'd rather get the doctor's definition, since he's the one diagnosing and curing me.... KWIM?Writing down my SummaryBy now I have some definite ideas, convictions, desires, etc... about the verse I just studied. It is important to put those thoughts down in writing for three reasons: 1) you can read them/teach them later 2) it helps to commit them to heart and memory, 3) Unanswered questions will come up, leading to the next study.Summary of Proverbs 11:22God has made me like a jewel of gold. I am meant to be a thing of beauty and attraction. I am a sign of his wealth and power and goodness. (Am I an adorning for Him? I belong to Him... must study this...) For me to be unwise in my words and actions is like putting myself in a context that is utterly disgusting, and overwhelmingly foul. It makes me hard to look at, impossible to appreciate, and rather ludicrous to boot. What in the world is that beautiful gold ring doing in a nasty swine's snout? I remember my neighbor's pig killing a snake, and then rooting around in the dirt to eat it. The pig's snout was covered with blood, dirt, and snot. I will NEVER be indiscreet again, so help me God!
The End.
Later, I hope to show an example of the study of a passage, and then, a book. Possibly Titus 2, and then the book of Esther. But maybe others will have studies to offer as well, along with their how-to notes? If you read the whole thing.... thanks!
Beka
Credit where it's due: I learned a lot of the above study techniques from my father, Michael Pearl, who gave me my first concordance and showed me how to use it. I learned some of these methods from my husband, Gabe who taught me by example...and NEVER lets me make assumptions.
The "speaker and audience" method I learned from basething who writes about Bible study in his Ephesian's document.
