Despite making up roughly 40 percent of the Old Testament, historical narratives are often a locked box for many evangelicals, including preachers.
The biggest question we need to answer when preaching historical narratives is “what is the meaning of these events?” And given that these narratives often don’t come with explanatory theological commentary, how do we determine the meaning of the event?
Below I’ll discuss ways you shouldn’t preach historical narrative, illustrating each point by primarily looking at 1 Samuel 4–7: the battle of Aphek, the conflict between Dagon and Yahweh, and the battle of Ebenezer. If you haven’t read those chapters in a while, I’d encourage you to give them a look.
1. Don’t create your own version of the story.
Preach the text, not historical backgrounds. Sometimes preachers are more fascinated by their historical reconstruction of the events described in Scripture than by the actual words of Scripture. Describing the landscape of Aphek or postulating why the Philistines chose to attack along a specific route may help our understanding of the text, but emphasize the text. Never let your historical reconstruction overwhelm the story as God told it in Scripture.
2. Don’t isolate it from earlier stories,
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