What Is Midrash?: Midrash Bible Studies, #0

By Raymond Creed

This piece explore the nature of Midrash Bible hermeneutics as used by Jesus and the Apostles. It argues that a restoration of this type of bible interpretation is essential for the welfare of today's church. Provided are the means to unlock God's Word.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raymond Creed
• Release date: Jan 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393504443

Raymond Creed

Published Under the Pen Name of Raymond Creed On Lulu Publications Facing the Unthinkable (2010) (What the Jewish People May Feel When They Find their True Messiah) The 52 Attributes of God (2011) (A Bible-Based Analysis of the Attributes of God – With Particular Reference to the Relationship between Divine Holiness and Divine Love) The Leeds Liturgy (2010) (A Prayer Book enabling Christians to ‘Worship God in Spirit and in Truth’) The Phantom Conflict (2010) (Bible teaching on the relationship between divine holiness and divine love in connection with Christian idolatry and the need for a balanced Christian life) Reaching Across the Chasm (2019) (An Unlikely Dialogue between a Male Religious Conservative and a Christian Lesbian Writer) Ancient Passions (2020) (Exploring the Spiritual Crisis of our Time) How I Became  Christian Regarding becoming Christian I was: - 1. Led by the Revd Richard Bolt to ask Jesus Christ into my life at a boys’ camp in Croyde North Devon, during August 1968 (and in late August 1969 and 1970 because I lacked assurance) 2. Finally re-born through receiving a direct vision of Christ at a Student Christian Union meeting (held in a student flat in Newcastle upon Tyne) on Saturday, 18th October 1975 (around 8.00p.m) 3. Baptized in the Holy Spirit at a prayer meeting on Thursday, 27th November 1975 (began to pray with tongues the following Monday evening) 4. Given a full immersion (Trinitarian) water baptism on the evening of Sunday, 5th September 1976.

Book preview

Section 1: Creed and Deed

This study will begin with a simple proverb devised by the writer:

No purity of doctrine means no purity of lifestyle and

The absence of right belief means the absence of right practice

Put simply, this proverb implies; ‘no correct Creed means no correct deed.’ The doctrine of any true Messianic faith cannot be severed from their practical outworking. Faith and works are all part of the same package. To fully appreciate this, it is necessary to understand exactly what Scripture is saying. And it is here that three awkward questions arise: -

1) "How is Scripture to be accurately interpreted?"

2) "How is it to be interpreted in such a way as to be free from all distorting cultural influences?"

3) "How can it to be interpreted in a manner that both honour’s the Lord and his teaching as handed down by his Apostles?"

In order to answer such questions it would prove useful to ask one more, namely; What is Midrash? The answer lies in the definition of the term ‘Midrash’ itself and also in its origins within Scripture. A list showing the various forms of Midrash as used by the Biblical writers would also prove useful.

Briefly, ‘Midrash’ refers to those methods of Bible interpretation employed by Jesus and the Apostles during the first century AD. It is derived from the Hebrew word ‘Daresh,’ meaning ‘to launch a thorough investigation’ or ‘inquisitorial enquiry into something.’ It also has strong associations with such verbs as ‘to interpret’ or ‘to seek.’ Also present are connotations with the word ‘urgency.’ The meaning of a passage is sought out in a mood of urgency rather than of casual interest. This is because Scripture itself is the very word of God. Consequently, Midrash simply means an urgent but rigorous, investigative interpretation into Divine revelation. As a discipline it is underpinned by the assumption that any investigation into God’s word could well be a matter of life or death. If the results of that investigation are faulty, then the consequences could be truly devastating at the individual and wider corporate level.

However, the employment of the word ‘Daresh’ in 2 Chronicle’s 13:22 and 24:27 also indicates its association with the concept of ‘story.’ Such a story may either be factual, (a record of historical events) or parabolic, (designed to illustrate a Biblical truth). Grasping either aspect is important because provides the key to seeing Scripture through First Century Jewish eyes. It certainly enables God’s word to be interpreted in a more full and correct way.

Another noteworthy point is that, as a discipline, Midrash grew in complexity over the centuries. This meant that the Midrashic methods employed by a medieval Rabbi would not necessarily have been those of the First Century. This is because the Medieval Rabbi would have had to consider new challenges to his faith (most notably the presence of Christianity and Islam). Also Jewish scholarship itself continued to develop over the centuries and was responsive to fresh cultural influences (one of these being the rise of Cabalistic mysticism in the Jewish communities of medieval Spain). Interesting though such developments are, little can be said about them here for reasons of space.