(III) Narrator Point of View of God's Stories -

We know come to the most important step of reading God’s stories. That is to know the Narrator’s point of view.

Many people make the mistake of interpreting the Bible from what they think or see. Since it is the narrator who is telling us God’s stories, we then need to interpret it according to what he is telling us. Usually, he makes it very clear if we follow a few simple rules that he uses to write God’s stories.

The narrator is like a photographer who decides what will and will not be included in a picture, from what distance and angle, with what degree of sharpness and in what light. Just as the nature of a film is dependent on the position of the camera and the way it is operated, the nature of the narrative depends on the point of view from which the events are presented.
-Shimon Bar-Efrat, Narrative Art in the Bible, p 15

Here are the methods the narrator uses to help us understand his point of view of God’s stories as he wrote them:

· Explicitly stating it, e.g. Joseph story (Gen 39:2,3,21,23)
· Comes from one of the character in the story (Gen 50:20)
· Summary statement from the narrative (Gen 2:24,25)
· His comments (2Sam 11:27b)
· Repetitions (1Sam 8:7, 9, 22)
· Slow pace of the story (Gen 32 – story of Jacob, slow down until v 22-32; after this encounter, Jacob is a changed person with a changed name, Gen 33 continue the action)

Let’s illustrate this with a passage that I heard being preached in Bethany PC.

Examples: 1Sam Chapter 8- Israel ask for a king

1 When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges for Israel. 2 The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. 3 But his sons did not walk in his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.

The narrator immediately gives his point of view in the opening of chapter. Then he uses the character to substantiate his point.

4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, "You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have."


The word “so” indicates the elders agree with the narrator. Both the narrator and elders have the same point of view. In other words, the reader should be able to see that the fault of asking for a king is not the elders’ but Samuel’s sons.

To further prove his (narrator’s) point, he now make God speaks 3 times, (verses 7, 9, 21), indicating that the elders of Israel are not at fault.

"Listen to all that the people are saying to you;

By using God as a character to speak up 3 times, the narrator now make is very clear to the reader that his point of view is the same as the elders and as God’s.

The whole point that the narrator is telling his reader is this: When a leader is at fault or sinned or incompetence, he must listen to the follower. He loses the morale authority to lead.

So the next time you read a Bible story, do try to look out for the narrator’s point of view. That way, you will never be swayed by wrong teaching and wrong applications.

To help you understand God’s stories better, I will next talk about the characteristics of Biblical narratives – (1) Scenes & Setting, (2) Characters, (3) Plot & Structure.

Adios.