Bible Patterns - Aural Patterns of Seven

My most recent reading is for my Old Testament class. The book is all about the literary structures of the Old Testament. Some of the initial insights from the book include the following:

1. The Hebrew Bible was meant to be listened to, not read silently. The patterns are aural markers, no titles or other print oriented clues.

2. The Hebrew Bible has patterns of seven. Seven does not hit me as an easy number of things to remember. However, in one of my telecommunications class, Doug Kerr mentioned that a lot of research was done by the Ma Bell to determine how many numbers a person could remember. Guess what, 555-1212 is structured the way it is because seven is an optimal number for memory.

3. Repetition was considered a good thing. The author I'm reading compares the repetition in stories like "the Three Little Pigs", and the old TV show "Dragnet" as examples in our own culture of lots of repetition.

I plan on writing a review on the book after I finish.

HELP SOLICITED

I'm also planning on writing a quiz on what kind of Bible reader are you. Any suggestions on types of readers are welcome. Initial categories are devotional reader, scholar, mystic, and prophecy maven.

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7:01 AM
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