Judaism with its synagogues, rabbis and traditions.  The vast system of Jewish

interpretation that resulted is a separate study in itself, and it is practically impossible to

sum it up adequately. Various schools emerged with opposing ideas. The Karaites were

the literalists and the Kabbalists the allegorists. The Palestinian Jews of post-captivity

days started off well with a literal approach to the Scriptures, but they often failed to put

into practice the rules they laid down. In Kabbalism excessive literalism was allied to

allegorism with grotesque results. They used gematria to endow words with numerical

values which became the basis for interpretation that was absurd or pernicious.

While we believe that certain numbers are used in Scripture with intent, such as 6, 7,

12, 13, 40 and so on, we need to take warning and keep this under control. We have seen

some extraordinary interpretations of Scripture result from those with a mathematical

inclination who have let their minds run riot along these lines.

It has been asserted that the first Protestant school of interpretation commenced at

Antioch of Syria, and had it not been crushed by orthodoxy for its supposed heretical

connection with the Nestorians, the course of church history might have been very

different. It produced such prominent names as Lucian, Dorotheus, Diodorus, Theodore

of Mopsuestia and Chrysostom. This school fought the allegorists and maintained the

importance of the literal and historical interpretation of the Word of God. They insisted

on the reality of Old Testament events, and accused the allegorists of doing away with the

historicity of much of the Old Testament, and leaving behind a shadowy world of

symbols. Their approach to the Bible was Christological, and they rightly blended

together the historic and Messianic elements of the Scriptures. The result was that they

produced some of the finest expository literature of ancient times. R. W. Grant points out

that this school had a great influence in the Middle Ages and became the pillar of the

Reformation and their method the principal exegetical method of the Christian Church.

Another interesting school was that of the Victorines which came into being at the

Abbey of St. Victor in Paris in the medieval period. They likewise stressed the historical

and literal approach to the Scriptures. They insisted that the spiritual sense could not be

properly known until the Scriptures had been literally interpreted.