Charles Spurgeon on How to Read the Bibleনমুনা

Seek out the Spiritual Teaching of the Word

Now, the scribes and Pharisees were all for the letter—the sacrifice, the killing of the bullock, and so on. They overlooked the spiritual meaning of the passage—“I desire mercy and not sacrifice”—namely, that God prefers that we should care for our fellow creatures rather than that we should observe any ceremony of His law, so as to cause hunger or thirst and thereby death to any of the creatures His hands have made. They ought to have passed beyond the outward into the spiritual, and all our readings ought to do the same.

This should be the case when we read the historical passages. “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?” (Matt. 12:3–4). This was a piece of history, and they ought so to have read it as to have found spiritual instruction in it. I have heard very stupid people say, “Well, I do not care to read the historical parts of Scripture.” Beloved friends, you do not know what you are talking about when you say so.

Never, I pray you, depreciate the historical portions of God’s Word, but when you cannot get good out of them, say, “That is my foolish head and my slow heart. O Lord, be pleased to clear my brain and cleanse my soul.” When He answers that prayer, you will feel that every portion of God’s Word is given by inspiration and is and must be profitable to you.

Just the same thing is true with regard to all the ceremonial precepts, because the Savior goes on to say, “Have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?” (Matt. 12:5). There is not a single precept in the old law but has an inner sense and meaning; therefore, do not turn away from Leviticus, or say, “I cannot read these chapters in the books of Exodus and Numbers. They are all about the tribes and their standards, the stations in the wilderness and the halts of the march, the tabernacle and furniture, or about golden knobs and bowls, and boards, and sockets, and precious stones, and blue and scarlet and fine linen.”

No, but look for the inner meaning. Make thorough search. For as in a king’s treasure that which is the most closely locked up and the hardest to come at is the choicest jewel of the treasure, so is it with the Holy Scripture.

Just so, there are choice and precious doctrines of God’s Word that are locked up in such cases as Leviticus or Solomon’s Song, and you cannot get at them without a deal of unlocking of doors, and the Holy Spirit Himself must be with you or else you will never come at the priceless treasure. The higher truths are as choicely hidden away as the precious regalia of princes; therefore search as well as read. Do not be satisfied with a ceremonial precept till you reach its spiritual meaning, for that is true reading. You have not read till you understand the spirit of the matter.