Last night I went to hear a Jewish speaker who discussed three ways to read the Bible.  As an example, he spoke on the 37th chapter of Genesis.  The story of Joseph's brothers selling him.

He said that the first way was to read the Bible was as literature.  It is interesting as a story in itself.  He took the subject of the hate that Joseph's ten brothers had for him--enough to want him dead--and expounded on how that came about.  Going all the way back to Jacob loving Rachael more that Leah and how that made the 10 brothers feel--and other incidents that led up to this story.  (There were 12 brothers, but Benjamin, the only full brother to Joseph, wasn't there for this incident.)

The second way to read it is devotionally.  What is the meaning of the story that God wants us to discover?  On this, the speaker told of the dreams that Joseph had, and how many many years passed before they were fulfilled.  Joseph was a brat, and had lessons to learn.  He was thrown into a well by his brothers, traded to passing strangers, and taken to Egypt to be enslaved.  Through everything that happened to him, he learned that God was in control of his life, and had a plan that was bigger than Joseph's life.

The third way that the speaker discussed was historically.  He noted the differences in the story as it unfolded and the historical implications of those differences to people who read the Bible as a historical document.  In one place it says that Joseph was sold to the Midianites.  In another it says he was sold to the Ishmaelites.  Perhaps that was because there were two written accounts that were fused.  Perhaps the Midianites sold him to the Ishmaelites, who sold him to Egypt?  But as you look at the Bible as a historical account, you don't always get an answer to the particular question you may have--because sometimes, things aren't explained in full.

The only thing I know for sure is that the Bible is the inspired Word of God.  He speaks to us when we read it.  In Hebrews 10:7, the writer says: "...Lo, I come in the volume of the book.  It is written of Me..." He is quoting Psalms 40:7.  Whether you are a Jew, or a Gentile, God comes through his written word.  As literature, devotion, or history.  It is all true.  Christ is the Messiah.