"Exhort" is defined by the Webster's New World Dictionary as "to urge earnestly by advice, warning, etc. to do what is proper or required." A great deal of the Bible contains exhortation. Therefore, if interpreters are going to hear God speak through the Bible it is necessary that they understand biblical exhortation and how exhortation works to communicate a message.
In Ears to Hear: A Guide for the Interpretation of the Bible I provide principles, methods, and procedures for Christians and ministers as they seek to hear God speak through the Bible and communicate the message of the Bible to those who need a word from God. In Ears to Hear I identify different perspectives for examining biblical passages including text and translation, situation and purpose, literary context and role, form and function, strategy and structure, and message. One of the most fruitful of these perspectives is form and function. Form refers to the specific type of literature in which the passage is composed. Function refers to the way in which the particular form works to communicate a message. Understanding the form and function of a passage is essential for understanding its message.
Though the forms of the Bible are diverse, most of them can be categorized generally as either historical narrative or exhortation. In a previous volume I supplement Ears to Hear by examining the use of historical narrative in the Bible and providing a simple approach for interpreting biblical historical narrative. In this volume I supplement Ears to Hear by examining exhortation in the Bible and providing a simple approach to interpreting biblical exhortation. The first chapter contains an examination of the use of exhortation in the Bible and simple approach for interpreting biblical exhortation. Subsequent chapters contain my interpretations of a variety of exhortations from both the Old and New Testaments.