Understanding the Old Testament can be very challenging at times. Here are some helpful guidelines from Scott Duvall and Daniel Hayes:
1. Grasp the text in their town. What did the text mean to the biblical audience?
2. Measure the width of the river to cross. What are the differences between the biblical audience and us?
3. Cross the principilizing bridge. What is the theological principle of this text?
4. Cross into the New Testament. Does the New Testament teaching modify or qualify this principle, and if so, how?
5. Grasp the text in our town. How should individual Christians apply the theological principle in their lives?
See their short book:
and also…