Necessity of background knowledge

[donfriesen1]

Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world proclaims John Baptist - to Jews.

The caravan traveller with his goods on camels, had he heard, might have said, 'those people aren't going to be taking too many sins away. Sheep can't carry much.'

The aboriginal from the Amazon would say, 'A lamb? What's a lamb?'

Many Gentiles would say, 'What is this all about? Why does a lamb take away sins?'

The Jew of that day instantly knew the reference referred to animal sacrifice, but even they may not have necessarily have connected it with the Passover Lamb.

Christians today instantly associate it to the last Passover Lamb because of background knowledge gained over many years.

This highlights the fact that proper understanding of scripture is dependent on background knowledge.

This is a fact.