Set dressing is cultural context. Add to that linguistic difficulties, ironing those out not in English but getting a better gist of what the original language is trying to convey which can be done without having to learn the actual language
and you've got most of Scriptural understanding. This is why it's good to caution against reading the whole Bible through for the first time by beginning in Genesis and just going to the end. If you start in John and go to the end you encounter a much more confined "set dressing," and at least the language functions somewhat like our own.
Set dressing is cultural context. Add to that linguistic difficulties, ironing those out not in English but getting a better gist of what the original language is trying to convey which can be done without having to learn the actual language
and you've got most of Scriptural understanding. This is why it's good to caution against reading the whole Bible through for the first time by beginning in Genesis and just going to the end. If you start in John and go to the end you encounter a much more confined "set dressing," and at least the language functions somewhat like our own.
From there, the OT is much more approachable.