1. Are any of the characters, and especially the protagonist, presented in parallel to another biblical character? Are any of the characters reenacting or fulfilling another biblical character? Or do any of these characters get subsequently reenacted or fulfilled by any biblical character?
2. Is there any foreshadowing going on? Is there something present within this story that gets fleshed out or reenacted elsewhere in the Bible?
3. About when was this passage thought to have been written? Which other biblical passages or books happen around this same time period? Do any other passages or books happen in the same place or with the same group of people?
4. Does anywhere else in the Bible reference these stories and/or characters? Are there any parallel passages (eg, Ex 24:8 & Lk 22:20) to these? Is there another biblical text that interacts or interprets this text? Vice versa?
5. How is what we know from the New Testament continuous with what we're getting from these stories?
6. Can we learn anything about this text implicitly and indirectly from what we get out of other biblical texts?