The Living Word (Lesson 13)

Understanding the Prophets

The difficulties involved in arriving at a certain understanding of the writings of the prophets are more obvious and numerous than perhaps in any other biblical genre. These difficulties have long been recognized even by some of the most respected interpreters of scripture throughout history. For instance, Martin Luther once observed that, “They have a queer way of talking, like people who, instead of proceeding in an orderly manner, ramble off from one thing to the next, so that you cannot make head or tail of them or see what they are getting at.” Klein, Bomberg, and Hubbard, in An Introduction to Biblical Interpretation, recognize that, “[Readers] may find it difficult to decide when one message ends and the next begins…Many prophetic messages also strike them as hopelessly obscure. What is one to make, they wonder, of all those spooky creatures flying or crawling all over the earth?” These questions pose real difficulties. In the prophets, more perhaps than any other genre, a great deal of labor is necessary to make sense of what is being said. However, the task is not hopeless: God inspired the prophetic portions of the bible for our edification, and he included in scripture the necessary foundations to understand them and benefit from them. Recognizing some key foundational principles of the prophets will greatly aid us in understanding their message.

The prophets enforce and apply the law and covenants.

The prophets did not come up with a new, strange theology or way of looking at the world. Everything in the prophets’ message is there to some degree in the foundational work of the Pentateuch and other Old Testament writings. The prophets may become more specific in relating the message of the law and covenants to the people, but there is nothing brand new in their prophecies. When the prophets denounced the sins of the people and pronounced coming judgment, they did so in strict accordance with the blessings and cursings of faithfulness or unfaithfulness to the covenant as recorded especially in Leviticus 26:1-39; Deuteronomy 4:15-40; and Deuteronomy 28. Understanding these passages will give us the necessary foundations for understanding the writings of the prophets. Involved in this application of law and covenant is both the cursing prophesied for unfaithfulness, and the mercy promised in spite of that unfaithfulness, because of the unconditional character of the covenant God established. Leviticus 26, in particular, emphasizes both these elements that are found so often in the prophets.

  1. Application of law and covenant to Israel

    • Israel is cursed for violating the law.

      Virtually every commandment given in the Pentateuch is used by the prophets to condemn and accuse the wickedness of Israel, and to pronounce coming judgment. Many prophecies refer to specific commandments which Israel had broken; for example, Hosea 4:2,3, which specifically refers to the third, ninth, sixth, eighth, and seventh commandments, and pronounces judgment on that basis. On the other hand, some passages refer to the law as a whole, and pronounce judgment because of a wholesale violation of all the commandments Hos. 8:12,13.

    • Israel is given hope because of God’s gracious covenant.

      The prophets do not end with a message of cursing, promised as a retribution for unfaithfulness from the time of Moses. Their prophecies are also full of unconditional promises of hope, made on the basis of every covenant God had established. Some prophecies of hope even allude to many covenants in the same context, such as Ezekiel 37:24-26.

  2. Application of law and covenant to Gentiles

    • The prophets contain many denunciations of Gentile nations, but these are not specifically related to the law which was given to Israel. Instead, they are usually condemned for pride, idolatry, and violence Is. 16:6,7; 19:1; Amos 2:1; more particularly, they are often condemned for their mistreatment of God’s people Jer. 50:17,18.

    • The prophets give much hope to the Gentile nations, on the basis of the New Covenant, which will turn the Gentiles into true Israel, the people of God’s favor Is. 66:19-22; Amos 9:11,12.

  3. Application of law and covenant to Christ

    • Christ would vicariously bear the curses of the law Is. 53

    • Christ would usher in all the covenant blessings Is. 55:3-5

The prophets emphasize the exile and restoration of Israel.

Central to understanding the message of the prophets is the idea of an understanding of the exile (based on unfaithfulness to the law) and the restoration (based on God’s continuing covenant of grace). The judgment of the exile is extreme, even to the point of God’s casting off his people so thoroughly that they become “not my people”Hos. 1:6-10. But the promise of the return is also extreme, so that those who were called “not my people” shall be called “my people.” This restoration of true Israel, involves God’s creating a people for himself from every nation, just as Paul interprets this passage from Hosea in Romans 9. Hence, the promise of restoration extends beyond what happened when Cyrus sent the exiles of Israel back to Jerusalem. This was merely a type and a foretaste of the massive restoration that was yet to come in the time of Christ.

The prophets clearly demonstrate the centrality of Christ.

  1. Christ is the consummation of the prophets Deut. 18:15; Acts 3:19-23.

  2. Christ is the consummation of the prophecies.

    • With regard to the curses of the law and the blessings of the covenant

      The clear message of the prophets is that the law had been broken, and this demanded God’s promised curse; but that the Lord had sworn with an unchangeable oath to be merciful to the seed of Abraham, to the house of David, and to his throne in Jerusalem. The many prophecies of the Christ answer perfectly to both these concerns: Christ is prophesied both to suffer a substitutionary death for the curses of the law and the transgressions of his people Is. 53:4,5; and he is prophesied to bring the blessings of all the covenants, reigning on the throne of David, and being God with us, the heart of all the covenant blessings Is. 9:6,7; Ez. 34:29,30.

    • With regard to the coming exile and restoration

      We can best understand the exile/restoration motif of the prophets when we view the work of the coming Christ in those same terms. God would reject his people. But this rejection, extreme as it is, could never be sufficient to placate God’s wrath against sin, and usher in a restoration of mercy. However, there are prophecies of a coming Messiah, who would likewise undergo rejection and exile. Because of his perfect righteousness, he would be a sufficient sacrifice to placate God’s wrath and purchase his mercy so that an undeserving people would know the restoration of his grace. In other words, “The very process that the elect nation must undergo in exile and restoration finds its personalized expression in the sufferings and exaltation of this distinctive servant of the Lord.” (O. Palmer Robertson). Not only would Christ suffer exile, being “stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted;” he would also be “exalted and extolled, and lifted very high” (Is. 52:13;53:4). And not only would he win a glorious restoration for himself, but he would likewise purchase a worldwide restoration, that would affect the remnant of Israel, and all the nations, and even the very earth itself Jer. 50:20; Joel 2:32; Is. 65:17-19. In light of the massive implications of the prophesied restoration, it becomes clear that, “Reconstitution of Israel in the land that underscores Jewish nationalism and builds walls of separation between them and the Gentile peoples cannot possibly qualify as the restoration depicted in the writings of the prophets” (O. Palmer Robertson).

Symbolism and Prediction in prophecy

The obvious symbolism and figurative language of the prophets may seem somewhat daunting, but if we keep the previous principles in mind, we will be much better equipped to deal with the many figurative predictive prophecies contained in the prophets. In particular, we should keep two principles in mind as we approach these portions of scripture.

  1. Let symbolism be symbolism.

    The prophets contain much of symbolism and figurative language. Much of it is clearly explained as such, for instance the prophesies of the strange creatures that Daniel saw, which the Lord declared were representations of coming world powers. In the same spirit, we should allow for symbolism even in those prophecies which do not have explicit interpretations of their figurative nature. The locusts that have horses’ heads and women’s hair in Revelation 9 are probably never going to appear literally as the weird beasts John saw. Instead, they represent in some way the trials that God is bringing to judge the earth in the end times. A refusal to let symbolism be symbolism may bring serious problems to the interpreter, even causing him to deny the nature of true Israel, as the New Testament clearly teaches (e.g. Rm. 9, Eph. 2,3, Gal. 3,4, 1 Pt. 2, Acts 15, etc.). Or perhaps causing him to look for a God-ordained return to the sacrificial system, which the author of Hebrews denounces as a blasphemy to the perfect sacrifice of Christ. Ezekiel 40-48 describes in detail the coming temple of the Lord, with all its sacrificial systems, that has never been literally fulfilled in its massive proportions (covering hundreds of square miles). Instead of looking for some literal future fulfillment, we should understand what Christ said about his body being the temple of God, in which God himself dwells among mankind; as well, the New Testament teaching of the church as the temple of God, which extends throughout all the world (in accordance with Ezekial’s prophecy of a massive, world-filling temple). In this temple, God’s people, his kingdom of priests (1 Pt. 2) offer the spiritual sacrifices of thanksgiving and well-doing (Hb. 13). This is a beautiful fulfillment of the vision Ezekiel saw of a coming massive temple, full of priests and sacrifices.

  2. Let the main point be the main point.

    Much of predictive prophecy is intentionally obscure, so that the readers could have a general understanding of God’s eternal purposes in Christ, then look back after the fulfillment to see how beautifully the obscure prophecies were fulfilled. When Daniel saw a vision of the coming kingdom of Greece as a he-goat with one massive horn who moved so quickly that his feet never touched the earth, later readers could look back and see how perfectly that was fulfilled in Alexander the Great, a single, immensely powerful leader, who conquered the known world with almost unfathomable swiftness. Similarly, when all the prophecies of Revelation are fulfilled, we will be able to look back on history and see how perfectly they were accomplished. In the meantime, we should not get bogged down with postulating precise sequences and events of history, and miss the main point that in the end God will pour out wrath on the earth; Satan and his kingdom will fight furiously against Christ; and Christ will gloriously triumph, and secure the worship of his people in unity and adoration for ever and ever.

Study Questions:

  1. Do a study of Ezekiel 17. What symbolism is used? What are the main points of the figures of speech being employed? How does an understanding of the history involved clarify Ezekiel’s meaning (cf. 2 Kings 24:15-20; 2 Chronicles 36:10-13; Jeremiah 37:1-8)? How does this prophecy relate to law and covenant? To exile and restoration? What does it tell us of Christ?

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