He Gave Us Prophets: Literary Analysis of Prophecy

Dear Church Family,

In our continuing Sunday school lessons using a video curriculum and discussion format entitled, “He Gave Us Prophets,” the eight lessons in this series are as follows:

1. Essential Hermeneutical Perspectives
2. A Prophet’s Job
3. People of the Covenant
4. Dynamics of the Covenant
5. Historical Analysis of Prophecy
6. Literary Analysis of the Prophets
7. The Purpose of Predictions
8. Unfolding Eschatology

Literary Analysis of Prophecy

In this sixth lesson, we examined the three different types of genre that we find in the prophetic writing of the Old Testament.

1. Historical Narratives

Old Testament prophecies contain basically two types of narratives: biography (e.g., Daniel 1-6) and autobiography (e.g., Daniel 7-12). In these narratives of biography or autobiography, we find four different types of content:

(a) prophetic calls (reports of times when God called and commissioned prophets to speak for him, e.g., Jeremiah 1, Ezekiel 2);

(b) symbolic actions (actions or activities which symbolically communicated their prophetic messages, e.g., Jeremiah 13 – burying a linen belt, Jeremiah 19 – burying a clay jar, and Jeremiah 32 – buying land and keeping the deed safe);

(c) vision reports (passages where the prophet describes a visual encounter with God, e.g., Amos 7:1-9);

(d) historical backgrounds (e.g., Isaiah 7-8).

2. Communication with God

In addition to historical narratives, the prophets record prayers or communications with God. These prayers usually take the form of either prayers of lament or prayers of praise. In prayers of lament, the prophets would pray to the Lord lamenting over the sins of the people (e.g., Habakkuk 1:2-4) and lamenting over the judgment of God (e.g., Habakkuk 1:13). In prayers of praise, the prophets would pray to the Lord praising Him for His righteous judgment (e.g., Habakkuk 3:11-12) and praising Him for His merciful blessings (e.g., Habakkuk 3:13).

3. Communications with People

Of course, the prophets also necessarily communicated with people. These communications with people included speeches of judgment, speeches of blessing, and speeches that were a mixture of the two.

Speeches of judgment came in the form of judgment oracles (which contained accusations and judgments, e.g., Amos 4:1-3), woe oracles (judgment oracles which begin with an expression of woe, e.g., Isaiah 5:8-10), and lawsuits (legal proceedings which took place in the heavenly court of Yahweh, the great King, e.g., Micah 1-16).

Speeches of blessing came in the form of judgments (against the enemies of God’s people, e.g., Nahum 3:1) and oracles of blessing (for the people of God, e.g., Jeremiah 33:31-34; 35:18-19).

Finally, mixed speeches included judgment-salvation oracles (in which judgment is threatened against some and blessings are offered to others, e.g., Isaiah 57:14-21), calls to repentance (e.g., Isaiah 55:6-13), calls to war (e.g., Hosea 5:8-11), prophetic disputations (in which prophets entered into arguments with other prophets, e.g., Micah 2:6-11), and parables (e.g., Isaiah 5:1-7).

Dependence on Moses

In a previous lesson on the dynamics of the covenant, we learned of how the prophets relied heavily on the Mosaic writings, the first five books of the Bible. For instance, in proclaiming threats and judgments against the people of God because of their sin and rebellion, the prophets simply applied what God had already declared through Moses in Leviticus 26:14-39.

Likewise, we noted in class how the judgment oracles of the prophets looked to the law court imagery of the Mosaic writings as well. For instance, immediately following the first sin of Adam in eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we find a courtroom judgment by God Himself. First, God the judge enters (Genesis 3:8). Then, He summons and questions the accused (Genesis 3:9-13). Afterward, He sentences and pronounces judgment upon the serpent, the woman, and the man (Genesis 3:14-19). The accused’s response is to latch on to the only good news that Adam could find as he named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living (Genesis 3:20). Finally, God actually blessed Adam and his wife by covering their nakedness and then dismisses the guilty, casting them out of the garden of Eden (Genesis 3:21-24).

Conclusion

Having now studied both the historical and literary analysis of the prophetic writings, we will turn next to seeking to understand the purpose of their predictions and how the Lord intended to bring about repentance and faith in His people through the ministry of the prophets.

I hope you will join us on Sunday mornings at 9:15 am as we learn how better to interpret the prophetic books of the Old Testament!

The Lord be with you!
Pastor Peter M. Dietsch