The Genre of a Prophetic Text
One of the reasons why so many today have a confused, or carnal view of eschatology is due to malnourished reading habits. We need to be well equipped to dive into God’s word to delve into the depths of treasure stored within God’s sacred communication. An aspect of malnourishment that can be corrected over time and with practice is to increase awareness and reading comprehension regarding biblical passages containing prophecies. If we do this poorly, eschatology won’t matter much, and may be seen as a very small subsection of only a few verses here or there towards the end of the New Testament. If we do this well, we will be richly rewarded in observing that eschatology and matters relating to it are all over the Bible, in every book from Genesis to Revelation.
Different books of the Bible (and even different sections within books) have different styles meant to convey a message. A prophetic text may come within the scope of a narrative (such as Jesus’ prophecies which were recounted through historical narrative in the gospels). Or prophetic text may come within the lyrics of a song or poem (such as Psalms, Proverbs, Job, or Ecclesiastes). Passages about prophecy may come within a dialogue between characters (Such as Moses and Aaron prophesying before Pharaoh in Exodus 9:1) or it may come within an extended section including many other prophetic statements (Isaiah 9 and the promise of the coming “prince of peace”).
Prophecy within the Bible can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, genres and styles. If we simply assume that all prophecies will sound and look the same, then we will miss out on a great deal of prophecy that is communicated in unique ways we were not expecting. Many English Bibles indent certain passages or sections to indicate a quote, or a prophecy. While this can be helpful to highlight a prophetic text, it can also inadvertently teach us that any passage that doesn’t have a special indent isn’t prophetic.
Simply put, if we apply an approach of “one size fits all” to our reading of the Bible, we will miss apply, misunderstand, and easily miss out entirely huge portions of God’s Word. Rightly dividing the Word of God demands the reader consider not only the substance of individual words themselves, but also consider the style of communication chosen by God to reveal Himself. Genre isn’t a human accent added into the divine language. Genre is a key component that God has used for communicating His special revelation.
Not all prophetic passages are the same in their message, or in their mode of conveying that message. Rather than ignoring the unique genre of a particular prophetic passage, begin to ask as you read “Who is speaking in this passage? How does this prophetic passage of this chapter of this book differ from other passages also within this same chapter of this same book? What makes this passage different or similar to other potential prophetic passages in other books of the Bible?”
These sorts of questions will help us grow from malnourished, to satisfied as we feast on the truth of God’s Word – all of God’s Word, even those previously difficult prophetic passages.