What Procedure Should We Use When Interpreting a Prophetic Text in Scripture?

By its nature, prophecy can be difficult to interpret. It uses many symbols, and these can be taken in more than one way.

The key to understanding biblical prophecy is to determine itsliteralsense—that is, what it meant in itsoriginalcontext, what the prophet was trying to communicate to his audience for their benefit. Normally Old Testament prophecies have their primary fulfillment within the generation to which they were given or within a few generations. However, they can have additional fulfillments later in time. Thus many Old Testament prophecies have further fulfillments at the time of Christ.

Knowing all this, there are a series of principles to keep in mind when reading the prophets:

1. The first thing to do is set aside expectations you have about the text. In particular, do not look to a text to validate a particular view you already hold. Ask what the text is saying, not what you want it to say.
2. To the best of your ability, identify who wrote a prophetic text, who the original audience was, and when the text was composed. Sometimes this is difficult or can be done only within broad limits, but situating a text in its historical circumstances is important.
3. Seek to establish the literal sense of the text by focusing on the words the author wrote and interpreting them in the historical context in which they were composed (this will mean temporarily setting aside what we may know about this text from other sources, such as how it was used in the New Testament). Specifically, ask how these words would have been understood by the original audience.
4. Ask what overall message the prophet was trying to communicate to his audience. Bear in mind that this was not to satisfy our curiosity about the future, but rather, to warn the Israelites about misbehavior, promise rewards for good behavior, assure them of God’s love, and help them live through historical circumstances they would face. Which kind of message is being given in the text you are examining?
5. Ask what elements in the text are symbolic (or may be symbolic) and what these symbols likely mean for the literal sense of the text, based on what the author says and how similar symbols are used elsewhere.
6. Look for clues in the text that give an idea of when the prophet and his audience would have expected the prophecy to be fulfilled. Bear in mind that this would normally be within the prophet’s own generation or within a few generations.
7. Ask what events occurring in that time frame could have fulfilled the prophecy. Sometimes it may not be possible to identify a specific event due to the fact that many details of ancient history have been forgotten, but this does not mean there was not an event that fulfilled it. Look the passage up in commentaries to see what scholars have proposed as fulfillments.
8. Ask if there could have been other fulfillments, in view of the fact that a symbol can sometimes point to more than one thing.
9. Having sought to establish the original, literal sense of the text, explore what spiritual senses may exist. At this point, it is appropriate to bring back the knowledge of how the text was later used in the New Testament, and whether there may be further fulfillments of the text (e.g., additional Christological interpretations).

This procedure is, by necessity, a simplified one. However, it will serve as a sound starting point for interpreting prophetic texts. Violating these principles is a recipe for misinterpreting, truncating, and distorting a text’s meaning.

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