"Plowshares and Pruning Hooks" - Book Review

What will we make of the images presented to us in biblical prophecy? How literally or figuratively should we interpret them? How did prophetic language function for those who first heard these prophecies? Without a doubt, prophetic and apocalyptic literature is some of the most difficult to understand.

Recently I read D. Brent Sandy's Plowshares and Pruning Hooks: Rethinking the Language of Biblical Prophecy and Apocalyptic. It is one of the most helpful books I've read on interpreting these biblical genres. It is well-written and accessible to the non-academic reader.

Sandy is not concerned with helping us nail down the meaning of specific passages. Rather, Sandy takes us on a literature survey, focusing more heavily on the Old Testament than the New Testament. He shows us commonalities that exist within prophetic literature. His chapter on the common pairing of destruction and blessing is very helpful.

Sandy spends considerable time exploring how prophetic language works within the culture. He reminds us that these texts were written in oral cultures. Thus, the original audience did not read what we read but rather heard.

Prophetic and apocalyptic language was not merely a transfer of information. It was a language intended to engage us at the emotional gut level, transporting us into otherworldly visions of hope and glory and worlds of despair and devastation. The intent was to engender commitment and inspire action. You might say it is the difference between explaining how if we reflect on our past and contemplate the trajectory of our future in light of more eternal considerations, we can be motivated to change versus Dickens writing a story about a man named Ebenezer Scrooge. Poetic language is central to prophetic literature, and the author spends some time walking us through various metaphorical linguistic techniques.

Sandy points out that the three primary functions of prophecy were prosecution, persuasion, and prediction, in that order (although in the New Testament, prosecution becomes less prominent.) In our age, there is a near obsession with the predictive aspects of prophecy. To address this question, the author has a chapter on prophecies in the Bible that were fulfilled within the biblical era. He asks if, based on the prophecy, the original hearers would have been able to describe the specifics of future events accurately. The case studies run from what he calls the transparent to the translucent. Once a prophecy is fulfilled, it sometimes is clear that the language of the prophecy was hyperbolic poetry.

In some cases, prophecies that predicted impending events were not fulfilled until after considerable time lapses. Thus, precisely identifying specific people, places, and events in every biblical image is unwise. This is not to say that prophecy is just poetic symbolism without reference to actual future events. It is to say the prophecy's predictive quality is usually a translucent window into future events that are intended to inspire us to commitment and action, not an encrypted code to be cracked.

If figuring out what to do with prophetic and apocalyptic portions of the Bible is something you've struggled with, I would highly recommend this book.

Comments

[jim]

nice review, looks like a helpful book.

[Peggy]

Thanks for this, Michael! Yes, prosecution, persuasion and prediction --- in that order. The prophets served as God's DAs of the Old Covenant, prosecuting covenant beakers. The "example" of those prosecuted provided a good basis for persuading others not to follow their example. Prediction was definitely to inspire commitment and action, not arm-chair pondering.

[Virgil]

I will definitely check this out - it sounds fascinating; mostly I am curious about his take on time statements which indicate a fist century Parousia where a historical/anthropological approach to prophecy is crucial.

Thanks for the tip.

[Michael W. Kruse]

Virgil, I'm not sure the book would go as specifically to the questions you are raising but first century questions. He really avoids getting into resolving specific controversies and focuses more on how genres and patterns work.

[MatthewS]

I enjoy the way Dr. Sandy thinks and writes. I am sad he is leaving our seminary. In my opinion, this is a real loss.

[ZZMike]

"In our age, there is a near obsession with the predictive aspects of prophecy."

This is one of the problems. Someone pointed out that Biblical prophecy was intended for their contemporaries, and it's a big mistake to read (e.g.) something in Ezekiel and say that it refers to the Russian 6th fleet.

"prosecution, persuasion, and prediction" - that's a good way of putting it. The Prophets weren't just predicters, and prophecy wasn't just prediction, they (and it) were judges (even though it says somewhere else not to do that) and pointers out of erroneous ways.

One of our church's Bible study groups is working on where to go next (we've just had a change of group leader). I started looking into Pslams - there's a semester or two, now it looks like Sandy's book opens up another wide area.

There's more to the Bible than first meets the eye.

[Michael W. Kruse]

I think it would make a good Bible study book. But it will take some work.