He Gave Us Prophets: Essential Hermeneutical PerspectivesSample

Organic Inspiration of OT Prophecy: Daniel 12:8

We believe that the Holy Spirit inspired the writings of prophets so that they have no errors. But at the same time, we know that when God inspired the writing of Scripture he used the personalities and the thoughts and the outlooks of human writers. In the New Testament we know this is true. Paul's epistles reflect his personality and his background. And we also recognize that the differences among the four gospels result primarily from differences in the human writers’ intentions and goals. In much the same way, God used the personalities, the experiences, and the intentions of prophets as he inspired them. If we hope to understand Old Testament prophecy, we must reject a mechanical understanding of their experience and begin to look for the ways God inspired them as full, thinking human beings.

In line with our other misconceptions of prophets’ experiences, we often don’t have a very good idea of how much prophets understood their words. In fact, most Christians act as if the prophets were ignorant, or unable to understand what they were saying. For instance, if someone had stopped Amos and asked him, “What do you mean by what you're saying?” most Christians think that Amos would have to have responded this way: “I don't know what I'm saying; I just say what God tells me to say.” 

Well, in contrast with this misconception, the Bible teaches that prophets had understanding. They understood much of what they said. For instance, in Daniel 12:8, Daniel did confess, 

I heard but I could not understand (NRSV).

But we have to be careful to discern what Daniel meant. He explained himself as he continued to speak to the Lord, 

My Lord, what [will] be the outcome of these things? (NRSV). 

You see, Daniel understood what he had heard and written; he knew the vocabulary; he knew the grammar — these were his words, after all. But, he did not understand everything. He admitted not knowing precisely how the prophecy would be fulfilled. 

In much the same way, 1 Peter 1:11 tells us that Old Testament prophets understood, but they did not understand all that they had said. There, Peter says the prophets of old tried 

… to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing. 

In other words, Peter said that Old Testament prophets remained ignorant of the details of timing and circumstances, but he does not suggest for a moment that they were entirely without understanding of their words. On the contrary, as we will see, prophets were very much aware, they comprehended much of what they were saying. Rather than being ignorant, they had tremendous insights into the ways of God.