Companion to the Bible

by E. P. Barrows

The Levitical view of sickness and every bodily infirmity is deep and fundamental. All is referred to sin as the primal cause. The sufferer from leprosy and various other infirmities (Lev. chaps. 12-15) is regarded not as a sinner above other men (Luke 13:1-5), but yet as suffering in the character of a sinner. Hence the ceremonial uncleanness of such persons, and the expiatory offerings required in the case of those who have been healed.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

INTERPRETATION OF PROPHECY.

1. The scriptural idea of prophecy is widely removed from that of human foresight and presentiment. It is that of a revelation made by the Holy Spirit respecting the future, always in the interest of God's kingdom. It is no part of the plan of prophecy to gratify vain curiosity respecting "the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power." Acts 1:7. "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God"—this is its key-note. In its form it is carefully adapted to this great end. Its notices of the future are interwoven with exhortations and admonitions, encouragements and warnings, promises and threatenings. These constitute, indeed, the great bulk of the prophetical writings that have come down to us. The subject of the interpretation of prophecy may be conveniently considered under the following heads: prophecies relating to the near future; prophecies relating to the last days; the question of double sense; the question of literal and figurative meaning.

I. PROPHECIES RELATING TO THE NEAR FUTURE.

2. The Bible contains many prophecies relating to the comparatively near future. These are all specific in their character, and have a single exhaustive fulfilment. Examples are: the prediction to Noah of the approaching deluge, and to Abraham of the bondage of his posterity in a strange land; the disclosure through Pharaoh's dreams of the coming famine in Egypt; Joseph's announcement of the future deliverance of Israel from Egypt; the token given to Moses that God had sent him: "When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain" (Exod. 3:12); God's threatened judgments upon the house of Eli with the accompanying sign (1 Sam. 2:34); the warning that David received by Urim and Thummim of Saul's approach to destroy him (1 Sam. 23:9-12); the prediction that Josiah should defile Jeroboam's altar at Bethel with men's bones (1 Kings 13:2); etc. Minute events, in themselves unimportant, sometimes come within the sphere of prophetic revelation, but always in connection with and subserviency to important transactions affecting the interests of God's people. Thus when Samuel anointed Saul as the future king of Israel, he foretold to him the incidents of his journey homeward (1 Sam. 10:2-7). But this was in order that Saul might be assured of Samuel's prophetic office, and consequently of the divine sanction to the transaction. An event in the immediate future is frequently predicted as a pledge that some prophecy of more distant fulfilment shall be accomplished. Thus the death of Eli's two sons in one day was to be a token of the fulfilment of all the evils threatened against his house. The same end may be accomplished by a miraculous sign. 1 Kings 13:3; 2 Kings 20:9, 11. Prophecies of the kind now under consideration are in general very plain and simple, and their recorded fulfilment is to us a sufficient interpreter of their meaning.

II. PROPHECIES RELATING TO THE LAST DAYS.

3. In Old Testament usage, "the last days," or "the latter days" ("in the latter years," Ezek. 38:8) denote not simply the distant future, but that future as including the kingdom of the Messiah, which extends to the consummation of all things Gen. 49:1; Numb. 24:14; Deut. 4:30; 31:29; Isa. 2:2; Jer 23:20; 30:24; 48:47; 49:39; Ezek. 38:16; Dan. 10:14; Hos. 3:5; Mic. 4:1. We are not, however, to conceive of these "last days" as totally separated from the preceding ages. In the plan of God the history of the world constitutes a whole, all the parts of which are closely connected. Hence the prophecies relating to the latter days include, more or less distinctly, the events which precede them, and prepare the way for them. In such prophecies we are not to look for exhaustive details. They give, as a rule, only general views relating to the conflicts of God's people and their final triumph. Where minute incidents are introduced (Psa. 22:18; 69:21; Zech. 9:9; 11:13) it is apparently for the purpose of identifying to future generations the Messiah as their main subject. See below, No. 9.