Plowshares and Pruning Hooks: Rethinking the Language of Biblical Prophecy and Apocalyptic

by D. Brent Sandy

Publisher:

IVP Academic

, 2002

Overview

What are we to make of Isaiah's image of Mount Zion as the highest of the mountains, or Zechariah's picture of the Mount of Olives split in two, or Daniel's "beast rising out of the sea" or Revelation's "great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns"? How can Peter claim that on the day of Pentecost the prophecy of Joel was being fulfilled, with signs in heaven and wonders on earth, the sun turned to darkness and the moon to blood? The language and imagery of biblical prophecy has been the source of puzzlement for many Christians and a point of dispute for some. How ironic that is! For the prophets and seers were the wordsmiths of their time. They took pains to speak God's word clearly and effectively to their contemporaries. How should we, as citizens of the twenty-first century, understand the imagery of this ancient biblical literature? Are there any clues in the texts themselves, any principles we can apply as we read these important but puzzling biblical texts? D. Brent Sandy carefully considers the language and imagery of prophecy and apocalyptic, how it is used, how it is fulfilled within Scripture, and how we should read it against the horizon of our future. Clearly and engagingly written, Plowshares and Pruning Hooks is the kind of book that gives its readers a new vantage point from which to view the landscape of prophetic and apocalyptic language and imagery

Contents

Top Highlights

“What makes prophecy problematic? To understand the prophetic word correctly, we must recognize that the language of prophecy may be poetic, emotive, conditional, hyperbolic, figurative, surreal, oral and uncertain about fulfillment. These barriers, which stand in the way of correct readings of prophecy, come down to one basic question: when should the words be taken at face value?” (Pages 56–57)

“Will we walk streets of gold? We can be sure heavenly existence is something like what they describe, but if we think it is exactly what they describe, we will have lowered the spirit world of God and heaven to the physical world that we have experienced.” (Page 28)

“Prophecy may employ stereotypical language of judgment, leaving the fulfillment uncertain (see pp. 94–97” (Page 148)

“Prophecies may conceal long spans of time implicit within them” (Page 149)

“Deity. Prophecy beholds God in raw anger—punishing rapids … fire and brimstone. And in soft love—pools of water smooth as glass … grace and peace. It is God at the extreme limit of his attributes.” (Page 20)

Product Details

• Title: Plowshares and Pruning Hooks: Rethinking the Language of Biblical Prophecy and Apocalyptic
• Author: D. Brent Sandy
• Publisher: IVP Academic
• Print Publication Date: 2002
• Logos Release Date: 2020
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subjects: Textbooks; Bible › Prophecies; Bible › Language, style; Apocalyptic literature › History and criticism
• ISBNs: 9780830896806, 9780830826537, 0830896805, 083082653X
• Resource ID: LLS:WS_EF69240533BE468DB70354E5FB6518C2
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T04:27:29Z

About D. Brent Sandy

D. Brent Sandy teaches New Testament and Greek at Wheaton College. He is the author of Plowshares and Pruning Hooks: Rethinking the Language of Biblical Propecy and Apocalyptic (IVP Academic).