Prophetic Biblical Texts and ChatGPT
Some basic inductive questions that will help you understand prophetic texts. You can even plug them into ChatGPT if you wish.
After initially praying for God to give you insight, then reading the text, go back and look at it with these questions in mind. I personally like to do this with commentaries or NT introductions open on my desk, but you could use an AI Chatbot like ChatGPT, or any other LLM if you choose. I must admit ChatGPT does a much better job at answering these questions than most intro level students.
1. What type of Prophecy is this?
Identifying the sub-genre of the prophecy can be helpful because it helps you calibrate your expectations for the meaning and application of the text at hand.
Prophecy of Disaster – an announcement of imminent or future disaster to an individual or to an entire nation (Daniel 9 predicts the destruction of Jerusalem).
Prophecy of Salvation – like the former, but positive instead of negative (Jeremiah 31:31-34 speaks of a time when God would establish a new covenant with His people.)
Woe Speech – “Woe to those who/you who…” (See Isaiah 5:8-23) The genre’s purpose is to present the judgment as certain and to undermine a soft-hearted audience.
Dirge – funeral lament over Israel that presents the outcome as a certainty (See Lamentations 1:1-4).
Hymn – presents a song of praise for Israel to sing (See Amos 4:13).
Disputation – A reasoned attempt to persuade the audience of their wrongdoing (See Amos 3:3-8).
Prophecy Against the Foreign Nations – Prophecy of the downfall or defeat of one or more of Israel’s enemies. The effect is to give hope to God’s people of Israel (see Isaiah 13:1-22).
Vision Report – A report of what the prophet heard or saw. The purpose is to reveal the future plans of God to His people (see Zechariah 2:1-4).
Apocalyptic – Symbolic language used and/or heavenly events described in order to reveal hidden knowledge. The intent can be to give encouragement and hope, or to give a warning or exhortation in order to get the audience to change behavior (see Joel 2:1-11).
2. It is often helpful to ask some questions about historical context.
These questions could be answered in the notes of your study Bible, a Bible handbook or dictionary, or at length in a commentary on a specific biblical book.
Was Israel getting along with it’s neighboring nations at the time? What were the economic conditions like at the time? Were the people mentioned following God at the time or not? Would this prophecy change the answer to those questions?
3. Is the prophecy predicting some future event or outcome?
If yes, remember that there is often a specific present fulfillment intended by the human author and often (but not always) a future (think messianic age to come) fulfillment. So, what in view of this predictive prophecy what is the present fulfillment and is there a future or messianic fulfillment?
If no, In order to apply this prophecy ask: Does a situation exist in the 21st century that involves the same problematic issue (such as power/powerlessness, idolatry, greed, lack of faith, selfishness, etc.) that we could apply the truth of this prophecy to?
Understanding if this is a predictive prophecy or a prophecy that is trying to tell some sort of truth to the audience can make a huge difference in how you apply the text.