Bible Hermeneutics (v)

Figurative Language in Prophecies

The prophecies of Daniel and the dream prophecies of Joseph are examples of prophecies making use of metaphors, figures, and symbols to foretell future literal events. Also, as we will see, the "wonders" of the Apocalypse, particularly of the celestial woman and the great red dragon, make use of symbols to describe a literal person or thing. So, with this introduction, let us now look at Joseph's two dreams which were prophetic dreams.

"5 Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. 6 So he said to them, "Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: 7 There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf." 8 And his brothers said to him, "Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?" So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. 9 Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, "Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me." 10 So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, "What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?" 11 And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind." (Gen. 37: 5-11 nkjv)

These two dreams of Joseph were fulfilled when Joseph was sold into Egypt by his brothers and when he became a great leader in Egypt. Here are the texts that speak of the brothers and Jacob bowing down to Joseph. 

"26 And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed down before him to the earth. 27 Then he asked them about their well-being, and said, "Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?" 28 And they answered, "Your servant our father is in good health; he is still alive." And they bowed their heads down and prostrated themselves. 29 Then he lifted his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, "Is this your younger brother of whom you spoke to me?" And he said, "God be gracious to you, my son." (Gen. 43: 26-29 nkjv)

"So Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house, and he was still there; and they fell before him on the ground." (44: 14) 

Also, in Genesis 47: 31 we see Jacob bowing down to Joseph.

Joseph's prophetic dreams symbolized his future rise to a position of great authority in Egypt, where his family would eventually bow down to him, and this was literally fulfilled when his brothers came to Egypt during a famine and were forced to kneel before him to buy food, thus fulfilling the dream's prophecy of his dominance over them; the key symbols in his dreams were the sheaves of wheat standing upright while the others bowed down, and the sun, moon, and stars bowing to him, representing his family submitting to his leadership.

The first thing to notice from these two prophetic dreams is that symbols were employed to convey the information about the predicted events. Joseph and his eleven brothers were represented by the sheaves of wheat. The sun and the moon represented Joseph's mother and father.* (See note below) 

Second, notice that no one had any trouble discerning who was represented by the symbols nor what the prophecy literally foretold. His brothers said to him "shall you indeed reign over us?" Later, Jacob says "Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?" 

(* Rachel, Joseph's biological mother, was dead when Joseph had these dreams. So, how could she bow down to Joseph along with Jacob? Answer: The handmaiden of Rachel was Bilhah, who had borne sons to Jacob on behalf of Rachel. She was thus the surrogate mother of children to Jacob on behalf of Rachel. When Rachel died at the birth of Benjamin, Bilhah had become the surrogate mother to Joseph and Benjamin. In this regard, Bilhah was Joseph's "mother" to whom Jacob was alluding in Gen 37:10.)

Third, though the prophecy made use of symbols yet what it signified was literally fulfilled. It was not fulfilled in an overly literal manner, for that would mean that the sun and moon and eleven sheaves of wheat would literally bow down to a single sheaf of wheat. But, what the symbols represented (Jacob and his wife, and Joseph's eleven brothers) was literal and what they did was literal.

Fourth, there was no room for speculation in understanding and in interpreting the meaning of the symbols or of the literal events that they foretold. Jacob and the brothers understood that the dream portended that Joseph would come to "reign" over them. They looked for a literal fulfillment of what was signified by the symbolism of the dream. This is what we are contending for in this short series on how to interpret prophecies. Of course, not all prophecies make use of symbols and figures, for many do not. In the preceding chapter we listed (via Wayne Jackson) all the times in the Book of Matthew where it is said "this was done that it might be fulfilled" and all of the prophecies mentioned had no symbols in them. So, our thesis is that all prophecies are fulfilled literally even though some prophecies make use of symbols to convey the literal event foretold. Figurative prophecy does not begin in Revelation. It rather began in Genesis. 

Further, when symbols are used in the bible, whether prophetic or otherwise, they are figures that may be discerned by the balance of scripture. The reader does not have to guess or speculate what the symbols signify, for the scriptures reveal their signification. Oftentimes, as in the parables of Christ (which included symbols, metaphors, similes, and allegorical language), use of figurative language or symbols used in the sacred writings are explained by the writer. So we read these words in regard to one of the prophecies of Daniel (which we will examine in the next chapter): “The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom.” (Dan. 7: 24) The horns of the beast were symbolic, but they stood for ten literal kings; And, the "kingdom" was a literal empire. 

Later, when Joseph is in Egypt we read where Pharaoh had a dream that he did not understand. He then summoned Joseph, 

"17 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph: "Behold, in my dream I stood on the bank of the river. 18 Suddenly seven cows came up out of the river, fine looking and fat; and they fed in the meadow. 19 Then behold, seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and gaunt, such ugliness as I have never seen in all the land of Egypt. 20 And the gaunt and ugly cows ate up the first seven, the fat cows. 21 When they had eaten them up, no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were just as ugly as at the beginning. So I awoke. 22 Also I saw in my dream, and suddenly seven heads came up on one stalk, full and good. 23 Then behold, seven heads, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprang up after them. 24 And the thin heads devoured the seven good heads. So I told this to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me." 25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, "The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do: 26 The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads are seven years; the dreams are one. 27 And the seven thin and ugly cows which came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty heads blighted by the east wind are seven years of famine. 28 This is the thing which I have spoken to Pharaoh. God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do. 29 Indeed seven years of great plenty will come throughout all the land of Egypt; 30 but after them seven years of famine will arise, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine will deplete the land. 31 So the plenty will not be known in the land because of the famine following, for it will be very severe. 32 And the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass." (Gen. 41: 17-32 nkjv)

I wonder what "interpretations" were pondered by the magicians. I wonder why they could not see what is clearly the likely interpretation.

Though symbols were used in the prophetic dream, yet they pointed to a literal fulfillment of the events they foretold.

Also, in the prophetic dreams mentioned in this chapter, we see where numbers were used. Were these literal numbers? Does seven really mean seven or some other number? Does eleven mean eleven or some other number? I contend that every prophecy that has a number in it is to be taken literally. This is not the view of Amillennialists however for they think that the term "thousand years" in Revelation chapter twenty is symbolic of a long period of time, the length of which we do not know. That is unsound and untenable.