Need for Prophecy – Proverbs 29:18

Helen Calder has some timely words about how to evaluate “dark” prophecies, prophecies that give a warning.  She gives five principles: 1) Check, “What is the Purpose of this Prophecy?” (and there are five, as she sees it), 2) Test a Prophetic Warning Before Passing it on, 3) Review a Prophetic Word By Studying the Bible, 4) Be Aware That a Warning Can be “Incomplete”, and 5) There WILL be Words of Warning and Warfare!

Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law. (Proverbs 29:18, ESV)

Proverbs is a part of the wisdom tradition in Israel.  It is the collected tried and true wisdom of the people inspired by Yahweh, the fear of whom is the beginning of wisdom.  But as this proverb makes clear, it is based in two other forms of divine revelation, the prophetic vision and the written law.

The law was birthed out of prophetic vision.  Yahweh spoke to Moses and the people from the top of Mount Sinai, inscribing the ten commandments on stone tablets and giving Moses all the law as we have it in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.  It is much more than legislative commands for the nation, but at its heart it is a revelation of how to live in obedience to Yahweh.

But prophetic vision did not cease with the law.  There is still a need for the prophet to speak to and encourage the people to obey Yahweh.  And so Yahweh continued to give visions, especially when Israel was straying from the law and from their love for Yahweh.  The visions gave warnings as well as hope for the future.  Without these the people were unrestrained.  If they were past the point of no return a part of the judgment might even be no more prophetic words(Isaiah 28:9-13; 1 Corinthians 14: 20-22).

In this atmosphere the wisdom literature (Proverbs, Job, Psalms, Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes) gave an interpretation of how to live out these prophetic visions embodied in law.  They encouraged what the law demanded and gave evidence for its benefits.  They stepped into issues not directly addressed by the law but certainly an application of the law.  And, as here in this proverb, they encouraged submission to the prophetic vision as Yahweh’s way of keeping His people on the path.

We still need these three aspects of God’s revelation in our lives.  You might say much of the prophetic and wisdom tradition is carried on in our pulpits every Sunday and through national and international leaders who warn us of where we are departing from the Lord.  We need to respect each.