Insights for Reading and Understanding OT Poetry

_{Handout 07}

Old Testament Poetry / Hebrew Poetry —

— definitely has something to say. But it makes its point in a different way than do OT or NT narrative passages or NT epistles. It is a different style of writing, a different genre, than prose. Like poetry in any language, OT poetry has an elevated, artistic use of language.

Also, poetry often requires us to think harder in order to understand the point it is making.

And in a few places (mostly the book of Ecclesiastes), it seems to deliberately move the reader in the wrong direction for a while, in order to force(!) the reader to think about the issue.

I. Which OT Books Are Mostly Poetic?

The ‘Wisdom Books’:

Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, & Song of Songs.
The book of Psalms.
Most of the Prophetic Books:

Esp.: Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, Micah, Habakkuk & Nahum.

Most of the other prophetic books are at least partly written in poetry, even Jonah.

II. The General Nature of OT Poetry:

It often uses figurative language, such as: “God is my rock”; or, “the God of Jacob is our fortress”.

Such figurative language…
OT poetry tends to describe…

rather than describing…
It often does not make its train of thought obvious. Its arguments might not have a tight logical sequence.

By way of contrast: NT books like…

Yes, there is(!) a flow of thought in poetic passages…
Sometimes the ‘speaker’ in a psalm…

To Clarify: The person who wrote the psalm is often called ‘the psalmist’. … And the psalmist is often the speaker in the psalm, but not always.

We will use Ps 46 as an example.
- The ‘Psalmist’ = The persons who wrote Ps 46 are…
- The ‘Speaker’ = The persons speaking at the beginning of Ps 46 are the sons of Korah. (They are perhaps speaking on behalf of the nation of Israel.)
  
  But in v. 10, the speaker shifts, and can only be God.
  
  Q: In what verse does the speaker shift back to the original speaker, the sons of Korah?
So the speaker in Ps 46 switches from the sons of Korah to God, and then back to the sons of Korah. But the psalm does not tell you the speaker has changed, either time.
In like manner, sometimes the person being talked about will shift from one person to another, without the psalm telling you it has done so. When this happens, it is usually shifting from David to the Messiah, and perhaps then back to David.

Consider Ps 16. It seems to be David talking about himself, and yet what it says…

In these cases, what the Psalm describes…
A given poetic passage might only tell us one side of the story.
- Contrast David’s lament over Saul in 2 Samuel 1, to the mood of Psalms 52-59
- Psalms with a positive view of the nations:
  
  Psalms with a negative view of the nations:
Poetry often evokes emotion, and may display strong swings of emotion. [Psalm 31, the book of Hosea, Lamentations 3.]
Poetic passages sometimes describe how something feels or how it looks at the moment to the speaker, rather than setting forth the objective reality of the matter / the Bible’s final word on the matter.

In the Wisdom Books, an example is Job 9:14-22.

This also occurs in the Psalms:

(In addition to the examples listed below, see also: Ps 12:1 and Ps 89:38,39.)

Some examples from the Psalms:
- Ps 9:9
  
  The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
  
  A stronghold in times of trouble.
- Ps 10:1
  
  Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?
  
  Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
- Ps 44:23
  
  Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep!
  
  Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.
- Ps 73:4-12
  
  4 The wicked have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and well-fed.
  
  5 They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills. […]
  
  12 This is what the wicked are like— always carefree, they increase in wealth.
- Ps 74:1
  
  Why have you rejected us forever, O God?
  
  Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?
In Sum:
- What OT poetry says is true in some sense; but it does not always describe each situation with balance or with precision.
- So to get a balanced picture from poetry, we need to read a lot of it.
- And we need to bear in mind its genre, that it is poetic. Poetry often does use language in a normal, straight-forward way. But as poetry, much of its language is figurative and emotional; such language is not intended to be taken in a flatly literal manner.
Question:

How can we tell when OT poetry is using language in a normal way, versus when it is figurative and emotional?

Answer:
1. Your common sense will serve you well.
  
  You know that God is not actually a rock (Ps 18:2), and you know that God does not actually sleep (Ps 44: 23).
2. Also, the parts of the Bible that are written in…
  - In the Old Testament, the narrative-historical books (such as; Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings & Chronicles) and the books containing the Law (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy) are mostly written in normal language.
  - In the New Testament the gospels, the books of Acts, and the Epistles are mostly written in normal language.
  - So again, we use what those books teach us to form a grid by which we can sort through the figurative and emotional language of the poetic passages.

III. Some Key Features of the Way OT Poetry is Written:

(i.e., its “literary features”)

In English, the two main ‘literary features’ of poetry are rhyming and meter. By way of contrast, Hebrew poetry does not rhyme and has no precise meter. But it does have features that distinguish it from regular prose or narrative writing.

A. The Main Literary Feature of OT Poetry: `Parallelism`

“Parallel structure” in OT poetry: In Hebrew poetry (= OT poetry), the lines of poetry usually come in pairs. The second line is said to be ‘parallel’ to the first line. This feature is called “parallelism.”
The basic idea of parallelism / of parallel structure in OT poetry is this:

So we should not base a conclusion on… a single line
The Most Common ‘Types’ of Parallelism in OT Poetry:

We identify these ‘types’ of parallelism by asking & answering the question:

The three most common ways that the thought of the second line relates back to the thought of the first line are:
1. ‘Synonymous’ Parallelism
```
There are many examples in Ps 2 and in Isaiah 59.
```
  In synonymous parallelism, the second essentially restates, or closely echoes, the thought of the first line.
  - Ps 2:1
    
    Why do the nations rage,
    
    and the peoples plot in vain?
  - Ps 51
    
    For my transgression I know
    
    and my sin is continually before me.
  What is called ‘Chiastic’ Parallelism (A—B, then B’—A’) is essentially a subset of Synonymous Parallelism.
  
  In chiastic parallelism, the two lines say much the same thing. But with chiastic parallelism, the word-order of the two lines is approximately reversed. That is, the second line has an inverted word order compared to the first line.
  - Ps 51
    
    Wash me thoroughly • from my iniquity
    
    and from my sin • cleanse me.
2. ‘Antithetic’ Parallelism
```
This is very common in the book of Proverbs.
```
  The second line makes much the same point as does the first line, but does so using…
  
  These examples are from Proverbs.
  - 12:1
    
    Reckless words pierce like a sword,
    
    but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
  - 14:9
    
    Fools mock at making amends for sin,
    
    but good will is found among the upright.
  - 15:1
    
    A gentle answer turns away wrath,
    
    but a harsh word stirs up anger.
3. ‘Synthetic’ Parallelism
```
This is the most common type of parallelism.
```
  The second line adds a related thought, completes the thought, or qualifies the thought of, the first line.
  - Ps 53:1
    
    The fool has said in his heart,
    
    “There is no God.”
    2nd line completes the thought of the 1st line.
  - Hos 8:12
    
    I wrote them the many things of my law,
    
    but they regard them as something alien.
    2nd line adds a related thought to the 1st line.
  - Prov. 20:4
    
    A sluggard does not plow in season;
    
    so at harvest he looks but finds nothing.
    2nd line adds a related thought to the 1st line.
  - Ps 145:18
    
    The Lord is near to all who call on him —
    
    — to all who call on him in truth.
    2nd line qualifies or modifies the 1st line.
Question:

What if there is a break (breakdown?) in the parallel pattern? That is, what if a line seems to be left-over?

Or, what if there seems to be a triplet (= three lines together, instead of two)? Should we “fix” it?

Answer: No. The “break” either marks… point of emphasis or end of poetic stanza

[Examples: Ruth 1:16-17; Ps 13:1-2; Ps 18:50, Ps 37:40, Ps 94:23; 100:5.]

B. Three other Literary Features Found in OT Poetry:

“Gapping.” [Examples: Hos 6:3,4,6.]

Examples:
- Ps 24:1
  
  The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it;
  
  The world [__] and all who dwell in it.
- Ps 74:23
  
  Do not ignore the clamor of your adversaries,
  
  [__] the uproar of your enemies, • which rises continually
An “acrostic.”

Each verse begin with a letter in the alphabet

[Examples: Ps 37; 111; 119 137; also see Lamentations, chs. 1-4.]

The significance of an acrostic:
- For memory
An “inclusio.”

A passage has a verse runs several verses and ends with the same verse almost verbatim

[Examples: Psalm 8; Joel 1:2-14; Eccles 1:2-12:8]

The significance of an inclusio:
- Read the whole thing together

IV. Conclusions About OT Poetry / Hebrew Poetry:

Hebrew Poetry is not the same genre as Narrative or Law. If we try to read it as if it were all to be taken flatly literally we are reading it against the intention of the author, against the nature of its genre.

Yet we do not say,

Since it uses figures of speech, we have no idea what it means.

Rather, it is to be interpreted in light of its recognized literary features, and in light of the normal approach to reading figurative poetic literature.

Week 3

Old Testament Poetry / Hebrew Poetry —

I. Which OT Books Are Mostly Poetic?

II. The General Nature of OT Poetry:

III. Some Key Features of the Way OT Poetry is Written:

A. The Main Literary Feature of OT Poetry: `Parallelism`

B. Three other Literary Features Found in OT Poetry:

IV. Conclusions About OT Poetry / Hebrew Poetry:

Week 3

Insights for Reading and Understanding OT Poetry

Week 3

Old Testament Poetry / Hebrew Poetry —

I. Which OT Books Are Mostly Poetic?

II. The General Nature of OT Poetry:

III. Some Key Features of the Way OT Poetry is Written:

A. The Main Literary Feature of OT Poetry: Parallelism

B. Three other Literary Features Found in OT Poetry:

IV. Conclusions About OT Poetry / Hebrew Poetry:

Week 3

A. The Main Literary Feature of OT Poetry: `Parallelism`