Review of OT Poetry

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I. The Basic Assumptions about Interpreting Scripture:

Although the Bible is not a normal book—it is God’s divine revelation to us—nonetheless, God did choose to put it into written language. So we read the Bible according to the normal use of language. [This approach to reading the Bible is often labeled “the historical-grammatical method.”] In brief, this means:

• For the parts of the Bible that are written in a generally straight-forward style (the OT historical books, the laws, the NT epistles, the gospels & Acts), we read them in a generally straight-forward manner. For the large majority of verses in these books, we may take what they say at face value.
• For the parts of the Bible that use poetic language (Psalms, most of Job, much of the prophets), we bear in mind that that language is more artistic, and is often figurative.
• We pay attention to the grammar & to the meanings of the words.
• We bear in mind the historical background & setting of the book, esp. where does it fall in the flow of the events in the Bible.
• And we always pay attention to the context of the passage. Always! Always! Always! Always!

II. Which OT Books Are Poetic?

• The “Wisdom Literature”: Job, Proverbs, & Ecclesiastes (and to a degree, Song of Songs).

• The book of Psalms.

• Many 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.

III. Understanding How OT Poetry / Hebrew Poetry Works:

If one compares the OT poetic books to books like Joshua, Samuel, Kings or Chronicles, it is clear that they are a different style of writing, a different genre. Understanding how Hebrew poetry works is very helpful to understanding the OT poetic books.

A. The General Nature of Hebrew Poetry

1. Poetry involves an artistic use of language. It is often figurative. For example, Psalm 18:2 tells us, “God is my rock.” This does not mean that God is a literal, physical rock.

2. Poetry is more descriptive than it is precise.

   Poetry usually does not of give the date, or tell specifically who was involved. or name the place where something happened. Instead, it tells what something was like in general, or how it felt.

3. Poetry often evokes emotion, and may display strong swings of emotion. Ps 9 ↔ Ps 10; Ps 31.

4. A given poetic passage might only tell you one side of the story.

   Psalms 52–59, for example, compared to the lament-song that David sings about Saul in 2 Sam 1.

5. It is important to note that poetic passages sometimes describe how something feels to the speaker, rather than describing the objective reality of the situation. Ps 12:1; 44:23; 73:4-12; 74:1a; 89:38-39

In Sum:

What OT poetry says is true in some sense; but it does not always describe each situation with balance or with literal precision. We need to bear in mind that it is poetry. Nonetheless, interpreting it is not a free-for-all; rather, we read it the way one normally reads and understands poetry.

Also, we have seen that a given poetic passage might not tell us the whole story, and that poetry is often more descriptive than precise. Since that is the case, to get a balanced and more accurate overall picture from poetry, we have to read a lot of it.

Finally, it will help if we bear in mind what the straight-forward portions of Scripture tell us about the issue, the topic, being described in the poetic passage.

B. The Most Common “Literary Features” of Hebrew Poetry

By “literary features” we mean: How is it actually written, what are the features of its writing style.

For example, the features of traditional English poetry are: rhyming & cadence. Hebrew poetry, on the other hand, does not rhyme, nor does it have precise meter or cadence.

But Hebrew poetry does have some identifiable features, and learning to recognize these is very helpful for understanding what the passage is saying. Here are the main ones:

1. The main literary feature of Hebrew poetry is: parallelism. By that we mean: In poetic passages, the lines of text tend to come in pairs, and we are intended to read them together. The poetic pair of lines is the minimum context for reading.

2. In poetic parallel lines, the thought of the second line usually relates back to the thought of the first line in one of three main ways:

   1. It restates or closely echoes or the thought of the first line.

   2. It gives contrasting image which makes the same point.

   3. It develops or completes or qualifies the thought of the first line.

3. Sometimes the second line does not form a complete statement, some words are ‘missing’, so to speak. This is called gapping. When this occurs, the second line is assuming some words from the first line, usually the verb. Knowing this helps us make sense of lines of poetry that seem incomplete. Ps 24:1.

4. Again, in OT poetry, the lines will usually come in pairs.

   Q: But what if we have an unpaired line, or a triplet?

   A: When there is an unpaired line, it usually does one of two things:

   • It is either a point of emphasis, or,

   • It is the end of a poetic stanza, or both.

   Examples: the last verse in Ps 18, Ps 37, & Ps 94; then also Ruth 1:16,17.

IV. Closing Thought about OT Poetry and How the Language of the Bible Works:

Christians do believe that the Bible is true. But consider the following statement:

I believe that every verse of the Bible is literally true.

• Q: Is that accurate?
• Q: Is that an accurate description of how OT poetry works?
• Q: Is God a rock?

This is a better statement:

Whatever the bible affirms to be true is true. We read the bible according to the normal use of language.