Hebrew Poetry Pdf

[Janne Evers]

TheHebrew Bible contains a wide variety of writing styles, categorized in general terms as either prose or poetry. While the distinction between these two categories is sometimes blurred, it is generally reckoned that at least 50% of the Old Testament is in the form of poetry. In contrast to prose, poetry displays an elevated style of language that may be adopted for a wide range of purposes.

Alongside lyrical poetry, the Old Testament preserves an important example of dramatic poetry in the Book of Job. Sandwiched between an introduction and conclusion in prose, the bulk of Job consists of speeches by the main participants in poetic form. Some scholars have suggested that the Song of Songs is also dramatic poetry, but the identity of the speakers is not as clearly defined as in the Book of Job.

Most prophetic oracles are viewed as being poetic in nature. These comprise a large part of the Old Testament. Not all oracles, however, display the level of poetic style found in lyrical poetry. As we shall observe, scholars differ to some degree on how Hebrew poetry should be defined. The one major category of poetry not found in the Old Testament is narrative or epic poetry.

Hebrew poetry, however, is not based on rhyme, although there may be rare examples of alliteration, assonance and paronomasia. Other features define poetic texts, the three most important being parallelism, condensed language, and use of imagery. Not all these features are present in every example of Hebrew poetry.

These verses illustrate two main types of parallelism. Adopting categories that were first proposed by Robert Lowth in the mid-18th century, verses 1 and 3 are examples of synonymous parallelism. The same concept is repeated in each half of these verses using closely corresponding language. Even in English translation this parallelism is obvious. Verse 2, however, comes under the category of antithetical parallelism. In this instance the two parts of the verse express opposite ideas. While examples of synonymous and antithetical parallelism are very common, authors of Hebrew poetry employ parallelism in a variety of other ways. Lowth suggested a third category: synthetic parallelism. For him, this was a catch-all category for everything that was not included in his first two categories. Unfortunately, synthetic parallelism is not a helpful category, other than pointing to the fact that parallelism is a complex phenomenon that cannot be easily categorized under a few headings.

But reading poetry is often difficult. Poetry stretches the boundaries of language and makes great demands on readers to fill in the gaps. But if God thought it best to reveal so much of Scripture in poetry, we need to become good readers of it. Here are four tips for reading Old Testament poetry well.

English poetry often uses rhyme, aligning common sounds at the end of lines. Hebrew poetry joins lines together using parallelism. Two kinds of parallelism are most commonly seen. The first is synonymous parallelism, where the two lines mean something very similar, and the second is contrastive parallelism, where the two lines juxtapose opposite perspectives (e.g., Ps. 1:6 and many Proverbs, such as Prov. 10:1). One common misunderstanding about synonymous parallelism is that the two lines just say the same thing twice. But this is never the case. The second line always adds something new. For example:

Be prepared for all kinds of parallelism. Some sets of parallel lines introduce a comparison (Ps. 103:11), some tell a two-part story (Ps. 3:4), and some simply complete the sentence begun in the first line (Ps. 111:6). The question we always ask is, how does the second line complete or enhance the first?

In this metaphor, the godly Israelite is a tree. But other metaphors are also present: the Lord is the farmer who planted the tree in such a prosperous place, and the fruit of the tree is the good works of the saint. How encouraging to see the Lord as the One who tends us. When you encounter a metaphor, let it sink in. Ask the question, what other metaphors does the lead metaphor imply?

Poetry has been defined as patterned speech. This definition is ambiguous and deliberately vague, because the distinction between poetry and prose in any language is difficult and contested. Poetry is an art as well as a science, and the analysis of its patterns and its effects demand the freedom and discipline necessary for any of the arts.

The recognition and analysis of Hebrew poetry has the added difficulty of distance. The poetry of the Hebrew Bible was written more than two thousand years ago in an ancient language only recently restored as a living tongue. In addition the culture, which affects imagery and expectations, is far removed from modern life. On the positive side, the texts have been in constant use since their writing and there is a lengthy tradition of interpretation upon which to draw.

Sound. The two ways in which sound is brought into play are the repetition of consonants (related to alliteration in English poetry) and the repetition of vowel sounds (related to rhyme or assonance). In Pss 76:4 and 122:6 there are fine examples of the repetition of the consonant sound "sh." In both instances the repetition of the sound reinforces the meaning of the line.

Meter. No element of Hebrew poetry is more contested than that of meter. There is general agreement that meter is important and that it is a feature of Hebrew poetry. The question of analysis of meter, however, is still debated. There are two primary methods: counting syllables and counting accents.

The Hebrew verse unit is very short, often composed of only two or three words. When counting accents, each of these words receives an accent. Introductory or linking words such as conjunctions or prepositions are not counted. The most common meter in a two-unit line is 3 + 3.

A frequent device in Hebrew poetry is the use of the word pair, two words that are frequently linked and usually appear in consecutive lines. Common word pairs are: hand-right hand; sea-river; understand-know. For example:

The Line. Parallelism. The basic unit of Hebrew poetry is the line. Lines are ordinarily broken into two or three parts. In the following discussion "line" will be used to refer to the whole unit, "colon" will refer to a segment of the line. A two-part "line" will be called a "bicolon," a three-part line a "tricolon."

The significance of parallelism has been recognized for over a century. Robert Lowth named three types of parallelism by the relationship of the terms in the lines or cola. Synonymous parallelism occurs when the major terms mean basically the same thing:

In the last decades of the twentieth century the discussion turned to the nature of parallelism. James Kugel refined the already existing understanding by pointing out that the essential function of parallelism was not to indicate equivalency (A = B), but rather complementarity, frequently intensification or expansion ("A is so, and what's more B"). For example, one finds complementarity of terms such as "day" and "night":

Chiasm. A poetic technique related to parallelism is called chiasm. Chiasm is the construction of a line so that the balancing elements in the first colon occur in reverse order in the second colon (ABBA). For example:

The notion of chiasm has been further developed with a consideration of sound as well as meaning. John Kselman named the technique in which one set of balanced elements correspond in meaning and the other set correspond in sound "semantic-sonant chiasm." For example:

The imperative "wash me" in the first colon is balanced by the imperative "cleanse me" in the second; the prepositional phrase "from my guilt" is balanced by "from my sin" in the second. The parallelism is not slavish. The first colon has an extra word, "thoroughly."

The repetition of key words unites a poem. For example, the word "heart" occurs six times throughout Psalm 73. In Psalm 31 the four-fold repetition of the word "hand" emphasizes the contrast between falling into God's hands or enemy hands.

Inclusion, the repetition of the same phrase at beginning and end, also binds a poem into unity. For example, Psalm 8 begins and ends with: "Lord, our Lord, how awesome is your name through all the earth."

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Review: The title of the book of Psalms means to praise. It was written over a period of 1000 years by several writers with the earliest psalm recorded by Moses (Psalm 90), and the latest in 400 BC (Psalm 150). David wrote approximately 70 of the 150 psalms contained in this book.

The psalms were originally assembled in groups and booklets but eventually put together into the format we have today (150 psalms divided into five sections). These, however, do not include all the psalms that appear in the Old Testament. The psalms were used in Old Testament times as a Jewish hymnal, and many were sung to the accompaniment of instruments in David's time. It was later used in synagogue worship in this way during the time of Jesus and carried over into early Christian worship as well.

Psalms is the most quoted book in the New Testament. It contains many Messianic references and Jesus Himself confirmed its Divine inspiration. For nearly 30 centuries it has had a universal and timeless appeal.

We usually concentrate on the content of the Old Testament, but rarely discuss the style in which that content was presented. Most of the Old Testament was written in poetic as opposed to narrative form. This is in line with what we know about the writings of other ancient civilizations of that era. Lyrical poetry is the earliest example of all literature as seen in early Egyptian and Babylonian cultures, thousands of years before Christ. It is the oldest form of written communication. In ancient Greece the poets sang their songs long before the philosophers and historians arrived on the scene. Among the early Germans and English, the art of poetic composition developed before the art of writing in prose. The earliest quotations from the Bible, for example, are in poetic form. Note that Lamech's boast, recorded in the book of Genesis, is both a song and poem.

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