One subject that is foundational if we want to understand the OT better is Hebrew poetry. It is a subject habitually covered in YWAM’s Bible courses, usually in connection with an introduction to the book of Psalms. However, much more of the OT is poetry than merely the Psalms or even the poetry and wisdom section in our Bibles (Job through Song of Songs). There are few OT books without any poetry (off the top of my head: Leviticus, Ruth, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther).
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In this issue, I am taking a brief but fresh look at some of the characteristics of Hebrew poetry.
Brief, because this will be a short issue; I am getting ready to publish my teaching on the book of Revelation on YouTube and through this platform. I hope to have the first instalment, the units giving a general introduction to the book, ready for next month. Units covering the text will follow. This will be a big one, so consider this the lull before the storm.
Fresh, because I ran into an intriguing feature of Hebrew poetry that I did not know about before.
First, the feature that is well-established and well-known.
Parallelism
It has long been observed that Hebrew poetry tends to repeat in a second line what was stated in the line before.
Hear, O heavens,
and give ear, O earth;
…
The ox knows its owner,
and the donkey (…) its master’s crib,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand. (Is. 1:2-3 ESV; “(…)” marks ellipsis, something which will be explained later)
It would be more accurate to state that elements in the second line in some ways correspond to elements in the first line. Often, there is no straightforward repetition or restatement in different words, although there can be, as in the example just given. This is called synonymous parallelism.
But it is also possible for the corresponding elements to contrast with each other. This is called antithetic parallelism:
A wise man’s heart inclines him to the right,
but a fool’s heart (…) to the left. (Eccl. 10:2 ESV)
It is used extensively in the book of Proverbs, especially in Proverbs 10-15.
There are many lines in Hebrew poetry, however, where there do not seem to be corresponding parts. These lines were originally brought together under the category of synthetic parallelism. The idea is that the second line in some way adds to the first line, taking it a step further, often by giving a reason or purpose:
I am sweating
[because] I ran fast
There are other, much less common forms of parallelism, but these are the basic types.
Synthetic parallelism as a category has come under a lot of criticism. Is this really parallelism? How is this different from a normal sentence?
I am sweating [because] I ran fast
By what criteria can we even decide that a passage without clear parallelism is poetry? The presence of metaphors?
Hebrew poetry is indeed rich in metaphors, similes, and other imagery. I suppose this is a universal characteristic of poetry. However, since such figures of speech can also be used in prose, it is not a sure-fire way to identify poetry; parallelism is. But there are at least two more criteria.
The first is… context! If a sentence appears in a passage rich in synonymous parallelism, there is a good chance it is also poetic, even if it lacks corresponding or parallel elements.
The second is …
Terseness
Since about one and a half year, I have been working on improving my Hebrew. The main thing I am doing: I am slowly making my way through the Hebrew text of the OT. So far, I have made it from Genesis to the beginning of Judges. It’s a slow process. For the time being, I am limiting myself to books with historical narrative, and not just because these are the books at the beginning of the Bible. It is also because I have dabbled in Hebrew poetry and found it extraordinarily hard to read, much harder than historical narrative.
How come? Of course, one reason is that narrative has a storyline, usually a familiar one, and poetry often does not.
Second, Hebrew verbs, prepositions, and other particles are less complex and not as narrowly defined, leading to greater ambiguity. The text often leaves the reader to determine the exact relationship between terms and phrases that is intended. This is also true for prose, of course, but there, context and storyline provide more help.
The third reason, and it turns out to be no less characteristic of Hebrew poetry than parallelism, is terseness. (For what follows, I am indebted to Longman III, 2008.) The poet, so it seems, is committed to using as few words as he can. For instance, there is a particle in Hebrew that identifies the direct object of the verb: he strikes him. The particle is frequent in prose but rare in poetry. Other particles, relative pronouns, and conjunctions are also less frequent. The “[because]” in square brackets in the example above would probably not be included in Hebrew poetry.
The shortness is all the more striking because Hebrew works a lot with prefixes and suffixes. Articles and pronouns are habitually added to a noun or a verb, resulting in a single word where English may have two or three.
The increased use of imagery reduces the word count as well. “The Lord is my shepherd” is stating a lot in a single metaphor – and in Hebrew, there are only two words: no verb, and the pronoun ‘my’ is suffixed to the second noun (shepherd-mine). The first line of what may be the world’s best-known and best-liked poem/song is only two words long: YHWH Shepherdmine. Terse indeed.
In addition, parallelism frequently uses ellipsis or omission. The second line omits one or more corresponding elements, often the verb, leaving it incomplete; see “(…) in the examples above.
In most cases, therefore, it is clear which passages are poetry. Fortunately, modern translations increasingly print them as such, making it easy to recognize poetry AND to read accordingly. Because there is no way around it if we want to ‘get’ it: poetry is terse, it is hard; therefore, we have to read it more slowly than prose.
Slow down when reading biblical poetry!
Attribution
rolandmey. 2017 <https://pixabay.com/illustrations/picture-book-poetry-nature-1983812/> CC0
EME. 2014 <https://pixabay.com/photos/a-book-poem-old-book-492300/> CC0
References
Unless indicated differently, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Longman III, Tremper. 2008. ‘Terseness’, in Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry & Writings, ed. by Tremper Longman III and Peter Ens (Downers Grove, IL; Nottingham, UK: IVP Academic; Inter-Varsity Press), pp. 791-4
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