Training · Grasping God's Word
Old Testament poetry
Parallelism, figures of speech, and how the Psalms work as words spoken to God.
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How much of the Old Testament is poetry?
About a third — including the Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Lamentations, and much of the prophets.
Most of the prophets spoke in poetry. A reader who only knows how to read narrative and law is unequipped for a large part of the Old Testament.
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What is parallelism in Hebrew poetry?
The pairing of lines so that the second relates to the first in a deliberate way. It is the basic structure of Hebrew poetry.
English poetry often works by rhyme and metre; Hebrew poetry works by lines that echo, extend, illustrate, or contrast each other. Reading two parallel lines as two separate statements misses how they are meant to work together.
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What are the main kinds of parallelism in Hebrew poetry?
Synonymous (the second line restates the first), developmental (it builds on it), illustrative (it gives an image of it), and contrastive (it states the opposite).
Proverbs 10:1 is contrastive: the wise son makes his father glad, the foolish son grieves his mother. Psalm 42:1 is illustrative: as a deer longs for water, so the soul longs for God.
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What figures of speech are common in biblical poetry?
Simile, metaphor, hyperbole, personification, and anthropomorphism — speaking of God in human terms, such as his arm or his eyes.
"I flood my bed with tears" is hyperbole; "the rivers clap their hands" is personification. None of them is less true for being figurative. They say something plain language cannot say as well.
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How do you interpret a figure of speech in biblical poetry?
Identify the figure, work out what two things are being compared, and ask what the comparison is meant to convey — both the idea and the feeling.
Many images come from the ancient world, so the comparison may need background to understand. "The Lord is my shepherd" means more when you know what a shepherd's work actually involved.
The Lord is the one who takes care of me - I have everything I need.
Psalm 23:1 -
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How do the Psalms differ from most of the Bible?
Most of the Bible is God speaking to people. Most of the Psalms are people speaking to God — prayers and songs — which God has given to us as his word.
This means a psalm often teaches by example: it shows how to bring grief, anger, fear, and joy to God honestly. Not every line in a prayer is a promise.
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What is a lament psalm, and what are its usual parts?
A cry to God from trouble — the most common type of psalm. It usually moves through address, complaint, request, and an expression of trust or praise.
That the Bible's most common psalm is a complaint says a great deal about the kind of relationship with God it expects. The movement toward trust is usually there, but the complaint is not edited out.
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What is an acrostic poem in the Old Testament?
A poem whose lines or sections begin with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
Psalm 119 has twenty-two sections of eight verses, one for each letter, and Lamentations 1-4 and Proverbs 31:10-31 are acrostics too. The form suggests completeness — everything from A to Z — and it is lost in translation unless your Bible marks the letters.
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What are imprecatory psalms, and how should Christians read them?
Psalms that call on God to judge enemies, sometimes in violent terms. They are honest cries for justice that leave vengeance in God's hands rather than taking it.
They are uncomfortable to read, and they are meant to be. They show a sufferer telling God the truth about their anger instead of acting on it. Christians read them alongside Jesus' command to love enemies, not in place of it.
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What are the main types of psalm?
Laments, praise psalms, thanksgiving psalms, royal psalms about the king, and wisdom psalms, among others.
Knowing the type tells you what the psalm is doing and what to expect next. A lament will usually move toward trust; a thanksgiving psalm usually retells what God did.