Rightly Divided s01e03 Poetry

This podcast discusses various ways to study the Bible effectively. The focus of this episode is on studying and interpreting biblical poetry. The guest explains that biblical poetry is different from modern poetry in that it is thought-based rather than sound-based. Hebrew poetry is constructed in a way that allows for easy memorization and recall of ideas. Biblical poetry can be sophisticated and uses literary constructs to convey meaning. The guest also discusses different structures and forms used in biblical poetry, such as parallelism, metaphor, hyperbole, and repetition. Examples from Scripture are provided to illustrate these structures. This is Truth Rightly Divided, a podcast of PreachItTeachIt.org. I'm your host, Tom Terry, and in this podcast, we'll be exploring the various ways of doing Bible study so that you can get the most out of your time when studying God's Word. Our guest for this eight-week series on basic Bible study is Dr. Steve Posey, an instructor with International Leadership University. Dr. Posey teaches Bible study methods and conducts other training for crew staff all across Africa. He will be with us for the next six episodes of Rightly Divided to help you get a firm grasp on how to study the Bible according to its various types of genre. For this episode, we'll be talking about how to study and interpret biblical poetry. Steve, I'm a person who likes everything pretty much straightforward and literal. I'm that kind of person. Biblical poetry throws me for a loop. It can be hard to understand what a writer of biblical poetry, for me, is trying to say. But I've learned that other cultures don't necessarily have that problem. Well, and I think that's correct, Tom. In fact, my studies and my experience have shown me that by the very educational structures that you and I went through as Westerners, when we encounter Hebrew poetry or quite honestly poetry from other cultures around the world, our tendency is to scratch our head and say, what are they talking about and how do I understand what that means? So very common experience, very common. How is biblical poetry different from modern poetry? And I know that may be a loaded question. Well, it's loaded, but it's what we need to be talking about when we start talking about reading poetry, but more important than simply reading, interpreting what we've read. So it's a great, great question. I think one of the basic things is that for us, at least, in the English language, poetry has a thing that we call rhyme. It doesn't rhyme if it doesn't rhyme all the time. And so we want to hear the words do something like that. Hebrew poetry, quite honestly, poetry from the Middle East today, it's not about rhyme. So that's the first major difference that you and I probably notice and possibly some of our listeners might notice. There's not a rhyming system in Hebrew poetry. I was taught that Hebrew poetry rhymed ideas, though not rhyme like we understand in the West. Is that really true, though? Well, and that's the second point, and so you moved me along. Hebrew poetry is thought-based. It's not sound-based. And so it's thought about ideas, information, concepts, rather than sounds, rhyme, in other words. So that's the second point, is that English poetry, which I just did one that wasn't poetry but sounded like a little rhyme, and you go, you know, oh, there it is, that's poetry. It's not Hebrew. Hebrew is thought-based. In other words, the ideas are the point. And the reason for that construction is that they wanted the people, I'm trying to think how to say this well, the poets of biblical days, Israelite poets, wanted the people to be able to remember what was said. And poetry was one of the best tools in that time when a majority of people could not read, a majority of people did not have manuscripts of any kind, let alone read them, as I just said. And so they wanted the people to be able to learn, and poetry made it easy to learn because those thoughts and ideas in the Hebrew mind, in the Hebrew mentality, in the Hebrew culture, those thoughts and ideas were available to be memorized, and they were easily memorized. And so then they could be recalled. So there are a lot of, for me, the novice, there's a lot of what I would call constructs for biblical poetry. It's not just one type of thing, but it really seems to me that biblical poetry is actually very sophisticated. It's not simple. We would think people who were writing 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 years ago would be simplistic, but actually they really weren't. They were actually quite sophisticated, weren't they? That's correct. And once you get into their system, if I can say it that way, their sophistication shows even more, because you find in doing things with words, if I can use the word wordplay, and using the words in certain ways, that the person who's attuned to what they're doing gets the meaning. And that's the idea. See, you and I might do poetry for fun. We love the sound. And it's not that poets in the Western world aren't concerned about meaning. They very are. But they use, once again, the sound base to get the meaning, whereas the Hebrew poets were using constructs, let's call them literary constructs, and they were constructing their poetry in such a way that it carried the meaning with it, and the people could understand that meaning. It had nothing to do with the rhyming of the words. Okay. What are some of the ways that we can identify a biblical poem as compared to another type of biblical text? And I ask that because you do hear arguments from time to time, people saying, oh, well, this is a poem or parallelism or something of that nature in the biblical text, and therefore it doesn't really mean anything literal or anything of that nature. But then I find that's not really true either. So how do you define what is a biblical poem as opposed to another type of genre? Okay. Well, interesting... Or can it contain another type of genre at the same time? Well, most of your major prophets in the Old Testament, a majority of their prophecies are poetry. Now I wouldn't know that normally because of, once again, what we've already talked about, our mindset of what poetry looks like. But the prophets, Isaiah, for example, Jeremiah, for example, they used Hebrew poetry to communicate those thoughts. And so you have the prophet utilizing poetry, and sometimes the poetry talks about its fourth telling. He's using the poetry to, for lack of a better term, tell the Israelite people where they're at with respect to God. And usually that's not real positive. At other times, it is foretelling. Not as much, but there is foretelling in the prophets, Isaiah being one of them who foretells a great deal, especially about the Messiah. But so it's still poetry, and it's still prophecy at the same time. The fact that it's poetry doesn't mean it can't be prophecy, and the fact that it's prophecy doesn't mean it can't be poetry in the Hebrew sense, because once again, we're looking for meaning. What does this mean is the most important question that we ask. Now there are all sorts of forms that they use in the biblical text. You already mentioned one of them, parallelism. That's probably the, let's say, the predominant form used by the Hebrew poets, parallelisms, and there are all types of parallelisms. We'll get into those as we go. But they also use metaphor. Metaphor is used a lot. It's an exaggeration of a word or a situation which captures your attention, and so metaphors are used a lot in Hebrew poetry. But another thing that they use is, I'm sorry, I said metaphor, hyperbole is an exaggeration. That's the exaggeration, hyperbole. Metaphor is to say something about another thing with different words, and so they use that. One of the big, other big things other than parallelisms, but also involved in the parallelisms, is repetition. Repetition of the same words, repetition of the same thought in different words, and that draws the reader's, the hearer's attention to what they were talking about. Those are just some. There's much more. Okay, so you've already begun to touch a bit on the different structures of the text. So when we're examining a poetic text, what are some of the other structures of the text that we should be watching for, and can you give us some examples from Scripture? Yeah, let's try that. Well, I mentioned parallelisms, and as I said, there are different types. So let me just enumerate a few of those types and try and give you a couple of examples from Scripture. Okay? All right. Well, when we speak of parallelisms, there are many types, and one of the most common one is called synonymous parallelism. And let me give you a definition from the authors and the experts, and then we'll break it down into how does it really work. The definition would be this, that in synonymous parallelism, the second line or subsequent lines repeat and reinforce the idea that was on the first line, the thought pattern that was on the first line. It does not mean that they use the exact same words, in fact, usually they don't, but it does repeat that thought pattern. For example, let's try this one. In Isaiah 44, verse 22, here's what the prophet writes. So listen for the synonymous parallelism. I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Did you notice that? I've swept away your offenses, how? Like a cloud. Your sins, which are offenses, like the morning mist. So the cloud and the mist line up, and the offenses and the sins line up. That's synonymous parallelism. Does that make sense? That does make sense. Okay, good. And very often, the first idea is repeated throughout. For example, let's go to Psalm chapter 2, verse 3, and here's what the psalmist writes. Let us break their chains, they say, and throw off their feathers. Chains lines up with feathers. So it's the same, exact same idea, but said in a different way. So it's synonymous. In our English language, we'd say, well, that's a synonym. Well, that's synonymous parallelism. That's probably the leading type of parallelism that we find in the poets in the Old Testament. But it's not the only one. Okay, what have you got? Okay. Another one would be, one type of this would be emblematic. Say that again? Emblematic. Emblematic. Emblematic. Thank you. It's an emblem, and it's matic. Emblematic. And emblematic is a specific kind of parallelism in which one line contains a simile, which is a comparison, or a metaphor, which is another way of saying it. Let me give you an example, Psalm 103, verse 13. Here's what the psalmist writes. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. Do you notice that he's playing with the same thing? Compassion and compassion. For children, but also those who fear him. So those who fear him are like his children. That's what the psalmist seems to be saying to us. That gets us over into, and we're not going to go down this trail right this minute, I know we'll do this later, interpreting. But we need to understand that that emblematic plays that type of role. So recognizing these types of structures in the text is part of the observation phase, not the interpretation phase. Thank you. That's certainly part of the observation phase. I think it's very important to say right at this point, as we're observing, when we are looking at Hebrew poetry, and especially the parallelisms, we need to remember and understand that the ideas are not to be taken literally. But don't they point to a literal thing? They do. Thank you. Very good clarification. They point to something that is very literal and very important and very real. But we don't take them literally. We have to ask the question, what is his emphasis with his words? What is he saying with his words? What is he trying to communicate? What is the idea? So that's part of interpretation. We'll get into that later. But it's not just a literal, oh, you know, and we're going to talk about this later. The mountains didn't jump. Oh, goodness, they didn't. What does that mean? There must be an error. No, he's not trying to say the mountains did jump, but he's talking about joy. And so he's using that to give you that idea. But I'm a little off there, so let's go back. The second kind of synonymous parallelism is climactic. In other words, it keeps you moving to a climax at the end. That is pointing you toward the end goal. And so it repeats those items that were given at first, but it repeats them to draw to a conclusion, hence the word climactic. Now, let's try this one, Psalm 29, 3. Ascribe to the Lord, O mighty ones, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Did you hear that? You see, ascribe to the Lord, O mighty ones, what? Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. So it's building up to that climax. That's building that climax. It's parallel because you're to ascribe, and one is to the Lord, but the other was to the mighty ones. And that's very important that we catch that. Now, another instance of this, let's call it, is very famous. It's the Song of Deborah in Judges, chapter 5, verse 27. And she's talking here about the woman who has basically killed the enemy. And here's what she says. At her feet he sank, he fell. There he lay, at her feet he sank, he fell. Where he sank, there he fell, dead. And so she's drawing you, drawing you, drawing you, dead. That's the climax. And that parallelism was used. At her feet he sank. Second line, at her feet he sank. First line, the second part, he fell, there he lay. Second line, second part, he fell, where he lay, or where he sank. So switched around the order a little bit, but the very same idea. Now, see, to the Western ear, like mine, she's just repeating herself. That's exactly what is our challenge, to realize that that repetition isn't just for fun. Yeah, for me, repetition doesn't carry meaning except, well, when you want to emphasize something, which obviously I think she did in that passage, but it goes beyond that. Oh, well, that's certainly a function, the emphasizing, but it goes beyond so that you'll understand really what is being said. Beyond simple emphasis, it goes to make sure you have a clear understanding of the idea that is being emphasized. Repetition is the most important part of Hebrew poetry because what gets repeated tells you what the person's trying to say with the poet. That's the point they want to drive home. That's the point they want to drive home. Parallelism is a form. Repetition's a form, too, but it's the most important one because it tells you, oh, here's what we're really trying to discover. Here's the idea that the person wants us to have. All right, how do these characteristics of biblical poetry affect our interpretation of the text? Well, our little interaction just a minute or two ago, let's go back to that. Hebrew poetry is not to be simply taken literally. It's just not put together that way, but there's a message there. There's a concept. There's an emphasis, as we talked about. It can talk and does talk about a literal thing. The first thing we have to remember in interpreting Hebrew poetry is it's not literal. I said it a while ago, the mountains, they didn't jump. In fact, there's a form that is used called personification. Personification is when the poet writes and he personifies within animate objects like trees and mountains and streams the feelings of animate objects like people. We have to be careful to not say this when we're looking at a passage like that. The mountains jumped, wow, that's really, what was going on? He's not telling you they were jumping, but he's saying the joy that this situation caused, this context, was as if the mountains were jumping. He's using that to draw your attention, to capture you. I see in biblical poetry a lot of overstatement. Maybe that's not the best word to use, hyperbole, overstatement, that kind of thing. That seems to be the same thing that you're talking about with that text that you're quoting about the mountains. That's exactly it. Hyperbole would be involved there, but that would be also personification, primarily or in first order personification because trees, they don't sing, and mountains, they don't jump, specifically for joy. They might quake a little bit. They might quake, yes. If you're from California in the United States of America, but what he's doing is that overemphasis and wanting you to pay attention to what he's talking about. It's related when the trees have joy and the mountains jump. That's related to what the Lord has done. There's joy when we encounter what the Lord has done. In that passage in the Psalms, that's what he's talking about. That helps us in the interpretation to realize, oh, he's talking about the joy. He wants us to see how much joy is, so that would be a fair interpretation of that. Some biblical poetry, and you already touched on this a little bit earlier, but I want to go back to it. Some biblical poetry seems to have a lot of prophecy about the coming of Christ. In that sense, there are two types of genre that are being used at the same time. You've got poetry, you've got prophecy. But when that happens, which form or genre should steer the interpretation? Should it be the poetry, should it be the prophecy, or something else? That's an excellent question. I'm going to give you my rule of thumb, if I may. In the New Testament, we find that the writers of the New Testament, that would be the apostles who wrote the Gospels, that would be Paul who wrote his epistles, that would be even Peter who wrote his epistles in 1 and 2 Peter, and James. Any time that they quote an Old Testament passage, not always, but when they quote Old Testament passage, very often it is poetry, and that aids you and me in interpreting what that poetry meant. That's a simple rule of thumb. In fact, just for clarity's sake, to make sure that I'm following you, in those instances where poetry is using also prophecy or telling prophecy, the way we tell what it's steered by is the fulfillment that we see in the New Testament to look backward toward it. That's one rule of thumb that I use, yes. For me, that's the most important one, because then I know I'm on solid ground. For example, let's take Jesus. I didn't look up all that he had done, but one of the things he did was, in Matthew 13, verses 13 through 15, he talks about why he speaks in parables, that hearing they might not hear, that seeing they might not see. And he quotes Isaiah chapter 6, verses 9 and 10, which was a prophecy by Isaiah about how the people would respond to the Messiah. Jesus quotes that, and he says, that's what's going on here. That is a clear messianic prophecy, although it is poetry. At the same time. At the same time. And so the fact it's poetry doesn't get in the way, because Jesus says, here's what this poetry meant. He's interpreted it for us. It's about me. And let's take the Apostle Paul in Galatians chapter 4, verses 21 through 27. He talks about the women, and he quotes, once again, Isaiah chapter 54, verse 1 and following. And he quotes about Sarah and Hagar. And in the prophecy, if I can use that word, in Isaiah, because it is prophetic, but it's also poetry, Isaiah says, the woman without, the barren woman will have a child. And that child will be more than the other woman. Other woman's son. And the interesting thing about this barren woman and her inheriting, if I can use that word, this kingdom, is Paul is applying that to the Gentile believers in Galatia. And he's telling us what that prophetic, poetic passage in Isaiah meant. It didn't just mean Sarah, but it meant everyone who approached him, the Lord God, by faith. So that's deep stuff. It really moves us. And we see poetry functioning, and we see prophecy functioning, both at the same time. Okay. All right, before we get ready to close out here, let's see if you've got anything else for us. Yeah, just a couple of things, styles, if I can use that word, that they use. One is called acrostic. And what acrostic is, is they open each line, or verse, or stanza, or whatever you want to call it, with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The primary example of this is Psalm 119. And they do that. But here's the interesting thing. They use repetition in Psalm 119, and he uses, the writer of the psalm, uses this form of every eight verses for every letter in the Hebrew alphabet. So eight verses, it's a self-contained unit. Then new letter, eight verses, self-contained unit. Very interesting form. And it's systematic all the way through. And that makes for a long psalm. It does. The longest one in the Bible. Then we have a thing called chiasm. And the easiest way to explain chiasm is this. A, B, B, C. The two center ideas, or central ideas, work together, whereas the first idea and the last idea open and close. And the two center are the focus. So instead of going A, B, C, D, we go A, B, B, even though it may be spoken differently, it's the same idea right in the center, and then D. That's called chiasm. Isn't that similar to parallelism? It's a type of parallelism, but no, it isn't. Because in parallelism, you could be parallelism, but not all parallelism is that way. Whereas in chiasm, A, B, B, C, or D, however you want to do that, the focus is on the center. Whereas in parallelism, every line is important. Whereas the meaning in chiasm is right in the center. It's almost as if the other two lines just exist so that the center two lines can be given. Okay. Does that make sense? Okay. This has been a very rewarding episode. I think this is really important for us to be able to understand the Psalms of biblical poetry to help get more meaning out of the text and see how it applies to our lives. So thank you, Steve. Appreciate it very much. Oh, so much fun being here. You've been listening to Truth Rightly Divided, a podcast of PreachItTeachIt.org. Today we've been discussing how to interpret biblical poetry. This is the third in an eight-part series on how to study the Bible. I'm your host, Tom Terry with PreachItTeachIt.org. Be sure to visit our website for tools and resources to help you craft your sermon or Bible study. Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you again next time on Truth Rightly Divided, a podcast of PreachItTeachIt.org.