Poetry in the Bible

The Jewish people loved playing with words. Unfortunately, it’s often not easy to see this in modern translations because the text has been rendered into straightforward English.

The vocabulary of the Hebrew language is limited, so words have to be stretched and arranged in calculated ways if any precision or colour is to be gained.

For these reasons, the ancient Jews loved poetry, and delighted in sophisticated word play. The Bible, and particularly the Old Testament, abound in clever puns and alliteration, and colourful metaphors. In this way, the meaning of the words comes alive.

 The Bible also abounds in poetry. Most of the prophets used poetry extensively; or, at the least, their speeches readily lent themselves to written preservation in poetic form. This use of poetry is sometimes indicated in modern Bibles by the typesetter’s layout.

One of the most powerful techniques in Hebrew poetry is parallelism. Here, a sentence states a fact. The very next sentence says exactly the same thing but in different words and images. Consider Psalm 19:1 ‘The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.’ The two halves of the verse say the same but in wholly different ways.

At other times, though, the second sentence manages to expand the first, which helps explain the meaning. Consider Psalm 23:2, ‘He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters.’ The second half tells us why the pastures are green: the grass is irrigated by water! Incidentally, the creation of men and women in Genesis 1:27 is best understood when read in this light. It says, ‘God created man in his own image … male and female he created them.’ By recognising that Hebrew poetry employs parallelism, we are to understand that God’s image in humankind is made complete when there are both male and female. To address God as ‘he’ is simplistic.

Some books of the Bible not only use poetic language but are collections of poetry and song. In the Old Testament, these books are located after the histories and before the prophets. They comprise: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs.

Job is probably the oldest book in the bible. It comprises a philosophical study on the age-old question of suffering. Some of its poetry is gemlike: try Job 19.

Psalms is the longest book of the bible at 150 chapters. Perhaps as many as half were penned by King David. Other writers include King Solomon and the shadowy King Lemuel. The psalms describe every possible human emotion from blinding anger, via contrition and pain, to bliss.

Proverbs is traditionally regarded as the work of King Solomon, but the actual book itself suggests several other additional authors. The book is philosophical by nature and filled with short, pithy sayings. Its aim is to educate its readers, guarding them against moral error.

Finally come Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs, which are also ascribed to King Solomon, although Song of Songs is anonymous, and Ecclesiastes only mentions ‘the teacher’ and ‘son of David, king of Jerusalem.’

Hebrew does not have the word ‘very,’ so biblical Hebrew repeats itself for emphasis: the most holy place in the temple is ’the holy of holies’ and Jesus is ’King of kings and Lord of lords.’ It’s a very Jewish way of emphasising the biggest, best, or most important.  As 1 Kings 4:32 describes King Solomon writing five thousand and five songs, it was perhaps natural to name the best of them, ‘The song of songs.’ Similarly, the book of Ecclesiastes explores the ‘vanity of vanities.’

Ecclesiastes is one of the more surprising books in the Bible. It is difficult to judge whether the book contains the views of a man so used to pleasure he has become cynical and bored, or whether it is intended as a philosophical treatise. At first sight, its dismissal of life seems to come from someone who’s seen it all—and then rejected it. Indeed, it’s a dark reflection on the apparent futility of existence: as the author says repeatedly, ‘everything is meaningless.’ But Ecclesiastes also includes moments of humour, lightness, and passages of startling and startling beauty.

The book begins with a bang: ‘ “nothing makes sense!” cries the teacher “Everything is nonsense”.’ It’s saying life seems pointless and can be boring (1:8).

The Song of Songs says that humankind can reach satisfaction through love. As a further example of parallelism, Ecclesiastes then tells us that we cannot obtain satisfaction through knowledge alone.