Hebrew Poetry Article from The Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible, K-Q By John R.

Neal

This dictionary article on Hebrew Poetry is thorough but arranged in a format that is easy to read and follow. The author begins by stating that

the Hebrew poetry makes up one-third of the entire Hebrew Bible, an astonishing fact that shows the need to understand the workings of poetry. The books of Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Songs, Lamentations, Obadiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah are poetic in their entirety. 1 One normally thinks of the poetic books being limited to Psalms, Proverbs, and Song of Songs, but this is an incorrect view of Biblical poetry. One must also take into consideration the fact that many books in the Old Testament consist of some type of poetic material (some extensive, while some just a few verses): Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, Ecclesiastes, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah. There are only seven books which contain no poetic lines whatsoever: Leviticus, Ruth, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Haggai, and Malachi (according to Gottwald).2 There is also poetry in the Deutrocanonical books (Apocrypah/Pseudepigrapha). Yet the form of Hebrew poetry can also be found in the New Testament (the first chapter of Luke and the book of Revelation). Even Jesus teachings, while not perhaps poetic, is based firmly upon the Old Testament Wisdom tradition
1 George Arthur Buttrick, Gen. Editor. The Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible, E-Q. (New York: Abingdon Press, 1962), s.v. Hebrew Poetry, by Norman K. Gottwald, 829. 2 Ibid.

(especially seen in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapters 5-7). This article gives a brief history of interpretation of Hebrew poetry and shows that, except for just a few Jewish interpreters, no one really investigated the form and function of poetry in the Old Testament until the 18th century. In 1753, Bishop Robert Lowth (a lecturer at Oxford) publishes in Latin his Lectures on the Sacred Poetry (translated into English in 1815). Lowth throws out trying to equate Hebrew poetry with classical Greek on Latin poetry rules and examines Hebrew poetry at face value. What Lowth discovers is the counterbalancing of verse members, to which he applied the technical term parallelismus membrorum (parallel of members).3 Lowth examines the different types of parallelism in the Hebrew Bible with great success (he would devout five lectures to prophetic poetry, especially from the book of Isaiah).4 In this article, Gottwald lists some six types of Hebrew parallelism. There is (1) synonymous parallelism (where a line states the same thought in successive stichs). (2) Antithetic Parallelism balances the stichs through opposition or contrast in thought. (3) The synthetic or formal parallelism

balances stichs in which the second element advances the thought of the first. (4) Emblematic parallelism uses simile or metaphor. (5) Stairlike

Parallelism is the repetition and advance of thought in successive stichs, often involving three or more stichs. (6) Inverted or chiastic parallelism

3 Ibid, 830. 4 Ibid.

involves the inversion of words or terms in successive stichs. 5 Gottwald also states that the different possibilities of parallelism are greatly multiplied when corresponding between distichs (external parallelism), which supplements the correspondence between stichs (internal

parallelism).6 Gottwald also includes a study of poetic meter, poetic techniques, and looking at the Genre and Life Situation. disagree over is how to determine meter. One aspect that some scholars Gottwald states that meter is

detectable mainly by analogy with other poetry and by implication from the balanced lines.7 A particular stress pattern is based upon the supposition that stress is to be given to each major word within a distich or tristich. Yet the metric theory is based upon the Masoretic accents in the text rather than on any intrinsic evidence from biblical Hebrew. Each word in a line is given one stress. The meter/stress patterns very, but the common pattern of a six-stress distich in Isaiah, Job, and Proverbs is 3+3 meter. At times the sense of a passage requires six stress line (a tristich) with a 2+2+2 pattern. The most common meter in Lamentation and the Psalms of lament (including laments in the prophets) is 3+2 meter (the so-called Lament or Qinah meter). Gottwald also compares similarity of Hebrew poetry with her

counterpart in Canaanite literature (Ugarit) and Babylon.8 In the section on Poetic Techniques, he deals with: (1) Alliteration
5 6 7 8 Ibid, 830-833. Ibid, 833. Ibid, 834. Ibid.

the consonance of sounds and the beginning of words or syllables, (2) Assonance the correspondence of sounds in the accented vowels, (3) Paronomasia where Hebrew poets had a penchant for wordplay, and (4) Onomatopoeia Hebrew is rich in words that sound like what they describe, inasmuch as the language is directly denotative of objects and actions.9 Under the heading of Strophe, he deals with divisions in acrostics. The grouping of distichs (or tristichs) into larger units is not demonstrable in most Hebrew poetry. The use of acrostics in poetry shows that such

arrangement is possible (as in Lamentations 1, 2, 4; Psalm 119). Yet in most poetic acrostics the correct sequence of thought ignores the formal strophic divisions.10 The last section deals with the different types of genre in Hebrew Poetry: Poetic Fragments, Anthologies, Recurring and Nonrecurring Types, Secular Types, Hymns, Laments and Confessions, Thanksgiving and Trust Songs, Royal Psalms, Prophetic Poetry, and Emancipation from types.11 This article is well-written has a good bibliography. Although this dictionary is

old, the material is still relevant to Biblical studies.

Article on Hebrew Wisdom Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible, R-Z

9 Ibid, 835. 10 Ibid. 11 Ibid, 837-38.

In this article on Wisdom, by S.H. Blank, begins by defining wisdom as a quality of mind distinguishing the wise man, but virtue of which he is skilled and able to live well and both succeed and counsel success (sounds similar to Berrys definition of right thinking that leads to right living).12 He begins by discussing wisdom in the courts of ancient Israel (the wisdom of Daniel, Moses/Aaron, and Joseph). The term wise men used in Daniel 2:1214 incorporates the so-called magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans of Daniel 2:2. The wisdom of these men like Daniel, Moses, and Joseph show the superiority of Gods wisdom over that of even Babylons and Egypts wise sages.
13

There is probably a group known as the wise

men who may have served as counselors for the kings, but they may have been a distinct group even apart from the royal courts like prophets of God.14 The author of this article deals with the commonality of wisdom literature throughout the Ancient Near East and contrasting Proverbs and Ecclesiastes with that of Amen-em-opet and the Ugaritic and Akkadian wisdom texts. Blank notes that dependence of Proverbs on the Aramaic He continues by

sayings of Ahiqar is possible but not beyond question.

stating that the effort is both futile and pointless to deny that the wisdom literature of the Bible is a segment of the wisdom of the east but the fact remains that much of the influence of Egypt, Phoenicia, or Babylonia upon

12 George Arthur Buttrick, Gen. Editor, The Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible, R-Z. (New York: Abingdon, 1962), s.v. Wisdom, by S.H. Blank, 852-53). 13 Ibid, 853. 14 Ibid, 854-56.

biblical wisdom is more diffuse than specific.15 The article covers the genre of wisdom material, the mashal, found in the Hebrew text (similar to a riddle, parable, or allegory). Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes are the three books in the Hebrew Bible that contain the mashal sayings (short, pithy wise sayings). He also covers the subject of wisdom in the books of Daniel and the Deuterocanonical books of IV Maccabes, Ecclesiasticus, and the Wisdom of Solomon.16 The article concludes by asking the question, Where shall wisdom be found? There are those who believe that wisdom or intelligence comes by nature (or by birth, some either have intelligence, or they do not; 1 Samuel 16:18; 1 Kings 2:9). Some find in scripture that the simple can acquire wisdom if they desire (Prov. 1:7; Ecclus. 1:14). There is the belief that all wisdom, both human/earthly and spiritual/Divine come from God. When

reflecting upon passages from both the Old and New Testament, this is probably the correct view. Even James reminds us that if anyone lacks

wisdom, then we must ask of God. Overall, this is a well written article that is not overly technical and includes a good bibliography for further research on the subject of wisdom.

15 Ibid, 855. 16 Ibid, 857-60.