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Old Testament Basics - Lesson 08. 
Dr. Sid Buzzell.

Lesson Eight.
In this lesson, we study some of the Bible's most beautiful and exalted literature. In fact it's some of the most beautiful literature ever written anywhere. In this session, we're going to be studying Old Testament poetry. Most of this poetry came from the time of David and Solomon but not all of it. Many people believe that that's the only poetry found in the Bible, but let's just talk for a minute about where we find poetry in the Bible.

Actually five books are written entirely or almost entirely in poetic form. The book of Psalms: most people think of poetry and all they think of is Psalms, but the Proverbs, that piece of wisdom literature, is also written almost exclusively in poetry. The Song of Solomon and the book of Lamentations are written entirely in poetry. And the book of Job is almost entirely written in poetry. There's an opening section and a closing section that's written in prose, but the whole middle part of the book of Job is written in poetry.

Many of the narrative books, remember we talked about the books that carry the story forward, we think of them as narrative and they are, but they also contain sections of poetry. Some of the most intricate and beautiful poetry in the Old Testament is found in the book of Genesis, in the book of Exodus, Judges has poetry, 1 and 2 Samuel both have poetry in them.

So when we read the chronology, when we read the narrative books of the Old Testament, we often find ourselves in poetic sections. All but two of the prophetic books contain poetry, some long sections. Isaiah has some of the most beautiful poetry in all of the Old Testament.

There are only seven of the 39 Old Testament books that don't contain poetry. So while most of the poetry is contained in what we call the poetic literature, we also realize that from Genesis right through to the end of the Old Testament is sprinkled with this magnificent form of writing called poetry.

Well, what distinguishes poetry? What makes a piece of literature poetry in the Hebrew sense? Now poetry doesn't deal with what the writer is saying. It has nothing to do with what the writer is saying. It has everything to do with how the writer is saying what he is saying. When you think poetry, you think of distilled language. You think of intense expression of thought. It's a condensed way of expressing truth, and it draws the reader into the process. When you're reading narrative, when you're reading many of the sermons that are recorded in the prophets, they're giving us their truth; they're explaining that truth.

Poetry is written in such a way that the reader has to interact with what the writer has put on the page. When we say it's distilled language, you have to see the writer of Old Testament poetry working very hard to find that particular word that fits, to find the particular interaction between the lines. It's difficult to write poetry, and you can almost hear the poet thinking in his mind, "If I'm going to work this hard to write it, they're going to have to work to understand it." Because the poet understood that truth discovered is more powerful than truth given.

So, if you try to read Old Testament poetry quickly, casually, easily, it won't work. You have to get into the process. Now Old Testament poetry isn't like most western poetry, it doesn't rhyme. It doesn't have meter. What sets poetic literature apart in the Old Testament is what's called parallelism. In other words, the writer would write a line and then he would write another line that corresponded with that first line.

And while the first line makes sense, and the second line makes sense, the meaning of the poetic structure is between the lines. It's almost like a boy scout rubbing two sticks together until he gets a fire. And what the writer of poetry wants you to do is rub those two lines together, and I like to say the meaning is in the middle. While there is meaning in the first line and meaning in the second line, the real meaning of Hebrew poetry emerges when the relationship between the lines is discovered.

Let me give you an illustration. Psalm 11 8:1 contains two lines where the thought of the second line expands on the thought of the first line. Listen and see if you can see how the lines work. The first line says, "O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good." So the psalmist is calling the reader to give thanks to the Lord, and then he gives a reason why we should give thanks to the Lord.

But then the writer wanted to expand on that thought so line two says, "for his loving kindness is everlasting." "O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good." Now what I mean by "he is good," is that his loving kindness is everlasting. So the second line expands on the thought of the first line. So when you're reading Hebrew poetry, read the two lines and then ask yourself how does line 2 relate to line 1? What's the relationship? What is the poet doing with these lines?

Now the vast majority of Hebrew poetry is put together in two-line verses. Some verses carry three lines, a very few contain four, and rarely you'll find a five-lines verse of Hebrew poetry. That's how Hebrew poetry works. And if we don't read it as it's designed, we don't really get the beauty of the expression. So we have to work with the poet's craft. Let's look at another illustration. Sometimes the relationship between the two lines of Hebrew poetry is what's called synonymous, in other words the writer will just repeat what he said in the first sentence.
"The earth is the Lord's, and all it contains." Second line: "The world and those who dwell in it." That's Psalm 24:1. So you see the second line just repeated the first line. "The earth is the Lord's, and all it contains, the world and those who contain it." Sometimes the lines are set in contrasts. When you see the word but introducing the second line, you know it's contrast. Psalm 1:6: "The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish."

Sometimes a second line just completes the first line. Psalm 2:6: "I have installed my king upon Zion." The second line, "my holy mount," just completes the thought. Sometimes the two lines compare something. For instance in Psalm 42:1: "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God." So the second and the first line just compare something. My heart pants for you in the way that a deer pants for the water brooks.

So ask yourself, "What is the relationship between the lines?" Now that may seem like a lot of information to throw at you, but my concern is that sometimes when I get into the Psalms or into the Proverbs, I want to read a whole chapter, and I just find myself reading along and my mind isn't really processing. It's not really working with the poet. And so I don't really benefit, my eyes are just going down the page.

Read poetry slowly. Read poetry with your mind engaged. Read poetry by asking what is the first line saying? What is the second line saying? What's the relationship between the two lines? It's interesting that Psalm 1, the gateway to the Psalms, talk about the person who is blessed. And in verse 2 it says that the blessed person delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on it day and night.

What the psalmist is telling us in Psalm 1 is that if you don't meditate on these psalms, they really won't speak very loudly to you. So that's how Old Testament poetry works. We said there are five books that are written mostly in poetry, two of them are wisdom books. Proverbs and Job are wisdom books but they're written in poetic form. Remember we said poetry doesn't deal with what the writer is saying but how the writer is saying what the writer is saying.

We'll study those books, Proverbs and Job, in the next lesson, because while they're written in poetry, they are wisdom books. The book of Psalms, the book of Song of Solomon, the book of Lamentations are written in poetry, but they are too of poetry. They are written as poetry in poetic form to exalt our minds, to lift us up into the presence of God.

The book of Psalms was written over many years of Israel's history. The earliest psalm, Psalm 90, is a psalm of Moses, so it was written in Moses' day. Psalm 137 was obviously written either during or after the exile. So from the time of Moses to the time of the exile is the period covered by the Psalms.

David wrote many of the psalms, collected many others. So we understand that most people associate the Psalms with the kingdom era, with David's life, because David was the primary poet. The Psalms are prayers. The Psalms are the expression of the human heart toward God. Now what's interesting about that is most of the rest of the Bible, in fact the rest of the Bible, is God's message to us. It's, "Thus saith the Lord." Those sayings of God are inspired.

All Scripture is inspired by God, but what we read in the Psalms are God's inspired way of showing us how we should talk to Him. All the rest of Scripture comes this way, it's God speaking to us, the Psalms are God inspiring people about how we should talk to God.

Some of those Psalms express worship. Some express thanks for deliverance. Some express great confidence as the psalmist was in deep trouble and came to God and poured out his trouble, but by the end of the psalm the psalmist is confidently thanking God because he believes God is going to deliver him.

Some of the Psalms express anger and frustration toward God. Some of them talk about terrible feelings toward enemies. But what we discover in the Psalms is that there is nothing in our heart, there is nothing in our mind that we can't express to God honestly, confidently, and openly.

So as you read the Psalms, sometimes you'll say, "I can't believe anybody would say that to God," Well, God knows what's in our mind and our heart before we say it. And he's saying, "The only safe place you can come and say these deep feelings that trouble you is to Me. If you said these things to your enemies, it would infuriate them. So say them to Me. That's what I'm here for."

Sometimes when we're angry at God and we're frustrated at God, God says, "I can take it, don't be afraid. Come and tell Me how you feel. Let's deal with it. Let's put it on the table." So these Psalms, as beautiful as they are, also teach us how to pray.

A second book along with the Psalms that's included in the poetic literature is the Song of Solomon. Song of Solomon is a difficult book for many people. It actually doesn't even mention God. It's a story of a young man and a young woman who are attracted to each other. They have a courtship, there's a wedding scene, a beautiful wedding scene all written in poetry. Then there's the culmination of their love, their affection for each other.

It speaks in poetic language about the sexual fulfillment of their marriage. Tension enters the relationship, gives a touch of reality there. The tension is resolved and the book closes with this story, this beautiful story of a loving relationship between a man and woman who fall in love, get married, and fulfill their marriage relationship.

That troubles some people. Why is that in the Bible? I guess I would ask, "Why isn't this in the Bible? Why wouldn't it be in the Bible?" God is never embarrassed about how He created us. We read in Genesis that the purpose of the sexual relationship between a man and a woman is procreation. We read in 1 Corinthians that the purpose of a healthy sexual relationship between a man and a woman is to prevent people going outside of that marriage relationship to find that fulfillment.

What we find in the book of the Song of Solomon is that God created sex as something that should be marvelously enjoyed between a man and a woman who are married. It's a beautiful story. It's written in poetic form. Sometimes when you read it you'll have to stop. And as we said talking about the Psalms, you're going to have to work with the poet to see what the poet is doing with this beautiful story. But that's the Song of Solomon.
A third book that's written purely in poetic form, not wisdom literature but just as poetry, is the tragic book of Lamentations. We've referred to it a couple of times. It seems like Lamentations fits in a number of places. It becomes a color book. It becomes a chronological book. Here it becomes a poetic book, because that's how it's written. And the prophet sat on this rubble expressing his deep sorrow, the deep tragic story of people's disobedience, but he expressed it in this beautiful poetic form. A book that should be read, that should be savored.

Old Testament poetry expresses thoughts about God in deep meditative fashion. And you can see God presented in the poets like you don't see Him presented anywhere else. Take the time to listen to the psalmist in Psalm 1, "Delight in the law of the Lord, but meditate on it." Let God speak to you in the depths of your soul by forcing your mind and your heart to work with the poet.

You have to think, you have to pray, you have to meditate if you're going to read Old Testament poetry the way it was designed to be read. Cooperate with the writer; let God deepen the roots of your soul by spending time in this beautiful poetic literature.