Video Transcript: The Language of Hebrew Poetry

One of the most important things to think about as we look through the biblical Wisdom  literature is the style in which it is written. Biblical Wisdom literature is mostly written in  poetry. Now poetry has a lot of forms and a lot of expressions, particularly in the English  language, which I'm familiar with and with all the languages around the world, but Hebrew  

poetry has its own characteristics, and it's very important for us to understand what's going  on. As we begin to think about poetry. There are a number of reasons for poetry, poetry tends  to express strong emotions because rather than the lengthy talking of, of narrative or prose,  poetry tries to collapse everything into a fewer a number of words, that are freighted with  greater expectations, it condenses, living into dramatic moments. And so poetry is about  falling in love, or the moment of tragedy or the great event that changed a person's life or the defining moments of civilization. Poetry is intended to take the big things of life and reduce  them to a few meaningful lines so that through these poetic references, a whole lot of  meaning is generated that we're thinking about a variety of things. And sometimes poetry is  simply an opportunity to provide for group expression, when something is put into the  framework of poetry, it means that we begin to have the possibility of saying or singing things together. One knows Happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear. So  and So happy birthday to you. The fact that it's put into a certain rhythm, the fact that it's put into simplified language and the fact that people can memorize the lines means that a variety of people can say and sing these things all at the same time. It's what happens in church  services. When people sing together, these are prayers. These are testimonies that are made  poetic, therefore taking a whole lot of meaning and placing it into a particular context. And  then allowing for a variety, a whole lot of people to participate in these things all together.  Now, in Hebrew poetry, the qualities of poetic expression are quite different from those in  what we often think about in English poetry or perhaps in any other language. And two of the  dominant expressions that shape and guide Hebrew poetry are parallelism, and meter.  parallelism is a unique form. And we understand it through the translations from Hebrew into  the variety of languages that we read the Bible in. We understand parallelism, because it's  that repetitious quality that we sort of take for granted after a while. But if you read the  wisdom literature for the first time, you think, why does the poet Why does the writer always  use so many words? The poetry of the Bible is built in Hebrew parallelism. We'll talk about  three things synonymous antithetic and stare like parallelism. We'll also talk briefly about  meter, which does not translate well from Hebrew into our other languages, including English, and a variety of other literary techniques. But right now let's focus on parallelism. Scholars  will point out a variety of different kinds of parallelism. But the big granddaddy of them all, is  synonymous parallelism. synonymous parallelism is where two lines are formed using a single idea. And each says that same idea, that same basic thing, that same foundational idea,  using different words. And here are some examples from the book of Job which we're going to  look at more fully in the next lectures. For instance, in Job 3, verse 11, why did I not perish at  birth and die as I came from the womb? Notice that both those lines say essentially the same  thing. It's one idea, but it's expressed in two different ways using different words. The idea  there is that Hebrew parallelism brings emphasis to a concept. And the more times you can  repeat an idea, the more fully it becomes communicated, or sticks in the mind. Why did I not  perish at birth and die as I came from the womb? Those are complementary ideas, saying the  same thing but emphasizing more fully. Again in Job 3, verse 20. Job says, Why is life given to  those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul. Notice that light and life are essentially parallel  concepts. When we wake up in the morning, we begin to see light. And the fact that we are  waking up from slumber is sort of the RE energizing of our lives. We come into this world,  through the birthing process from darkness into light. The New Testament will speak about  this as light and life being the same quality that the God of light creates light and forms life,  the light comes into this world, and the light is the life of all people. And notice the second  part of each of those lines, to those in misery, and to the bitter of soul. If you're miserable,  you're bitter of soul. There's something inside of you which is unfulfilled, or at ill at ease or  not complete, complacent with the life around you. There's something wrong so misery and  bitterness of soul. So again, a duplication of ideas with different words, but a single concept in mind, why is life given to those in misery and life to the bitter of soul. And then again, in Job 

3, verse 25, what I feared has come upon me, what I dreaded has happened to me. Identical  thoughts expressed in different words. Now, of course, we're translating it from the Hebrew.  But this is straightforward translation. This is what the word say what I feared has come upon  me, what I dreaded has happened to me. Notice that Hebrew parallelism, synonymous  parallelism, compounds words to express the same ideas, it's in that multiplication of ideas,  there is a stronger affirmation of what is intended to be said, we may think of this as using too many words, the Hebrew poets use this as their primary form of communication. We'll look a  little later at the recurrence of these things. But it's safe to say that well over half of the lines  in the book of Job the poetic lines from Chapter 3 through chapter 41, are parallelism. And  nearly for at least well over half of them are synonymous parallelism, two lines having the  same meaning, using different words. There is another kind of parallelism that's often used.  And we'll get at this more specifically, in the book of Proverbs, there are a number of  examples of it in the Psalms and in Job and in the other wisdom literature, so we have to know about it. But the antithetic parallelism is similar to synonymous parallelism, but it functions in  a slightly different manner. Again, there's one concept that's attempting to be communicated. The poets have one idea in mind behind these lines. However, instead of using different  words, to say it twice, they use different words, to say it in opposite ways, two lines forming a  single idea, each saying the opposite thing, so that the idea is viewed from two perspectives.  For instance, again, in the book of Job 10, verse 2, do not declare me guilty, but tell me what  charges you have against me. The first is a negative statement, don't say I am guilty. Instead,  do a positive thing. Tell me what it is that I have done. Now together, these two lines Express  basically the same idea. Here's a person who's accused of something, it's possible to say, You  horrible person. It's also possible to say, this is what you did wrong, or this is what we believe  you did wrong. In any case, both of those things, express the same basic response between  the accusers and the accused, but they do so from two different points of view, do not declare me guilty. But tell me what charges you have against me. Again, in chapter 13, verse 19, can  anyone bring charges against me? If so, I will be silent and die. If there is an accuser then I  have nothing to say. But if I am not silent, then there is no one who can bring an accusation  against me. So two ideas about the same person in the same set of circumstances, but from  opposite points of view, is the one outside of me going to speak against me? Or is I or am I  going to speak something to defend myself? Can anyone bring charges against me? If so, I  will be silent and die, or a third possibility and Job 13 Verse 22, then summon me and I will  answer or let me speak and you reply to me. So the idea is two ideas. I expressed from  different points of view, summoned me and I will answer or I will speak and you reply to me.  Either I speak and you you respond or you speak and I respond, one or the other antithetic  parallelism, two lines forming a single idea, each saying the opposite thing so that the idea is  viewed from two perspectives. Now, antithetic parallelism is most often found in the Proverbs, and we're gonna see that coming up, not nearly as much in Job or in Psalms, and in fact,  probably less than 10% in either of those but well over 50% in the Proverbs, a third kind of  parallelism, and again, there are more than these three. But if you look at synonymous  parallelism, maybe 80%, antithetic, parallelism, maybe 10, to 15%. In Job and Psalms, the rest are mostly stair like parallelism, where three or more lines form a single idea. And each line  builds on or expands the idea found in the previous line. For instance, in Job 13, verse 27, you  fasten my sheet it my feet in shackles, you keep close watch on all my paths, by putting  marks on the soles of my feet. So the first idea is that you fasten my, my feet in shackles. In  other words, you prevent me from moving, and then that's amplified so that I'm tied by a  chain, and now you mark how far I can go, you keep close watch on all my past by putting  marks on the soles of my feet, that's those clamps that begin to eat into my flesh. Or in Job  14, verse 5, a person's days are determined, you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits that he cannot exceed. Here, the idea is that we are limited in the amount of  time that we are alive and well on planet Earth. And then that's repeated by synonymous  parallelism in the next two lines, amplifying that first statement. So there's kind of a walking  up the stairs, in amplification of an idea. Or in Job 14, verse 7, at least there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. So you see the idea of a  tree, how is the life of a tree expressed, it grows and then when it grows in may be cut down. 

And then if it's cut down, it sprouts again and the new shoots come up and they become a  new tree. So there's this sense of building upon an idea. It's called stair like parallelism. Now  again, these three forms of Hebrew poetry are found throughout all of the wisdom literature,  but they're also found in varying numbers and synonymous antithetic and stair like  parallelism are found in different quantities, in Job Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of  Songs, and the Lamentations. A couple of other things to look at. One is, the idea of meter.  meter is rhythm in repetitive stress patterns. And let me show you an example of that. Here's  a poem which I learned when I was very young part of a poem. It's the song of Hiawatha, and  one of the things that I gained from my memorization of this poem is the idea of how strong  the beat can be in poetic lines. By the Shores of Gitche Gumee by the shining big sea water  stood the wigwam of Nokomas, daughter of the moon Nokomas dark behind it rose the forest  rose the black and gloomy pine trees rose the firs with cones upon them. Bright before it beat  the water beat the clear and sunny water beat the shining big sea water. No. What was it that  Wadsworth Longfellow was seeking to express through that that poem goes on for many  stanzas, but it has that quality about it. If you read it out loud and read it Well what happens  is you begin to hear the beating of the Native American drums. So the very meter or beating  or pattern of expression of the poetry gives rise to other connotations that start playing on  your mind. If you read the song of Hiawatha, well, or if someone reads it to you, you will begin to feel yourself around the campfire by the shores of Gitche Gumee, with the beating of the  drums and someone chanting these lines. Hebrew poetry makes use of that same technique.  The unfortunate part for us is that this technique of the beat is not easily translated from  Hebrew into other languages. So unless you learn to Hebrew, you will not gain the richness of  this. But it is a huge poetic device that allows the background sound of the of the words  themselves, and the way in which the rhythm is produced by their pronunciation to push  forward the meaning, unfortunately, that being a huge part of Hebrew poetry, we can't  communicate well in our English or other translations. There is the other collection of ideas  that are part of Hebrew poetry as well. There are acrostics and alliteration and assonance and enveloping and chiasm. Again, most of these cannot be expressed well in our English  translations, but we ought to at least think about them acrostics means that the beginning of  the various lines fall in line with the beginning or the movement of the letters of the Hebrew  alphabet, and so acrostics will often have either 26 couplets two lines together, or more in  multiples of 26, based upon what it is, how many lines are using the initial letters, following  this successive outflow of the Hebrew alphabet. We'll get into that a little bit later on,  alliteration where there's a repetition of beginning letters or sounds with a number of  consecutive or nearby words in a line or a group of lines. Sounds repeated. assonance says  the same thing not so much alliteration was is with consonant sounds assonance is with vowel sounds repeated. A number of times in a line enveloping is where there will be a concept or  an idea at the beginning. And at the end of something sort of like you put the middle part of  the poem or writing into the envelope which surrounds it, this envelope of a single idea, and  then chiasm which is repeating successive terms or ideas in reverse order after the midpoint  of the poem or story. We'll look at this more carefully. When we get to the Psalms. It's not  found in Job, but it is found regularly in the Psalms, and we'll take a look at it there. Not all of  these are able to be expressed well in the English language or other translations. But it is  helpful to know these things and especially parallelism, as we're looking at the Hebrew poetry of the wisdom literature. Among all of the tools or techniques of Hebrew poetry, only  parallelism is consistently evident in our translations into other languages. And those other  tools and techniques get lost in translation. parallelism is virtually always present. And that's  what makes up Hebrew poetry. And that's why we see it as such. When we open the pages of  our Bibles, and again, synonymous parallelism is dominant. Probably 90% of the lines in Job  and probably 80% of the lines in the Psalms antithetic is the second most prominent method  for creating poetry. Dominant in Proverbs at least 50% of the proverbs are antithetic. Less so  in Psalms and Job and stair like is often used to slow down our thinking in order to get us to  pause and reflect more fully on an idea. Keep these things in mind that especially parallelism,  as we move through the rest of our studies of Job Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of  Songs and Lamentations.