SPIRITUAL INSIGHTS PAGE

Hebrew Poetry & Music

This page is divided into five sections: Styles, Figures of Speech, Parallelism, Forms, and Music.

Styles

Styles are modes of expressing thought. There are at least three used in the Bible.

Logical literature expresses its thought logically and every work or phrase contains significant information. This is the style encountered when one reads a physics book or newspaper.

Prose is the mode of expressing thought that makes use of stories. A story is literature like "The Empire Strikes Back" or "Uncle Tom's Cabin."

The third style is poetry. Examples of poetry in the English language include "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" and the words to many Christian hymns. English poetry is most recognizable when it utilizes rhythm and rhyme and when it especially appeals to the emotion.

Hebrew poetry accounts for most of the poetry in the Bible. It does not have to make use of rhythm and rhyme. Rather parallelisms are the recognizable characteristic of Hebrew poetry. It also makes extensive use of figures of speech. However, other styles also use figures of speech.

Figures of Speech

Here are some of the most common:

• Synecdoche: One thing is substituted for another thing that is intimately associated with it.

1. A part is put for the whole: Genesis 6:12: ". . . all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth." Flesh is put for the whole man.
2. The whole is put for a part: 1 Samuel 5:4: "And the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off on the threshold; only Dagon was left to him (literal translation)." Dagon is put for a part of him--his body less head and hands.
3. A subcategory is put for a category: Psalm 44:6: "For I will not trust in my bow, nor will my sword save me." A bow and a sword are used for all implements of war.
4. A category is put for a subcategory: Colossians 1:23: ". . . the hope of the Gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, . . ." All creation is put for mankind.

• Metonymy: One thing is substituted for another thing because they are frequently associated though not intimately.

1. The cause is put for the effect: Acts 21:21: ". . . you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, . . ." Moses is put for the writing he authored.
2. The effect is put for the cause: Luke 2:30: "For my eyes have seen Thy salvation, . . ." Salvation is put for the One who authors it.
3. The object is put for something pertaining to it: Matthew 6:21: ". . . for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." The heart is put for the affections commonly associated with it.
4. That which pertains to anything is put for the thing itself: Job 31:21: "If I have lifted up my hand against the orphan, because I saw I had support in the gate." Support is put for those who offered Job assistance.

• Merism: Two contrasting parts represent a totality. Psalm 139:2: "Thou dost know when I sit down and when I rise up." Sitting down and rising up are put for everything David does.

• Euphemism: A mild expression is substituted for one that might offend. John 11:11: "'Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; . . .'" Sleep is put for death.

• Hendiadys: Two terms are joined by "and" to express a single concept in which one of the terms defines the other. Psalm 89:24: "And My faithfulness and My lovingkindness will be with him, . . ." My faithfulness and My lovingkindness is put for My faithful lovingkindness.

• Simile: Something is explicitly compared to something different. The words "like" or "as" are always used. Psalm 1:3: "And he will be like a tree firmly planted . . ." One who meditates on God's Word is compared to a tree tapped into a stream of water. The tree needs water and receives it abundantly from the stream. This is explicitly compared to the spiritual nourishment a person needs and receives abundantly by meditating on the Word.

• Metaphor: Something is explicitly defined by another thing because of a likeness between them. The verb, is, is used. Psalm 41:4: "His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark." God is faithful in providing Israel with security (represented by defenses that would provide security) from its enemies.

• Hypocatastasis: Something suggests a comparison with another thing. Matthew 16:6: "'Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.'" "Leaven" is used for the doctrine that the Pharisees and the Sadducees taught and that permeates their followers like leaven permeates dough.

• Personification: Attributing personal characteristics to an inanimate object or abstract idea is personification. Psalm 35:10: "All my bones will say, 'Lord, who is like thee, . . .'" Bones are inanimate and do not talk.

• Anthropomorphism: God is represented as having the characteristics of a man. Psalm 31:1-2: ". . . O Lord, . . . incline Thine ear to me, . . ." God is spirit and does not have an ear like a man.

• Zoomorphism: God is represented as being or having the characteristics of an animal. John 1:29: "'Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!'" God is not a lamb.

Parallelism:

Different lines of poetry correspond to each other through parallelism like the types cataloged below:

• Synonymous: There is similarity between the two joining lines. Psalm 33:16: "The king is not saved by a mighty army;/a warrior is not delivered by great strength." The "king" is the same as the "warrior." "Saved" is the same as "delivered." "A mighty army" is similar to "great strength."

• Synthetic: The second line repeats one idea from the first line and develops it further. Psalm 24:3: "Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?/And who shall stand in his holy place." Many commentaries incorrectly speak of synthetic parallelism when addressing formal parallelism.

• Emblematic: The first line carries the concept and the second illustrates it with an image--the order may be reversed. Psalm 52:2: "Your tongue devises destruction,/like a sharp razor, O worker of deceit."

• Antithetical: There is a contrast between the first and second lines. Proverbs 29:2: "When the righteous increase, the people rejoice,/but when a wicked man rules, the people groan."

• Climactic: The initial portion of the first line is repeated in the second line but both end with different portions. Psalm 93:3: "The floods have lifted up their voice;/the floods lift up their pounding waves."

• Formal: Two lines are joined solely to complete the thought. Psalm 45:7: "Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness;/therefore God, Thy God, has anointed Thee/with the oil of joy above Thy fellows."

The Poetic Forms

Parallelisms and Figures of Speech are used in all types of Hebrew poetry. However, forms are only used in psalms.

The search for forms in Scripture has led to excesses by liberal scholars. However, conservative scholars agree that forms do exist in Hebrew poetry. Indeed, forms found in Biblical literature are shared with earlier and contemporary non-Biblical literature.

It seems logical to argue, . . . that God would speak to His people through contemporary literary forms familiar to them, just as He used contemporary vocabulary and grammar. The human authors then adapted these forms under the inspiration of God [Herbert M. Wolf, "Implications of Form Criticism for Old Testament Studies," Bibliotheca Sacra, October 1970, p. 307. Wolf wrote these words while a professor at Wheaton College].

Here is one way that the identity of a form would be helpful to one who studies a psalm. Should the interpreter be able to identify a standard form in a psalm, he would be kept form erring that there is a logical flow between sections. Rather the form identifies the purposes of the sections.

The following chart of some forms borrows very heavily from Bernhard W. Anderson, Out of the Depths, the Psalms Speak for Us Today. Anderson is probably not a conservative. Not all the sections of a form are necessarily used. For example, Psalm 139 is obviously a lament but leaves out the last section. The student may decide that Anderson has reached too far in categorizing some of the psalms. Some psalms may have no discernable form.

Music

This section lists some brief observations about the style of music that incorporated the words of the Psalms and thoughts on applications to music in the church of today.

• "A study of the Psalms alone yield an impressive role for music in the life of Biblical people. The extolling of Yahweh through music is spoken of as congregational (149:1), individual (42.8) and for every situation (74:21). Music is used to praise God joyfully, loudly (47:1), melodically (98.5), and with a variety of instruments (150:3-5), from chordophones (lyres, harps, kinnors), to membranophones (timbrels), to aerophones (flutes, shofars, pipes), to metalophones (cymbals). Such praise is associated with bodily movement and common expressions of joy and gladness, such as dancing (30:11, 149:3, 150:4). The psalmists command praise with skill (47:7, 33:3), to "make His praise glorious" (66:2). They frequently call the nations to make the sounds of praise (67:4, 22:27, 117:1, 108:3). A fitting close to the Psalter is the call for all that has breath to hymn the worth of their Maker (150:6)." This quote is from Gregg Strawbridge, "Music in the Bible and Music on the Radio, A Biblical Theology of Music Applied to the Contemporary Music Styles Debate. A lot of the material in this section is drawn from Strawbridge. Concerning dancing, see also Exodus 15:20-21. Also note that "resounding" cymbals are encouraged in Psalm 150:5b.
• Some of the singing had the sound of shouting (Psalm 33:3; 65:13; 71:23; 81:1; 95:1-2).
• The Psalms themselves encouraged the overt display of emotion (e.g., "Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart! [Psalm 32:11])."
• Psalm 96 commands all the nations of the world to compose new songs praising God. The Psalm does not discourage the composers from using music relevant to their own cultures.
• "Our modern hymns are also different from Hebrew and Greek music, even though the gospel reached us through the cultural matrix of these societies. Our Western hymns are a heritage which we rightly cherish, but they belong to our faith through our culture (Strawbridge quoting Vida Chenowerth and Darlene Bee, ethnomusicologists associated with Wycliffe Bible Translators)."
• "Music is a manifestation of culture, like language, which changes. Though we must not fail to distinguish Biblical absolutes from cultural relatives, this is not ethical relativism. The one individual who made the term 'absolutes' part of the current Christian vocabulary, Francis Schaeffer (Art and the Bible, 1973) said, 'Let me say firmly that there is no such thing as a godly style or an ungodly style' (p. 51). 'And as a Christian adopts and adapts various contemporary techniques, he must wrestle with the whole question, looking to the Holy Spirit for help to know when to invent, when to adopt, when to adapt and to not use a specific style at all. This is something each artist wrestles with for a life time, not something he settles once and for all' (p. 55). [Strawbridge].
• "Why should the Devil have all the good music? (Strawbridge quoting Martin Luther . . . and later Larry Norman and Geoff Moore [contemporary Christian artists who popularized Luther's statement through their music])."

© 2001-2002, Ken Bowles - June 07, 2002 Edition

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