In finding many passages in poetic form the issue of interpretation becomes very important. If you fail to recognise the poetic structure of a passage you may also fail to understand what it is talking about.
While the historic books and legislative writings are prosaic in their composition, the Proverbs, the book of Job, the Psalms of David, the Song of Solomon, the Lamentations of Jeremiah, a great part of the prophetic writings and several passages occasionally scattered through the historical books, bear the marks of Hebrew Poetry. They were originally written in verse or some kind of measured numbers.
The sole characteristic of Hebrew poetry is called parallelism, that is a certain equality, resemblance or relationship between the members of each period so that in two lines, things answer to things, and words to words as if fitted to each other by a kind of rule or measure.
It is not by rhyming termination of lines common in English poetry, or even marked by the acrostic or regularly alphabetical commencement of lines or stanzas, for this occurs but twelve times in the Old Testament, but by the parallelism of thought that the grandeur and sublimity of Hebrew poetry is acheived.
Owing to this form of composition the poetic structure is maintained even though translated. Language is no barrier to this form of poetry.
Let me illustrate what we are talking about. Look at Luke 1:52-53.
“He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree, he hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he bath sent empty away.”
You will notice that the first and third lines have parallel yet opposing thoughts with the one class being put down and the other exalted. In the second and fourth lines you have parallel yet opposing thoughts with the one being elevated and the other put down.
The parallelism is sometimes obvious and yet sometimes so subtle and obscure that it must be carefully sought out. If not recognised then great confusion will result.
The poetry takes four distinct forms. These are:
- Gradational
- Antithetic
- Introverted
- Constructive
1. Gradational
In this form the responsive clause generally rises above the preceding clause in all cases with a marked distinction in meaning. This is the most frequent form.
Proverbs 2:1-9.
“My son, If thou wilt receive my words, that is, hide my commandments with thee;”
The “And” (AV) is not the appropriate link because the second line explains and builds on the sense of the first giving us the image of someone jealously guarding the commandment because of its importance to them.
“So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, that is, apply thine heart to understanding:”
The effect of hiding the commandment will be a desire to hear more. The inclination becomes a compulsion so that you find you must know more and more. If you come to a wall through which you cannot pass you become utterly frustrated, but the fire inside will not let you rest.
“Yea, If thou criest after knowledge, that is, liftest up thy voice for understanding:”
The quest becomes an obsession so that you cannot and will not rest and you resort to the strong crying and tears that express dependence and helplessness. The pursuit does not end. You find treasure and the search becomes a fever.
“If thou seekest her as silver, that is, searcheth for her as for hid treasures:”
There is, no doubt, an enormous effort involved on the part of the seeker, but the rewards are worth all the pain.
“Then shalt thou understand the fear of Yahweh,that is, find the knowledge of God.”
The poem has not finished because we have not yet been told why the one who does these things is successful in the end. This brings Solomon to the most important part of the poem.
“For Yahweh giveth wisdom; out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: He is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of judgement, and preserveth the way of his saints then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgement, and equity; yea, every good path.”
Bound up in this poem are the first principles of success in the truth. We say we want to “understand righteousness and judgement and equity, yea every good path,” but who is prepared to follow this course? We tend to want to approach it by methods we devise ourselves.
This passage gives another illustration of the point.
Proverbs 3:11–12.
“The chastening of Yahweh, my son, do not despise; neither be weary at his rebuking; For, whom Yahweh laveth, he chasteneth, But scourgeth the son in whom he delighteth.”
It is Paul’s translation in the book of Hebrews (Hebrews 12:5-6) that captures again what was the intended sense, because in Proverbs the final line (in the AV) says “even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.” A different reading of the massoretic text, which itself is a translation of Hebrew consonants, will give the sense that Paul highlights, namely that “God will chasten a son whom he loves but will scourge a son in whom he delights”, clearly implying that the more severe the hand of God upon them, the more He cares. Here the parallelism corrects a translator’s misunderstanding and preserves a beautiful and important truth.
Psalm 1:1.
“O happy is the man, who hath not walked in the council of the ungodly, and hath not stood in the way of sinners, and hath not sat in the seat of the scornful.”
The triplet consists of three members, the lines gradually rising one above the other. To walk implies a casual acquaintance with the ungodly: to stand has a closer intimacy: and to sit with the scornful describes a permanent connection. The council is the ordinary place of meeting: the way is a select and chosen path: and the seat is a final resting place. The ungodly are negatively wicked: the sinners are positively wicked: and the scornful condemn the very notion of godliness.
Psalm 24: 3–4.
“Who shall ascend the mountain of Yahweh, and who shall stand within his holy place, the clean of hands, and the pure of heart.”
To ascend speaks of progress while to stand marks stability and confirmation. The mountain of Yahweh is the site of the sanctuary; His holy place is the sanctuary itself. You join the couplet in this way;
“The clean of hands shall ascend the mountain of Yahweh the pure of heart shall stand within his holy place.”
Notice how a more compelling meaning emerges from the text when the corresponding clauses are juxtaposed.
Psalm 21:1-2
“O Yahweh, in thy strength the king shall rejoice; and in thy salvation, how greatly shall he exalt; the desire of his heart, thou hast granted him; and the request of his lips thou hast not denied.”
The gradation of member above member, and line above line, in each couplet in this stanza is undeniable: “salvation” is an advance on “strength” and “how greatly shall he rejoice” an advance on “he shall rejoice”; again “the request of the lips” is something beyond “the desire of the heart.” It is the desire brought into action. The gradation of the last two lines may not be so obvious but it is by no means less certain. “Thou hast granted” and “thou hast not denied” — the negative form here is much stronger than the positive. Verbs and adverbs in the negative have the force of the opposite affirmative with peculiar emphasis. As an example we cite: “Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who taketh his name in vain” — that is, He will assuredly hold him guilty.
Isaiah especially abounds in beautiful instances of this mode of gradation. Thus he says: Isaiah 55:6-7
“Seek ye Yahweh while he may be found, call upon him while he is near: let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto Yahweh, and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”
In the first line men are invited to seek Yahweh not knowing where He is, and on the bare intelligence that He maybe found. In the second line, having found Yahweh they are encouraged to call upon Him by the assurance that He is near. In the third line, the wicked (that is the positive and presumptuous sinner) is warned to forsake his way, his habitual course of iniquity. In the fourth line, the unrighteous, the negatively wicked, is called upon to renounce the very thought of sinning. In the last line the encouraging title of “our God” is substituted for the fearful name of Yahweh and simple compassion is heightened into overflowing mercy and forgiveness.
Other examples of the gradational form are:
Hosea 11:8–9
“How shall I give thee up, 0 Ephraim, abandon thee 0 Israel? How shall I make thee as Admar, place thee in the position of Zeboim? My heart is turned upon me: my bowels yearn altogether. I will not return to make destruction of Ephraim; for God lam, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee, although, I am no frequenter of cities.”
Joel 2:7
“Like mighty men shall they rush on: like warriors shall they mount upon the wall; and, everyone his way, shall they march; and they shall not turn aside from their paths.”
2. The Antithetic Poem
This is poetry in which two lines correspond one with another by an opposition of terms and sentiments, that is, the one is the antithesis of the other. The strength of antithesis varies from an exact contraposition of word for word, sentiment to sentiment, singulars to singulars, plurals to plurals, down to a general disparity.
This form occurs less frequently but is found in many proverbs and detached sentences. Much of the elegance, acuteness and force of the proverbs arise from their antithetic form, as in these examples:
Proverbs 10:1
“A wise son rejoices his father, but a foolish son is the grief of his mother”
The “wise son” and “foolish son”, and “father” and “mother” being opposite are set in antithesis. Both father and mother share the opposites. The force of the Proverb is seen in the pleasure and joy experienced by the parents of a wise son, and the same degree of pain and anxiety that comes to those whose son is a fool. It is as full of suffering as it can be full of pleasure. It is not as if the parents can shut themselves off from the effects of their children’s conduct. It does not work that way. There is pain.
You have probably wondered why the mother is the one who is left to grieve over a foolish son and of course this is not the point. The confusion results from not realising how the antithesis is meant to apply.
Proverbs 10:7
“The memory of the just is a blessing, but the name of the wicked shall rot.”
In this example there are only two antithetic terms because “memory” and “name” are synonymous. The” just” and the “wicked” are opposites and “blessing” and “rot” are set against each other. It is telling us that people will affectionately recall the just but will be repulsed by the very thought or mention of the name of the wicked.
Proverbs 11:24
“There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.”
In the normal course a person who scattereth, that is, indiscriminately gives of his possessions to all who are in need, will end up with nothing and will have need himself and one who hoards everything so that nothing is wasted, will be fortified against the evil day. This proverb not only sets the lines in antithesis but the thoughts as well, for it says the first will prosper and the second will want. It speaks of course as many other passages do of the need in the truth to generously distribute to the necessity of the saints: Yahweh will know and reward.
Others to consider in this connection are found in I Samuel 2:4-7; Psalm 20:7-8; Psalm 30:5; Psalm 37:10-11; Isaiah 54: 7-8; Isaiah 9:10; Isaiah 65:13-14.
3. Parallel lines introverted
These are stanzas so constructed that whatever the number of lines, the first is parallel with the last, the second with the second last and so throughout in an order that looks inward or is introverted.
Proverbs 23:15–16
“My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, Yea, my reins shall rejoice when thy lips speak right things.”
Isaiah 27:12–13
“And it shall come to pass in that day; Yahweh shall make a gathering of his fruit from the flood of the river; To the stream of Egypt: and ye shall be gleaned up one by one; O ye sons of Israel and it shall come to pass in that day: The great trumpet shall be sounded and those shall come who were perishing in the land of Assyria; and who were dispersed in the land of Egypt; and they shall bow themselves down before Yahweh; In the holy mountain in Jerusalem.”
Psalm 135:15–18
“The idols of the nations are silver and gold: the work of men’s hands; they have mouths but they speak not; they have eyes but they see not; they have ears but they hear not; neither is there any breath in their mouths; they who make them are like unto them; so are all they who put their trust in them.”
The parallelisms are marked out very accurately. In the first line we have the idolatrous heathen; in the eighth, those who put their trust in idols. In the second, the fabrication; in the seventh, the fabricators. In the third line, mouths without articulation, just like the idols; in the sixth, mouths without breath. In the fourth line, eyes without vision; and in the fifth, ears without hearing.
The parallelism of the extreme members may be rendered more evident, by reducing the passage into two quartrains thus;
“The idols of the nations are silver and gold; the work of men’s hands; they who make them are like unto them; so are all they who put their trust in them.”
“They have mouths but they speak not; they have eyes but they see not; they have ears but they hear not; neither is there any breath in their mouths.”
Romans 10:13-18
“For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved; but how shall they call on him, in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach if they be not sent?”
As it is written:
“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good tidings of peace! Who bring good tidings of good things!”
Matthew 7:16-20
“By their fruits thou shalt thoroughly know them; do men gather from thorns the grape? Or from thistles the fig? Thus every sound tree beareth good fruit: But every corrupt tree beareth evil fruit.”
“A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit; nor a corrupt tree bear good fruit, every tree not bearing good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire; by their fruits therefore ye shall thoroughly know them.”
Luke 12:47-48
“And that servant who knew the will of his Lord, and prepared not, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes: and he who did not know, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.”
Matthew 7:6
“Give not that which is holy to the dogs; neither cast your pearls before the swine; lest they tramp them under their feet and turn around and rend you.”
It helps to sometimes view the poem in a slightly different way.
“Give not that which is holy to the dogs;that turn around and rend you.
Neither cast your pearls before the swine; lest they tramp them under their feet.”
Romans 11:33-35
“O the depth of the riches, and of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments; and untraceable his ways! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given unto him, and it shall be repaid him again?
The first line proposes the subject:
“0 the depth of the riches, and of the wisdom and knowledge of God!”
The Depth
“How inscrutable are his judgments; And untraceable his ways!”
First Knowledge
“For who hath known the mind of the Lord?”
Second Wisdom
“Or who hath been his counsellor?”
Third Riches
“Or who hath first given unto him, And it shall be repaid him again?”
It would be a great shame to miss the sense/by a failure to recognise the structure here.
4. Parallel lines Constructive
This form is where the parallelism consists in the similar construction, in which word does not answer to word, or sentence to sentence, or as equivalent and opposite, but there is a correspondence of equality between the different propositions in respect of the shape and turn of the whole sentence, and of the constructive parts: such as noun answering to noun, verb to verb, member to member, negative to negative. This species includes all such as do not fall into the other two classes. The variety in this form is very great, the parallelism being sometimes more, sometimes less exact, and sometimes not apparent at all.
Proverbs 10:14
“Wise men lay up knowledge, but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction.”
Sometimes one thing is expressed in one member and another in the other and yet both are to be understood in both members. The meaning of this proverb is that the wise men not only lay up knowledge but communicate it for the benefit of others, while the fools, being destitute of that knowledge, soon exhaust their scanty stock, and utter not merely useless but often injurious things by which people are destroyed.
Proverbs 2:10–17
With this poem it is important to realise it follows on from the poem we considered previously and is part of the instruction in fundamentals addressed to the young man. It suggests a worthwhile benefit of wisdom and then moves on to warn what may happen if you do not have it.
“When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness:”
Notice the correspondence of the first eight lines with the second part of eight lines. Here is the alternative path. While the one allows wisdom to enter his heart, his opposite rejoices to do evil. While the one finds knowledge is pleasant, there is another who delights in the frowardness of the wicked. While the one is preserved by discretion, the other’s ways are crooked, and while understanding keeps the one, the other is froward in his paths.
“Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked:
Whose ways are crooked,and the froward in their paths:”
The correspondence continues but the image builds and becomes the strange woman who entices with flattering words and you realise that the evil man and the strange woman have a great deal in common.
“To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger that flattereth with her words; Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.”
The one has left the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness and the other has forsaken the guide of her youth and forgotten the covenant of her God. You suddenly become aware that the greatest danger this young man faces is not from the world but from worldliness in the truth. It is not from outside but from those in the truth who do not allow wisdom to enter, and who do not find knowledge pleasant, who speak froward things, who flatter with their words and entice you to follow them in a more liberal approach to the word of God.
The ones this young man grew up with, who were his companions, chose a different path when they reached the cross roads. The only thing that will prevent him following them is the discretion and understanding he has managed to build in those vital days.
Psalm 19:7–11
“The law of Yahweh is perfect, restoring the soul, the testimony of Yahweh is sure making wise the simple, the precepts of Yahweh are right rejoicing the heart: the commandment of Yahweh is clear enlightening the eyes the fear of Yahweh is pure enduring forever; the judgments of Yahweh are truth, they are just altogether; more desirable than gold, or than much fine gold, and sweeter than honey, or the dropping of honeycombs.”
Sometimes the lines are bi-membral, that is, they consist of double members.
Psalm 46:6 and 10
“The nations raged; the kingdoms were moved; he uttered his voice; the earth was dissolved; be still, and know that lam God: I will be exalted in the nations; I will be exalted in the earth.”
Isaiah has two striking examples of bi-membral lines.
Isaiah 43:2
“When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through rivers, they shall not overwhelm thee: When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be scorched; and the flame shall not cleave to thee.”
Isaiah 65:21–22
“And they shall build houses, and shall inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and shall eat the fruit thereof: They shall not build, and another inhabit: They shall not plant, and another eat.”
Parallels are sometimes formed by a repetition of part of the first sentence:—
“My voice is unto God, and I cry aloud; My voice unto God, and he will hearken unto me: I will remember the works of Yahweh; Yea I will remember thy works of old: The waters saw thee, 0 God; The waters saw thee; they were seized with anguish.”
There are parallel triplets; (i.e. three lines corresponding together to form a stanza of which only two lines are synonymous).
Psalm 112:10
“The wicked shall see it, and it shall grieve him; He shall gnash with his teeth and pine away; The desire of the wicked shall perish.”
There are parallels consisting of four lines. Two distiches being so connected together by sound and construction as to make one stanza.
Isaiah 1:3
“The ox knoweth his owner; The ass the crib of his lord: But Israel does not know; My people cloth not consider.”
In stanzas of four lines sometimes the parallel lines answer to one another alternatively — First to third and second to fourth.
Psalm 103:11–12
“As the heavens are high above the earth; So is his goodness over them that fear him: As remote as the east is from the west; So far hath he removed from us our transgressions.”
Sometimes, however, by a peculiar artifice in the distribution of the sentences, the third line forms a continuous sense with the first and the fourth with the second.
Psalm 33:13–14
“From the heavens Yahweh looked down; He seeth all the children of men; From the seat of his rest he contemplateth All the inhabitants of the earth.”
Isaiah 54:5
“For thy husband is thy maker; Yahweh Elohim of Armies is his name; And thy Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.”
Some periods also may be considered as forming stanzas of five lines in which the odd line or member either comes between the two distiches, or the line that is not parallel is generally placed between the two.
Isaiah 31:4
“Like as the lion growleth, Even the young lion over his prey; Though the whole company of shepherds be called together against him at their voice he will not be terrified, Nor at their tumult will he be humbled.”
Hosea 14:9
“Who is wise and will understand these things? Prudent, and will know them? For right are the ways of Yahweh: And the just shall walk in them: And the disobedient shall fall therein.”
Rejoice therefore in the glory of his word, praise Yahweh for he is good and his mercy is unto all generations.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One