Books of Poetry

OT Survey

Fall 2008

• The Books from Genesis to Nehemiah span the whole history of the Old Testament.

• All of the Poetical and Prophetical books fit somewhere in the history in the record from Genesis to Nehemiah.

Review

• The books of the Law, it will be remembered, laid the foundation for Christ by choosing (Gen.), redeeming (Exodus), sanctifying (Lev.), guiding (Num.), and instructing (Deut.) the theocratic nation through whom Christ would come.

• The books of History show the preparation made for Christ: the conquest of the Holy Land (Josh.), the overcoming of oppression (Judg.), stabilization under a king (I Sam), an expansion (II Sam.) and development (I Kings) of the nation.

• And despite the fact that the nation was deported (II Kings) and its Temple destroyed (Chron.) and the Temple was reconstructed (Ezra) and the nation rebuilt (Neh.) and even its exiled people were protected from annihilation (Ester). The holy nation was returned to the Holy Land so that they could prepare for the Holy One (Christ), the Son of the Highest, who was to be born.

• Whereas the foundation was laid for Christ in the Law and preparation was made for Christ in the books of History, the books of Poetry reveal the aspiration for Christ in the hearts of the people.

Christ-centered aspirations of the poetical books:

• Job- aspiration for mediation by Christ

• Psalms- aspiration for communion with Christ

• Proverbs- aspiration for wisdom in Christ

• Ecclesiastes- aspiration for ultimate satisfaction

• Song of Solomon- aspiration for union in love with Christ.

So you want to be a Poet?

Parallelism of poetry:

The value of parallelism lies in its simplicity and translatability. Biblical poetry can be translated into almost any language without concern for rhyme or meter. The unsurpassed beauty of the Psalms in the King James Version is proof of this.

• When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.

• Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people

• He is like a tree planted by streams of water,

• That yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers

• Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

• A continual dripping on a rainy day and a contentious woman are alike

Psalms

• The Psalms are the work of a number of different composers. Some are specifically named while others are not.

• David: There are 73 of the psalms that are specifically assigned to David. Most of these are in the first two books.

• Asaph: One of the leaders in music. He was a Levite. Twelve of the Psalms are assigned to him by their superscription.

• Heman (Psalm 88).

• Ethan (Psalm 89).

• Solomon (Psalm 72 and 127).

• Moses (Psalm 90).

In addition to these, the superscriptions of the Septuagint also assign Psalms to three other

men.• Haggai and Zechariah (Psalm 146-149).• Jeremiah (Psalm 137). • At least two of the Anonymous Psalms are

ascribed to David in the New Testament (Acts 4:25; Hebrews 4:7).