MAY 3

Psalm 1:1-6
Memorise Ecclesiastes 12:10
“…that which was written was upright, even words of truth”

Some things are easier to know than to define – and this includes poetry! Read all the 6 verses of Psalm 1, and you can feel within your heart and soul, that “this is superb poetry”!

So, what is poetry? We can see it as a way of conveying a message concisely and beautifully and in a way that is easy to remember. Poetry in the Bible is mostly in the Old Testament and was originally written in Hebrew. They can be found primarily in the books of poetry - Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Songs of Solomon. But not just in these books, Hebrew poetry abounds within the narratives and prophecies as well; for example the songs of Moses and Miriam which we find in Exodus 15, as well as the book of Lamentations which is essentially a series of poems of mourning. In fact, one estimate has accounted approximately one third of the Old Testament to have been written in poetry.

The beauty of poetry lies in its brevity. Each succinct line is packed full of meaning. But at the same time, there are parts that are more difficult to understand and would require time and effort to interpret.

One distinctive that we must take note of when we study Hebrew poetry is the common use of parallelism. The lines of poetry are structured in such a way that one line often parallels the next. There are 4 main types of parallelism that we can identify. Firstly, they can be synonymous, like in Psalm 1:1 where the three traits of a blessed man are paralleled to each other, with similar meanings. At times, the parallels can be opposites, where the next line contrasts or is contrary to the previous, often highlighted with the conjunction ‘but’. This can be seen in the ideas contrasted between verses 1 and 2 of Psalm 1. Yet other parallels are when the subsequent line further elaborates the previous one, like how the thought of delight in the law in verse 2 is further explained by the fact that the blessed man meditates in it day and night. The final type of parallelism is one where it is comparative, whereby an illustration is used to explain a point. This is like how a picture of a tree is used to describe the blessed man.

Thought: God gives us poetry. Have you learned to appreciate the beauty and depth of poetry?
Prayer: I thank You, Lord, for giving us all things good and beautiful!