Chapter Four
The Poetry of the Bible
The Prevalence of Poetry in the Bible
NEXT TO STORY, poetry is the most prevalent type of writing in the Bible. Some
books of the Bible are entirely poetic in form: Psalms, Song of Solomon, Proverbs,
Lamentations. Many others are mainly poetic: Job, Ecclesiastes (in which even the
prose passages achieve poetic effects), Isaiah, Hosea, Joel, and numerous other
prophetic books. There is no book in the Bible that does not require the ability to
interpret poetry to some degree, because every book includes some figurative lan-
guage. Even the speech of Jesus and the writing in the New Testament epistles
make consistent use of concrete imagery and figures of speech.
Psalm 1 as an Example of Poetry
What, then, is poetry? We can best begin with an actual example, Psalm 1:
¹Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the
wicked,
or stand in the way of sinners,
or sit in the seat of mockers.
²But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and
night.
³He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
⁴Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away,
⁵Therefore the wicked will not stand in the
judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the
righteous.
⁶For the Lord watches over the way of the
righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
Pattern and Design in Psalm 1
Even the external arrangement of the material strikes us as more highly patterned
than expository prose. This portrait of the godly person alternates between posi-
tive and negative descriptions. The opening beatitude, strongly positive, is fol-
lowed by three lines that describe this person negatively, in terms of what he does
not do. This is followed by the positive description in verse 2. Verse 3 has a posi-
tive–nega-tive–posi-tive sequence. Verse 4 balances a negative construction with a
positive one. Verse 5 consists of two negatives, while verse 6 culminates the
whole movement with balanced positive and negative assertions.
Parallelism of Lines
The individual lines, as well as the overall movement of the poem, are also highly
patterned. Virtually the entire poem falls into pairs or triplets of lines that express
the same idea in different words. This is the verse form known as parallelism and
is an obviously poetic way of speaking. Poetry like this is more concentrated and
more artistic than prose.
A Language of Images
Psalm 1 also shows that poetry is a language of images. It puts us in touch with
such tangible realities as pathway, seat, tree, water, leaf, chaff, and law court.
Poets are never content with pure abstraction, though they usually include enough
conceptual commentary (words such as “blessed,” “the wicked,” “the righteous”)
to allow us to know what the images mean.
Figurative Language
Psalm 1 is also figurative rather than literal much of the time. The second line
speaks of walking in the counsel of the wicked. The wicked do not literally walk
down a path called “The Counsel of the Wicked.” They do not literally pass legis-
lation or conduct legal seminars entitled “The Counsel of the Wicked.” Nor do
people literally stand together on a platform called ‘‘The Way of Sinners.” People
in a scoffing mood do not take turns sitting in a chair with a sign over it that reads
‘‘The Seat of Scoffers.” Verse 1 is thoroughly metaphoric rather than literal.
Poetic License
Poetry, it is clear, uses what is commonly called poetic license. Another example
occurs in verse 2, which states that the godly person meditates on God’s law “day
and night.” There are several possible interpretations of this statement, none of
them literal. No one consciously reflects on God’s law twenty-four hours a day.
Perhaps the statement is a hyperbole—an exaggerated way of showing how thor-
oughly the godly person is controlled by God’s law. Perhaps, on the other hand, it
is the word “meditates” that is used figuratively to mean “is influenced by” rather
than “consciously thinks about.” Or perhaps “day and night” is a colloquial ex-
pression meaning “in the morning and in the evening.”
Comparison as a Poetic Device
Another poetic tendency illustrated by Psalm 1 is the strategy of comparing one
thing to another. The poetic imagination is adept at seeing resemblances and
using one area of human experience to cast light on another area. The produc-
tiveness of a godly person is like that of a tree beside a stream. Wicked people are
like the chaff blown away during the process of winnowing. The long-term, cumu-
lative nature of a person’s lifestyle is like walking step by step down a path.
SUMMARY
What is poetry? Psalm 1 supplies some good initial answers. Poetry is a language
of images. It uses many comparisons. It is inherently fictional, stating things that
are not literally true or comparing one thing to something else that it is literally
not. Poetry is also more concentrated and more highly patterned than ordinary
discourse. In short, poets do things with language and sentence structure that
people do not ordinarily do when speaking.
Poetry as a Special Language
From the specific example of Psalm 1 we can make some generalizations that will
apply to all biblical poetry. Poetry is above all a special use of language. Poets
speak a language all their own. The poetic idiom uses the resources of language in
a way that ordinary prose discourse does not, at least not with the same frequency
or density.
Let me say at once that parallelism, the verse form in which virtually all biblical
poetry is written, is not the most essential thing that a reader needs to know about
biblical poetry. Much more crucial to the reading of biblical poetry is the ability to
identify and interpret the devices of poetic language.¹
Thinking in Images
The most basic of all poetic principles is that poets think and write in images. By
“images” I simply mean words that evoke a sensory experience in our imagi-
nation. Poetry avoids the abstract as much as possible. The poets of the Bible
constantly put us into a world of water and sheep and lions and rocks and arrows
and grass. Virtually any passage of biblical poetry will illustrate how consistently
concrete poetry is.
Reading Poetry with Imagination
This is yet another evidence that the Bible is a work of imagination (the image-
making capacity we have). The corresponding ability that is required of readers is
that they allow the images of poetry to become as real and sensory as possible.
Readers of poetry need to think in images, just as poets do. Poetry is affective in
nature, and it affects us partly through its sensory vividness.
Conveying the Universal Through the Particular
Poetry offers us a series of experiences of whatever topic the poet is writing about.
If we continually translate the images into abstractions, we distort the poem as a
piece of writing and miss the fullness of its experiential meanings. It is true that
the Psalms are not about grass and horses and rocks, but the approach of poetry
to the universal or conceptual is always through the particular and concrete. Tradi-
tional approaches to biblical poetry have been entirely too theological and concep-
tual. When I read some of this commentary I frequently get the impression that
biblical scholars are commenting on a theological essay instead of a poem.
The first rule for reading biblical poetry, then, can be stated thus: poetry is a
language of images that the reader must experience as a series of imagined sensory
situations. The more visual we can become, the better we will function as readers
of biblical poetry. In fact, our experience of biblical poetry would be revolutionized
if commentaries made extensive use of pictures such as photographs and
drawings.²
Simile and Metaphor Defined
Next to the use of concrete imagery, the use of simile and metaphor is the most
pervasive element of biblical poetry. The essential feature of both is comparison.
A simile draws a correspondence between two things by using the explicit formula
“like” or “as”:
He is like a tree planted by streams of water (Ps. 1:3).
As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God (Ps. 42:1).
Metaphor adopts a bolder strategy. It omits the “like” or “as” and asserts that A is
B: “The Lord is my shepherd” (Ps. 23:1); “their throat is an open grave” (Ps. 5:9);
“men whose teeth are spears and arrows, / whose tongues sharp swords” (Ps.
57:4).
Correspondence as the Essential Element
Both metaphor and simile operate on the premise of similarity between two
things. When the psalmist writes that God’s law “is a lamp to my feet / and a light
for my path” (119:105), he is drawing a connection between the properties of light
used to illuminate a pathway for walking and the moral effect of God’s law on a
person’s behavior. When a nature poet says that God “makes the clouds his char-
iot” (Ps. 104:3), he intends us to see a correspondence between the swift move-
ment of clouds across the sky and that of a chariot over a road.
Comparisons Require a Transfer of Meaning
Several corollaries follow from the fact that metaphor and simile are based on
comparison. They both secure an effect on one level and then ask the reader to
transfer that meaning to another level (in this they are like the New Testament
parables). The word “metaphor” itself implies such a transfer, since it is based on
the Greek words meta, meaning “over,” and pherein, meaning “to carry.” When the
psalmist speaks of someone “who dwells in the shelter of the Most High” (91:1),
the first task of the reader is to reflect on the human experience of living in a
home. These domestic associations of security, safety, provision, protection, love,
and belonging must then be transferred from a human, family context to the realm
of faith in God.
The Indirection of Simile and Metaphor
It is also obvious that metaphor and simile work by indirection. This is what
Robert Frost had in mind when he defined poetry as “saying one thing and mean-
ing another.”³ The psalmist says that “the LORD God is a sun and shield” (84:11),
but he means that God is the ultimate source of all life and provision and that God
protects people from harm. The poet says that he lies “in the midst of lions” (Ps.
57:4), but he means that his enemies’ slander inflicts pain and destroys him in a
number of nonphysical ways.
The Twofold Nature of Simile and Metaphor
The importance of this indirection is that it disqualifies the usual tendency to talk
about the theology of the Psalms as though the text were expository prose or a
theological outline. Metaphor and simile are bifocal statements. We need to look
first at one half of a comparison and then transfer certain meanings to the other
half. The exposition of biblical poetry needs to do justice to the richness of mean-
ings that metaphor and simile convey, and this means not quickly reducing the
two-pronged statement of metaphor or simile to a single direct statement. There is
an irreducible quality to metaphor and simile that we should respect, both as read-
ers and expositors.
The Logic of Simile and Metaphor
Another aspect of metaphor and simile is that they are a form of logic rather than
illogic. The connection between the two halves of the comparison is a real con-
nection. It can be validated on the basis of observation and rational analysis.
When the poet asks God to “set a guard over my mouth” and “keep watch over
the door of my lips” (Ps. 141:3), we need to explore by what logic care in one’s
speech can be compared to a soldier or prison guard watching the door of a
house or prison. If the threat of death on the battlefield can be described as the
rope of a strangler and the water of a flood (Ps. 18:4), we must look for a logical
explanation behind the poet’s assertion.
Simile and Metaphor Are Rooted in Reality
This is another way of saying that metaphor and simile are rooted in reality. The
two halves of the comparison are not illusory but real. In the metaphor that de-
clares God to be “father to the fatherless” (Ps. 68:5), for example, the bond be-
tween human fathers and the character of God is real. There are qualities (e.g.,
love, care, provision, nurture, discipline) inherent in being a good father that are
also true of God’s character and acts. The poet is not simply decorating an idea
that could as well be stated without the father metaphor. Nor is his attribution of
the name “father” to God arbitrary. Poets do not invent comparisons but discover
them. They could not create metaphor and simile if they tried; the relationship be-
tween the two phenomena joined in a metaphor or simile either exists in reality or
does not exist. The poet’s quest is to discover the right expressive metaphors and
similes for his particular subject matter.
The Extralogical Meanings of Simile and Metaphor
But metaphor and simile, though a form of logic, also go beyond abstract or men-
tal logic. For one thing, they offer an experience of the topic being presented. As a
result, the total meaning that is transferred from the one phenomenon to the other
is partly nonverbal or extralogical. When a biblical poet pictures God’s provision
as God’s making him “lie down in green pastures” and leading him “beside quiet
waters” (Ps. 23:2), the poet taps feelings and memories within us that can never
be adequately put into words. Metaphor and simile are affective as well as intel-
lectual, experiential and intuitive as well as verbal and logical. A metaphor or sim-
ile involves “both a thinking and a seeing,” as Paul Ricoeur has said.⁴ This is an-
other way of saying that the total meaning of a metaphor or simile can never be
fully expressed in intellectual or propositional terms for the simple reason that it
speaks to more than our intellect or reason. If a proposition adequately stated the
truth the poet wishes to communicate, the metaphor or simile would be unnec-
essary.
The Need to Identify the Literal Reference
What interpretive obligations do metaphor and simile place on a reader? Chiefly
two. The reader’s first responsibility is to identify the literal or physical reference
that forms the foundation of the comparison. That identification must be specific
rather than vague, and detailed rather than superficial. This will be most evident if
we consider an example that is unfamiliar to our own experience, such as that
found in Psalm 16:5–6 (RSV):
The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup;
thou boldest my lot.
The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
yea, I have a goodly heritage.
The impact of this extended metaphor describing God’s blessing depends on the
reader’s getting the literal picture first. That picture has to do with real estate, and
it alludes to the allotment of land when the Israelites settled in Canaan. The indi-
vidual portions were determined by lot (cf. Num. 26:56 and 36:2). The “lines” are
the measuring lines of a surveyor. The metaphor, then, compares God’s favor to
receiving a fertile, well-situated piece of land, both for one’s own use and as an
inheritance to pass on to one’s posterity.
The Need to Interpret the Metaphor and Simile
Having identified the literal meaning of the comparison, the reader’s second task
is to interpret what the comparison means. We must accept the poet’s implied
invitation to discover the meaning. In keeping with the nature of metaphor and
simile, interpretation consists of discovering the nature of the similarity between
the two halves of the comparison. More often than not, the connections are mul-
tiple. In finding the correspondences, we are exploring the logic and aptness of
the comparison.
What, for example, is the logic of comparing “tongues” (meaning speech) to
“sharp arrows” (Ps. 57:4)? The correspondence between slander and arrows is
multiple: both are inflicted from a position of secrecy, both therefore render the
victim defenseless, both destroy or injure a person, both cause pain. There is even
a physical similarity between the flinch caused by an arrow and that caused by an
overheard verbal attack on oneself.
Communicating Total Experience
We should not be afraid of the fact that the meanings transferred from one half of
the comparison to the other are only partly intellectual or ideational. Some of the
meanings are affective or intuitive, and some are extraverbal. We all have, for
example, certain feelings about green pastures and still waters that can never be
fully verbalized. Similarly, when the poet prays “May they be blotted out of the
book of life / and not be listed with the righteous” (Ps. 69:28), he awakens within
us fears that can never be adequately expressed in words—fears, let us say, of not
having a bank deposit credited or of having our name omitted from the official list
of passengers on an international flight.
Readers Must Be Active
Metaphor and simile place immense demands on a reader. They require far more
activity than a direct propositional statement. Metaphor and simile first demand
that we take the time to let the literal situation sink in. Then we must make a trans-
fer of meaning(s) to the topic or experience the poem is about. Taking the tasks of
identification and interpretation seriously would revolutionize commentary on
biblical poetry. Such commentary might profitably include some photographs to
enhance a reader’s grasp of the literal level of the comparison.
The Advantages of Simile and Metaphor
Why do poets use so many similes and metaphors? One advantage of metaphor
and simile is vividness and concreteness. They are one way of overcoming the
limitations of abstraction. Metaphor and simile achieve wholeness of expression
by appealing to the full range of human experience, not simply to the rational
intellect. They also possess freshness of expression and thereby overcome the
cliché effect of stereotyped language. This arresting strangeness not only captures
a reader’s initial attention; it also makes a statement memorable. The comment
that “the Bible tells me how to live” slides out of the mind as quickly as it enters,
but its metaphoric counterpart, “Your word is a lamp to my feet” (Ps. 119:105), is
aphoristic and unforgettable.
The Meditative Effect of Simile and Metaphor
Metaphor and simile have another built-in tendency that accords well with the
purpose of the Bible: they force a reader to ponder or meditate on a statement.
Simile and metaphor resist immediate assimilation. They contain a retarding ele-
ment, stemming the current of ideas (and in this are very similar to Hebrew paral-
lelism).
The prominence of simile and metaphor in biblical poetry makes the following
rule the most crucial of all for reading the poetry of the Bible: whenever you find a
statement that compares one thing to another, first meditate on the literal or physical
half of the comparison and then analyze how many correspondences can appropriately
be drawn between that situation and the subject of the poem.
Of course such a procedure takes time. Poetry is a meditative or reflective
form. It deliberately compresses many meanings into a few words or a single pic-
ture. This is an advantage, not a liability, if only we will respect the reflective na-
ture of poetry.
Simile and Metaphor Occur Throughout the Bible
I have taken my examples of metaphor and simile from the Psalms, but everything
that I have said applies whenever we find a metaphor or simile. Even the most
heavily theological parts of the Bible, such as the New Testament Epistles, make
use of metaphor and simile, and for the same reasons that I have stated. When we
read that believers are “fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s
household” (Eph. 2:19), we need to identify and interpret these two metaphors in
exactly the manner I have outlined. The same rules apply when Jesus calls himself
the Light of the world or the Bread of heaven.
Poetic Symbols
Image, metaphor, and simile are the backbone of poetry. Perhaps we can add sym-
bol to the list, since it is often interchangeable with the others. A symbol is a con-
crete image that points to or embodies other meanings. Thus, light is a common
biblical symbol for God, goodness, truth, blessing, etc. Milk and honey are Old
Testament symbols for material prosperity, and the throne for political power. But
in most of these instances it makes little difference whether we call them images,
metaphors, or symbols. The important thing is that we first construct the literal
picture and then attach the right corresponding meaning(s) to them.
Allusion as a Poetic Form
Image, metaphor, simile, and symbol are the “basics” of poetry, but there are
other figures of speech that we also need to identify and interpret. One is allusion.
An allusion is a reference to past literature or history. As with metaphor and sim-
ile, we first need to identify the source of the allusion and then interpret what as-
pects of that earlier situation are relevant to the context in which the allusion ap-
pears.
Identifying and Interpreting Allusions
Psalm 133:1–2 provides a good example:
How good and pleasant it is
when brothers live together in unity!
It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
down upon the collar of his robes.
The fellowship the pilgrims experience en route to Jerusalem to worship God in
the temple is like oil (simile), but not just any oil. It is specifically like the oil of
Aaron (allusion). The passage to which this alludes is Exodus 30:22–33, where we
learn that this oil was a “sacred anointing oil” that was used only in connection
with official worship at the tabernacle or temple. Having identified the source of
the allusion, we can interpret it: the fellowship of the pilgrims is, like the anointing
oil, a holy thing and a preparation for worship at the temple.
Apostrophe as a Figure of Speech
The figure of speech known as apostrophe is a direct address to someone or some-
thing absent as though the person or thing were present and capable of listening.
The range of things that are apostrophized in biblical poetry is too great to be
neatly categorized. From the Psalms come these specimens: “Therefore, you
kings, be wise; / be warned, you rulers of the earth” (2:10); “Away from me, all you
who do evil” (6:8); “Lift up your heads, O you gates” (24:7); “Love the LORD, all
his saints” (31:23); “Glorious things are said of you, O city of God” (87:3); “Praise
the LORD, O my soul” (103:1). The supreme example is Psalm 148, which from
start to finish is a catalog of apostrophes.
Why Poets Use Apostrophe
Why do poets use so many apostrophes? Apostrophe is one of the best ways to
express strong feeling in poetry. In fact, apostrophes tend to create a sense of ex-
citement. More often than not, poets break into apostrophe suddenly and without
warning, as though the statement were blurted out, breaking the bounds of deco-
rum and interrupting the flow of thought.
Responding to Apostrophes
How should we as readers respond to poetic apostrophes? We need to be recep-
tive to the emotional intensity they represent. It is also a commonplace that the
poet’s function is to say, in effect, “Look at that,” and point. Poets rarely point so
directly as when they apostrophize something. Since apostrophes are often
sprung on us without forewarning or preparation, as readers we must be prepared
to take them in stride when they break the flow of thought. And certainly we must
accept them as yet another evidence of how filled with license poetry tends to be.
After all, if we heard someone in real life talking to a tree or absent person in this
way we would wonder what ailed the speaker.
Personification
Apostrophe is often combined with personification, which consists of treating
something nonhuman (and frequently inanimate) as though it were a human
capable of acting or responding. Almost anything can become personified in bib-
lical poetry. One of the largest categories is abstractions: “Send forth your light
and your truth, / . . . let them bring me to your holy mountain” (Ps. 43:3). Else-
where nations or tribes are treated as though they were a single person acting with
a unified purpose:
Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan;
and Dan, why did he linger by the ships?
Asher remained on the seacoast
and stayed in his coves (Judg. 5:17).
Parts of the body are sometimes personified: “their tongue struts through the
earth” (Ps. 73:9 RSV). But the largest category of personifications in the Bible con-
sists of aspects of nature treated as if they were people: “Let the rivers clap their
hands, / let the mountains sing together for joy” (Ps. 98:8).
Why Poets Personify
Why do poets so readily personify inanimate things? The purposes are several.
Personification makes something vivid and concrete. It is also a prime way of at-
tributing human emotions to something nonhuman, in effect showing how the
poet feels about it. Personification is a natural way of expressing excitement about
something. It can also be used to show a close kinship between people and the
subject of a poem, especially when that subject is nature. Finally, personification
can suggest a group of people or the forces of nature acting with a unified pur-
pose.
Personification and the Reader
What does personification demand of a reader? We first need to identify it when
we encounter it. We should be responsive to the sheer vividness that personi-
fication confers on its object. We can also analyze the specific function of personi-
fication in a given passage. Mainly, though, we need to realize again that poetry is
inherently fictional rather than factual. Poets are always playing the game of make-
believe, imagining something that is literally nonexistent or untrue. Poetic license
is the liberation of the imagination, for biblical readers as well as biblical poets.
Hyperbole as a Figure of Speech
Hyperbole, conscious exaggeration for the sake of effect, is another figure of
speech that uses obvious poetic license. It does so as a way of expressing strong
feeling. Hyperbole does not pretend to be factual. Indeed, it advertises its lack of
literal truth: “My tears have been my food day and night” (Ps. 42:3); “Yea, by thee I
can crush a troop; / and by my God I can leap over a wall” (Ps. 18:29 RSV); “I beat
[my enemies] fine as dust borne on the wind” (Ps. 18:42).
Hyperbole as Emotional Truth
How should we understand such exaggerations? We must avoid foolish attempts
to press them into literal statements. Hyperbole does not express literal, factual
truth. Instead it expresses emotional truth. Hyperbole is the voice of conviction. It
captures the spirit of an event or inner experience. After all, when do people use
hyperbole in ordinary discourse? They use it either when they feel strongly about
something (“I wrote till my hand fell off”) or when they are trying to be persuasive
(“Everybody agrees that the test was unfair”).
How Figures of Speech Are Alike
I have discussed the leading figures of speech individually, but we can learn a lot
by also seeing what they have in common. Look closely at the following spec-
imens of figurative language:
Metaphor: “The Lord God is a sun and shield” (Ps. 84:11).
Simile: “Your tongue ... is like a sharpened razor” (Ps. 52:2).
Symbol: “Light is shed upon the righteous” (Ps. 97:11).
Allusion: “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made” (Ps. 33:6).
Apostrophe: “Lift up your heads, O you gates” (Ps. 24:7).
Personification: “Then all of the trees of the forest will sing for joy” (Ps. 96:12).
Hyperbole: “All night long I flood my bed with weeping” (Ps. 6:6).
Vividness and Concentration
These diverse figures of speech tend toward similar effects. They are governed by
the impulse to be concrete and vivid. They are usually a way of achieving tremen-
dous concentration, of saying much in little. They tend to be a shorthand way of
suggesting a multiplicity of meanings, connotations, overtones, or associations,
and as such they are a way of achieving wholeness of expression.
Comparison and Poetic License
Most of these figures of speech use the principle of comparison. They use one
area of human experience to shed light on another area. In one way or another,
they operate on the principle that A is like B. This is not limited to the obvious
examples of metaphor and simile. With personification, for example, the object is
treated as though it were a person. In using such comparisons, poets obviously
resort to poetic license. They operate on the principle “it is as though . . instead of
confining themselves to what literally exists.
What Figures of Speech Require of Readers
We should note, finally, that all of the figures of speech cited above place similar
responsibilities on a reader. First a reader must recognize or identify the figure of
speech. This usually involves sensing an element of strangeness in an utterance,
since figures of speech differ from our ordinary, straightforward way of speaking.
Then a reader must interpret the figure. This usually entails drawing a connection
or correspondence between two things. It always involves determining how the
figure of speech is apt or suitable for what is being discussed, and what meanings
are communicated by the figure. “Why this figure of speech hereV’ is always a
good interpretive question to ask.
Additional Figures
In addition to the figures of speech discussed thus far, several others appear often
enough that we should note them. Metonymy is the substitution of one word for
another word closely associated with it. When Nathan tells David that “the sword
will never depart from your house” (2 Sam. 12:10), he uses two metonymies: he
means that violence will persist within Daviďs family. Synecdoche occurs when a
part is used to stand for the whole, as in the petition in the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us
today our daily bread” (Matt. 6:11). Paradox is a leading feature of New Testament
discourse. It consists of an apparent contradiction that, upon analysis, can be
seen to express a truth. Paradox always imposes on the reader the obligation to re-
solve the apparent contradiction. For example, the proverb that states “the mercy
of the wicked is cruel” (Prov. 12:10 RSV) means that even the best acts of wicked
people harm other creatures.
Do Not Be Frightened by Technical Terminology
It would be a pity if anyone would be scared off by such technical terms as
“metaphor” and “metonymy.” If such terms are too unwieldy, the catchall terms
“image” and “symbol” will prove adequate. The important thing is to identify
something as being figurative and then explore what meanings are conveyed by it.
It is also important to realize that simply pigeonholing a figure of speech with the
right label is relatively useless. What matters is that we interpret the figures of
speech and explore what meanings they communicate.
How to Know When to Interpret Figuratively
How can we know when to interpret a statement figuratively? There is only one
main common-sense rule of interpretation to apply: interpret as figurative any state-
ment that does not make sense at a literal level in the context in which it appears. The
chief exception is simile, which is literally true but announces that it is a figure of
speech by using the comparative formula “like” or “as.”
Figurative Statements Do Not Make Sense at the Literal Level
We know that the statement that the wicked “clothe themselves with violence”
(Ps. 73:6) is metaphoric because people do not literally wear violence. The state-
ment that “my tears have been my food day and night” (Ps. 42:3) has to be hyper-
bole because it is a literal impossibility. Sometimes the context of a statement
alerts us to its figurative nature. For example, the statement that “light is shed
upon the righteous” (Ps. 97:11) could be literally, physically true, but the context
makes it clear that this claim is made for the righteous only, not the wicked. We
know that the light of the sun dawns for everyone, not just the righteous. By log-
ical necessity, therefore, light in this context must mean Goďs blessing and favor,
not literal, physical light.
The Portrayal of God in Human Terms
The poetic portrayal of God in the Bible represents a special category. I prefer to
call it anthropomorphism (the portrayal of deity in human terms) and let it go at
that. Such anthropomorphism sooner or later includes most of the standard fig-
ures of speech, but it is usually arbitrary to decide which term is most accurate.
Consider the statement “your right hand, O LORD, shattered the enemy” (Exod.
15:6). Exactly what should we call this? It could be considered metonymy, inas-
much as it was God’s power over nature, and not literally his hand, that con-
quered the Egyptians. It is synecdoche if we consider that the right hand stands
for the whole being of God. The hand could be regarded as a metaphor for God’s
power, or as a symbol of that power. The whole enterprise of labeling quickly col-
lapses under the weight of its own complexity. The simplest solution is to be
aware that the transcendent God of the Bible is repeatedly portrayed in earthly and
human terms and that such descriptions are of course figurative rather than lit-
eral. The word “anthropomorphism” seems to cover the phenomenon as ade-
quately as any other (provided we learn to spell it correctly!).
SUMMARY
More than anything else, poetry means a special idiom or language. Poetry is
heightened speech used to express intensified feeling or insight. Its special lan-
guage consists of concrete imagery and figures of speech. These figures of speech
appear in concentrated form in the poetic parts of the Bible and in random form in
the prose sections. Whenever they appear, they require the kind of analysis I have
outlined.
Poetic Parallelism
What, then, about the parallelism we hear so much about? It is the verse form in
which virtually all biblical poetry is written. Strictly defined, parallelism consists of
two or more lines that use different words to express the same or similar ideas in
similar grammatical form.
Types of Biblical Parallelism
The most frequently used kind of parrallelism is synonymous parallelism. It con-
sists of expressing similar content more than once in consecutive lines in similar
grammatical form or sentence structure:
He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the LORD has them in derision (Ps. 2:4).
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the
judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the
righteous (Ps. 1:5).
Antithetic parallelism occurs when the second line states the truth of the first in a
negative way or when it in some way introduces a contrast:
For the LORD watches over the way
of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish
(Ps. 1:6).
That night—let thick darkness seize it!
let it not rejoice among the days of the year (Job 3:6).
In climactic parallelism the second line completes the first by repeating part of the
first line and then adding to it:
Ascribe to the LORD, O mighty ones,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength (Ps. 29:1).
In climactic parallelism the meaning of the statement is incomplete until the sec-
ond line completes it.
Most scholars list a fourth type of parallelism, which they call synthetic paral-
lelism (“growing parallelism”). It consists of a pair of lines that together form a
complete unit and in which the second line completes or expands the thought
introduced in the first line (but without repeating part of it, as climactic paral-
lelism does):
Thou didst set the earth on its foundations,
so that it should never be shaken (Ps. 104:5 RSV).
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake (Ps. 23:3).
To call this a form of parallelism is inaccurate, since the two lines are not parallel
to each other. They are simply two lines that belong together. No other identifying
term has gained wide acceptance, however, and it is such a prevalent form in bib-
lical poetry that we need some label for it. “Synthetic parallelism” should therefore
be retained.
The Parallelism Is Often Partial
There is a caution we must remember in regard to biblical parallelism: very often it
is not whole lines that are parallel to each other but parts of lines. Along with the
symmetry, there is typically an element of asymmetry. For example, only the last
phrase of the line “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God” is
echoed in the next line, “the holy place where the Most High dwells” (Ps. 46:4).
So, too, with this verse:
God is our refuge and strength,
an ever present help in trouble (Ps. 46:1).
To make the second line exactly parallel, we would have to change it to something
like “The LORD is our fortress and shield.” Hebrew parallelism is not a straitjacket.
It is a beautiful example of freedom within form. As someone has stated:
It is clear that there is repetition in the parallel lines. But almost invariably
something is added, and it is precisely the combination of what is repeated
and what is added that makes of parallelism the artistic form that it is. This
intimate relation between old and new elements is an important feature of He-
brew composition and Hebrew thought. On the one hand we observe form
and pattern; on the other form and pattern are radically altered.⁵
Parallelism as a Form of Recurrence
The specific types of parallelism can be differentiated, but what they all have in
common is the principle of repetition or recurrence or rhythm that is the basis of
all verse forms. In English poetry this principle takes the form of rhyme and reg-
ular meter, which are lost when something is translated. The repetition of thought
or content that we find in biblical parallelism survives in translations. More impor-
tant than learning to pigeonhole types of parallelism is simply being receptive to
the momentum and rhythm that are set up by such parallelism. The general prin-
ciple is that lines are not self-contained. They belong with at least one other line.
When we hear one footstep, we wait for the other foot to fall, as it were.
Parallelism as Verbal Artistry
What purposes are served by such parallelism? Several, but the most important is
the artistic beauty of skillfully handled language. C. S. Lewis writes:
In reality it is a very pure example of what all pattern, and therefore all art, in-
volves. The principle of art has been defined by someone as “the same in the
other”. . . . “Parallelism” is the characteristically Hebrew form of the same in
the other. . . . If we have any taste for poetry we shall enjoy this feature of the
Psalms.⁶
If it is not accepted simply as something artistic, Lewis adds, a reader will either
be led astray “in his effort to get a different meaning out of each half of the verse
or else feel that it is rather silly.”⁷ Poetry is an art form, an example of verbal
craftsmanship. We should not press the parallelism of biblical poetry at once in a
utilitarian direction. It is beautiful and delightful in itself.
Parallelism as a Mnemonic Device
Parallelism is also a mnemonic device (an aid to memorization, recitation, or even
improvisation), as well as something that assists listening. What C. S. Lewis says
about the parallelism of Jesus’ sayings is equally true of biblical parallelism in gen-
eral:
We may, if we like, see in this an exclusively practical and didactic purpose; by
giving to truths which are infinitely worth remembering this rhythmic and
incantatory expression, He made them almost impossible to forget.⁸
We should note in this regard that the poetic parts of the Bible were originally oral
literature, from the Psalms sung in worship to the oral pronouncements of the
prophets, who sometimes showed prodigious feats of memory (for a notable
example, see Jer. 36). Parallelism makes an utterance oratorical in the sense that
its effect is particularly clear when we hear it.
The Meditative Effect of Parallelism
A further result of parallelism is its meditative effect. Parallelism focuses attention
on a thought. It resists rapid movement away from an idea and a resultant dissi-
pation of impact. Parallelism, writes a biblical scholar,
has within it a retarding element, stemming the current of ideas. The poet al-
lows himself plenty of time. A scene, before being succeeded by another, is
presented twice, in different lights. All the content is squeezed out of it. Its
finest nuances are utilized.⁹
The effect of parallelism is comparable to turning a prism in the light, insuring
that we will look at the colors of a statement at least twice. Needless to say, this
accords perfectly with the meditative purpose of the Bible and the nature of poetic
language.
Parallelism is more than an artistic bonus, though it is that, too. The words in a
parallel construction enhance each other, whether through synonym or contrast or
completion. It is an important part of interpretation to notice how the parallel
members interact with each other, together saying more than either could say by
itself.
SUMMARY
Poetry is heightened speech. It compels attention and involvement not only
through its special idiom, but also through its distinctive syntax (sentence pat-
terns). Biblical poetry uses the highly patterned structures of parallelism in its
