Chapter XXIV: Part TWO: Review I, II, and parts 1 and 2 of III

3. Far more of the Old Testament belongs to the department of _Poetry_ than appears in the Authorized Version, the Bible in common use. The He'brew mind was poetic rather than prosaic, and the thought of this people naturally fell into the form of poetry. But there is a great difference between our poetry or verse and that of the He'brews. With us there is apt to be rhyme, never sought by the Bible poet; or else a certain measure in length of line or emphasis on certain vowel sounds, the "feet" or "meter," in the verse, equally unknown in the Bible. He'brew verse consists in a peculiar symmetry and balance of clauses, which is called "parallelism," for instance:

"He will not suffer thy foot to be moved:
He that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Is'ra-el
Shall neither slumber nor sleep" (Psa. 121. 3, 4).

Poetry is to be found in nearly all parts of the Old Testament. There are:

1.) _Odes_, as the song of Mir'i-am (Exod. 15), of Deb'o-rah (Judg. 5), and the book of Lam-en-ta'tions. In the latter book there is an acrostical arrangement, each stanza beginning in the original text with a letter of the He'brew alphabet, and arranged in their order.

2.) _Lyric poems_, songs of emotion or feeling, as most of the Psalms.

3.) _Dramatic poems_, illustrative of action, as Job and the Song of Sol'o-mon.

4. _Oratory_ figures extensively in the Old Testament, as we should expect to find in the literature of any Oriental people, among whom the public speaker exercises a mighty influence. The orations or discourses of the Bible are sometimes in prose, sometimes in poetry, sometimes in both forms of expression. The speeches in the book of Job, Sol'o-mon's dedicatory prayer (2 Chron. 6), almost the entire book of Deu-ter-on'o-my, the opening chapters of Prov'erbs, and many of the discourses of the prophets belong to this department. Note how readily the passage in Deut. 8. 7-9 falls into verse:

"For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land,
A land of brooks of water,
Of fountains and depths,
Springing forth in valleys and hills;
A land of wheat and barley,
And vines and fig trees and pomegranates;
A land of oil olives and honey," etc. (Rev. Ver.)

5. _Philosophy_, or "wisdom-literature," is also found in the Old Testament. The book of Prov'erbs is a collection of the "sayings of the sages" among the Is'ra-el-ites; while Ec-cle-si-as'tes is a series of connected essays on human life.

6. _Prophecy_ is a distinct form of literature in the Bible. The word "prophecy" in the Scriptures means not "foretelling," or "prediction," but "_forth_telling," speaking under a divine power, whether of past, present, or future. It is not to be forgotten that the books of Josh'u-a, Judg'es, Sam'u-el, and Kings were called by the Jews "the former prophets," and were all regarded as prophetic, although they contained history. The prophets used freely either the prose form or verse form in their messages. Their writings may be classified under:

1.) _Prophetic Discourse_, the message of the Lord concerning nations, often called "the burden," the counterpart of the modern sermon, as in Isa. 1. 1-31; Ezek. 34.

2.) _Lyric prophecy_, in the form of song, as in Zeph-a-ni'ah, Isa. 9. 8 to 10. 4, and many other instances.

3.) _Symbolic prophecy_, or the use of emblems, as Jer-e-mi'ah's girdle (Jer. 13), the potter's wheel (Jer. 18), or E-ze'ki-el's tile (Ezek. 4).

4.) _The prophecy of Vision_, of which instances are: I-sa'iah's call (Isa. 6); Jer-e-mi'ah's vision (Jer. 1. 11-16); E-ze'ki-el's vision of the cherubim (Ezek. 1); "the valley of dry bones" (Ezek. 37); and Zech-a-ri'ah's vision of the candlestick (Zech. 4).

5.) _The prophecy of Parable_, as "the vineyard" (Isa. 5), also in Ezek. 15; "the eagle" (Ezek. 17). There are many parables in the Old Testament, but the master in this form of teaching was the Prophet of Gal'i-lee in the gospels.

6.) _The prophecy of Dialogue_, either between the prophet and Je-ho'vah or more frequently between the prophet and the people, as in the book of Mal'a-chi.

7.) _Dramatic prophecy_, in which Je-ho'vah himself is represented as speaking, generally introduced by the words "Thus saith Je-ho'vah."

A close analysis will perhaps show other forms of prophetic teaching, as "The Doom Song" and "The Prophetic Rhapsody"; but in our judgment these also may be included in the classification given above. (See footnote with the opening of this lesson.)

Blackboard Outline

I. =Imp.= The Bible as Hist. Eth. Doc. Dev. Lit. [Illust.]
II. =Diff.= 1. Div. chap. ver. 2. Lit. ming.
III. =Class.= 1. Hist, 1.) Prim. 2.) Const. 3.) Nat. 4.) Eccl.
2. Per. Narr. J. B. R. D. E. E. J. E.
3. Poet. Heb. ver. 1.) Od. 2.) Lyr. 3.) Dram.
4. Orat. Sol. Deut. Prov. Proph.
5. Phil. "Wis.-Lit." Prov. Eccl.
6. Proph. "Forthtell." "For. proph." 1.) Pro. Disc.
2.) Lyr. pro. 3.) Sym. pro. 4.) Pro. Vis. 5.) Pro.
Par. 6.) Pro. Dia. 7.) Dram. pro.

Review Questions

Review the questions with PART ONE of this lesson.
What are the first and second classes of literature in
the Bible? What is the third class? Wherein does
He'brew poetry differ from Eng'lish verse? What three
kinds of poetry are found in the Old Testament? Give
examples under each kind. What is the fourth class of
literature in the Bible? Name some instances under
this class. Are the discourses of the Bible in prose
or in poetry? What is the fifth class of biblical
literature? By what other name is this class known?
Give two examples of this class, and state the
differences between them. What is the sixth literary
department in the Bible? What is the meaning of the
word "prophecy"? In what form, prose or poetry, did
the prophets speak? What are the seven kinds of
prophecy found in the Bible? Define each kind. Give
illustrations of each class.

SEVENTEENTH STUDY

How We Got Our Bible